Gather round, all you Power Users; hey! where are you going? Yeah, you! You don't need to leave--you're a power user, too. Don't believe me? Well, decide for yourself.
What I'm about to tell you is strictly hush-hush, so don't go blabbing to your neighbors. OK? OK, good. Wouldn't you agree that someone who has been writing about technology since the 80's would be able to say who a Power User was? Someone who was paid to write about technology for desktopLinux.com?
I mean, they don't just hire anybody off the street to write for that e-zine, right? In the article linked above, the writer, Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols states (cos I know you didn't click through):
However, while 32.9 percent of openSUSE users said they make a living by working on computer-related jobs, the single largest group of openSUSE users, 35.7 percent, describe themselves as experienced users but without any great technical skills. These users can set up openSUSE the way they like and keep it updated, but they don't consider themselves Linux experts. Perhaps the term "power user" could best describe them.
Well, I'm an OpenSuse user that falls into the third category, and while I would not describe myself as 'an experienced user', having only used OpenSuse for about four months, according to the definition given by a clear tech expert, I'm a Power User.
Well, either I am a Power User, or I'm some kind of boneified genius, because in another article by the same author, he states:
The distribution to recommend here depends on just how much your pal already knows about Linux or Unix. Xandros is fine for someone who's brand new to Linux; Ubuntu is a fine "play with" distribution for users with a bit more experience; and OpenSUSE is what I recommend for Linux power users.
Just so we can see it's not some kind of what do you say?, amonaly, OpenSuse users are Power Users. I'm an OpenSuse user, QED, I'm a Power User (or a genius).
What's all this stuff with the genius talk?, you may ask. Well, I learned how to use OpenSuse in a two-week period beginning in September of last year. I was able to use OpenSuse as soon as I installed it, the two weeks was spent trying to connect a seven year old laptop to the internet over a wireless encrypted (WPA2) network with an external PCMCIA wireless card. Which I finally did.
And as for Xandros being the easiest to use for former Windows users, the author has it right; that distro, along with Linspire and it's free offspring Freespire, will have you searching around for the 'copyright Microsoft, Inc' label. They are so much like Windows that many Linux gurus consider them barely a Linux distro.
Again, according to the author, in the second quote I used, Ubuntu is for more experienced users. So, if you can install Ubuntu and get it going to your liking, then you are a 'more experienced user'.
OK, OK, the dude's been around a long time, he's clearly out of touch with what the state of Linux is today; well, interesting theory, but in article after article (many linked in the sidebar to the articles above), he clearly lays out issues facing Linux today in a clear and concise fashion. Nope, he clearly knows what he's talking about.
That leaves two possibilities: that I'm a genius, or that we can all be experienced users and even Power Users with just a few months using Linux. Well, let's look at the first case(i.e., that I'm a genius); I tried the Unix-like underbelly of Mac OS X when it first came out, getting into the X11 terminal and trying out some stuff.
When I got sick of it (mainly cos I couldn't figure it out), I tried to delete the X11 install, only to be told by my system 'You do not have the necessary privileges to delete', or somesuch. I had to do a complete re-install just to get rid of it! How humiliating!
Now Unix, and Unix-like systems require genius, near-genius or a damn lot of hard work to understand and run well. Which is why I never write about them (heh. hard work. heh.).
Linux, on the other hand is quite intuitive for both XP and OS X users to pick up: for XP users, the layout, the system menus, add/remove programs, and so on are all quite familiar features in an XP setup; for OS X users, the having to get permission to install programs (entering your password every time), the configurability, and the ease of use are things you experience on a daily basis.
B-b-but the Linux distro I tried for a few minutes didn't recognize every little thing in my setup, and my corporate OS does! Case closed! Linux sucks! Or I read about someone who talked to someone who had read an article on slashdot or some tech site that said it wasn't any good. Well, if you're happy where you are, then good for you. You can continue to pay for your updates, and security patches, and instabilities and never no mind.
Linux is not for everyone; if you aren't interested in having more choices, don't want to learn what else is out there, or really don't want to learn anything new at all, then you clearly fall into that category; if, however, you do want more choices, and are tired of just taking what is offered you by what someone else decides, then maybe you'll like Linux.
The point is, that it can be for you, or for anyone; sometimes Linux gurus chime in saying how hard it is, and just for hobbyists; a lot has changed in the past half year or so--so much so that someone with little technical knowledge (moi) can pick it up in a short time and use it profitably. There are no more technical barriers to using Linux. You can get into the command line if you wish; it's fun to learn how to do some things not in the graphical user interface, but if you choose not to, then it's simply not necessary anymore.
And it's only going to get easier and more mainstream; with Dell's adoption of Linux for some of its new desktop and laptop systems, with Ubuntu's agreement with Linspire to use their Click 'N Run software warehouse (that allows you to install any of over 20,000 pieces of software with a single click), with users refusing to buy Vista and wanting more choices, and with more and more folks looking to save some money and keep their older hardware running, it's inevitable, really. Add in the fact that you can go to a web page and customize your ISO, and now we're cooking. Very exciting development.
Don't you want to at least be clued in to this new paradigm? You can download a liveCD/liveDVD and try it out for yourself. No risk, and if you don't like what you see, then pop out the CD/DVD and you're back in your corporate OS.
As the fine developers of Debain WrEtch themselves state:
You can generally recognize a Debain user if you see one, as they customarily wear bright colors, have waist-length beards, and tend to sport pastel eyepatches and/or crack pipes. Debain developers look similar, but they usually carry some sort of small monkey, parrot, or miniature fat pony on their shoulders. It's also easy to recognize Debain developers because none of them are Americans. All true Americans run Genuine Windows Vista, and have no need for Debain.
Don't you want to be part of that crowd. For me, the answer is clear: Yup!
Here's a neat vid; a tutorial on installing Ubuntu: