The Dreaded Learning Curve

[Evil-Ernie]

One of the first things I hear most about the change to Linux is the 'Learning Curve' and its perceived depth. Anything new or different will take a period of adjustment, but with Linux even by seasoned users it is made out that its steeper than the price of a pint in a central London wine bar!

Now I must confess like many of the male side of my family we have a genetic trait that gives us the knack to learn new stuff quite quickly so Ubuntu was no biggie for me. However I know some quite senior people in my office that have used PCs from day one yet call me over to find out how to add a row in Word table, so they have never really fully grasped the principles of software they have been using long before me!

My point is everybody learns things at different speeds, I imagine a slow learner would have a big learning curve switching up from XP to Win7, comparable to changing over to Ubuntu. Now an MS or Apple user would state that their favored OS's are 'easy-to-use' and idiot proof, yet a Linux user would quote the learning curve. Question is are we selling Linux short by doing this?

10.10 and flavours such as Mint have never been so easy to use and set up. Is it about time with honesty say that Linux has the same learning curve as getting used to a Mac or Win7?

[treesurf]

Now that Ubuntu works with most hardware easily out of the box, I'd say the learning curve is not so deep as it used to be. Of course, if when you say Linux you mean Gentoo, then yes, the learning curve is a deep yawning abyss.

[bouncingwilf]

I suspect it's not so much of a learning curve as a re-learning curve. Given zero user experience and an unformatted PC ( i.e. no OS) and an OS install disk of any flavour, then the effort to become proficient in the use of the PC will not vary greatly between Windows, Linux, OS/X.


Bouncingwilf

[theraje]

We need an "Easy" or "Auto" install mode. You know, something that gives very few, or even no options during installation. No partition setup, even.

More options tend to confuse people who don't know what they are doing. They see options as a waste of time. "Why do I have to do this?", "Why does it want that?", and so on.

One man's "robust" is another man's "too damn complicated".

Then again, if there was an Easy/Auto install mode, they would still gripe about the learning curve because it doesn't say "Microsoft" or some other familiar corporate trademark on its splash screens.

Not to bash MS, Linux, or Apple... I think the fault lies squarely upon the heads of those that are simply too lazy and unmotivated to even try to climb any sort of learning curve whatsoever.

[Helkaluin]

Ubuntu as a distro has actually a VERY low learning curve when compared to other distros.

And, also:
http://i.imgur.com/NWPmt.png

[rolnics]

There is also the word "change". Its not always the learning curve, its the change in how to do familiar things or changes in a new version of software.

I must admit, my work's pc has recently (1mth-/+) been upgraded to Windows7 which I'm actually enjoying, think its more the speed of the pc than anything! I'm getting irritated by not being able to change case in word 2007, as the boss uses CAPS in his excel sheets and copying to print out an address just doesn't look right to me in CAPS! It took me ages to find out how to do it, the stupid help was no real use to me! But in previous versions of word I knew exactly where it was and done it in seconds.

So its change that causes problems as well! How many times do you see the new the beginners section, quotes for CLI and then you get an answer back saying what's CLI or what menu is that under? Linux has got the GUI now, but sometimes its just easier to quote CLI, perhaps we should provide GUI more in the beginners section of the forum. But its the same with everything when you've learnt it one way.

[red_Marvin]

I think that one of the reasons that linux is presented with it's learning curve visible is that often the converter does not directly benefit from converting the convertee (heh), e.g. you are not selling linux for a commission, so you will not benefit from sheer numbers. Then, other priorities get more important; if you present linux as more easy than it is, you will get a number of needy convertees relying on you for support (in the commercial case this might be a good thing since you can offer paid support).
On the other hand, if you present the learning curve up front, you will only convert the ones who will be able to dedicate enough time to learn the system, and those who are not will be better off with what they originally used anyway.