murderslastcrow
October 22nd, 2010, 12:23 AM
This discussion's purpose is to find the times where Linux found you outside of your personal use, whether in a computer lab, a conversation, a laptop, or even a book.
The reason I ask for your experiences is to see if it's anything like Utah's recent Ubuntu popularity, so to speak.
For example, at my school in the past month alone, I've noticed out of the corner of my eye several students running Ubuntu with Gnome on their laptops, one of which even had an Ubuntu symbol on the back. As my friend and I walked into class, he asked me "what's Ubuntu?" He had assumed that the person had a Mac and covered up the Apple sticker with an Ubuntu logo. I got into a short conversation about what Linux is, where you can find it, and why people tend to use it. He was very interested, and several other people chipped in on the conversation to ask me questions, to clarify if it was as hard as people say it is, and compatibility issues (these are the two main concerns of most consumers- is it hard, and can I run the programs I already have).
The very same day, another friend who has a Samsung Android phone told me, "so, how do you like Linux?," as if to catch me off guard. I didn't know she knew a thing about Linux, so I responded, "I love it, obviously- it kicks ***." It was nice to see the openly adoring attitude of Linux in public.
Also, today, my friends were talking about how to make their Vista laptops faster. I offered to help by installing Google Chrome/Firefox and cleaning things up to a minimal extent, but another student mentioned that she should try another OS, like Windows XP or Linux to speed it up. My friend responded, "eeww! I don't like Linux," to which I asked, "I didn't know you tried Linux before." Turns out she didn't, but an overzealous geek used to preach Linux to her and she got sick of it. After explaining a little bit about how most of her programs were open source and showing a screenshot of KDE, she seemed to be a bit less close-minded about it.
However, that brings us round circle as to why I don't talk about Linux in public, and how interesting it is that it finds me these days. In Utah, it's actually sort of odd to meet someone my age who hasn't heard 'Ubuntu'. Times seem to be changing, and it's nice that I don't have to feel cautious about telling people what OS I use. I think Ubuntu itself has helped change peoples' perception of Linux as a geeky thing into a chic, socially responsible kind of thing.
The reason I ask for your experiences is to see if it's anything like Utah's recent Ubuntu popularity, so to speak.
For example, at my school in the past month alone, I've noticed out of the corner of my eye several students running Ubuntu with Gnome on their laptops, one of which even had an Ubuntu symbol on the back. As my friend and I walked into class, he asked me "what's Ubuntu?" He had assumed that the person had a Mac and covered up the Apple sticker with an Ubuntu logo. I got into a short conversation about what Linux is, where you can find it, and why people tend to use it. He was very interested, and several other people chipped in on the conversation to ask me questions, to clarify if it was as hard as people say it is, and compatibility issues (these are the two main concerns of most consumers- is it hard, and can I run the programs I already have).
The very same day, another friend who has a Samsung Android phone told me, "so, how do you like Linux?," as if to catch me off guard. I didn't know she knew a thing about Linux, so I responded, "I love it, obviously- it kicks ***." It was nice to see the openly adoring attitude of Linux in public.
Also, today, my friends were talking about how to make their Vista laptops faster. I offered to help by installing Google Chrome/Firefox and cleaning things up to a minimal extent, but another student mentioned that she should try another OS, like Windows XP or Linux to speed it up. My friend responded, "eeww! I don't like Linux," to which I asked, "I didn't know you tried Linux before." Turns out she didn't, but an overzealous geek used to preach Linux to her and she got sick of it. After explaining a little bit about how most of her programs were open source and showing a screenshot of KDE, she seemed to be a bit less close-minded about it.
However, that brings us round circle as to why I don't talk about Linux in public, and how interesting it is that it finds me these days. In Utah, it's actually sort of odd to meet someone my age who hasn't heard 'Ubuntu'. Times seem to be changing, and it's nice that I don't have to feel cautious about telling people what OS I use. I think Ubuntu itself has helped change peoples' perception of Linux as a geeky thing into a chic, socially responsible kind of thing.