Linux - Is it well known?

[GCoffee]

Hello all,

I was pondering today, about linux ( well, sort of daydreaming but..) and now I come to think of it, you would be suprised how many of my friends give me blank stares/faces when I mention words like: ubuntu. linux, linus torvalds.. ETC

I thought, surely if more PC/Laptops came shipped with linux then it would be more well known?

Sorry, if this sounds a bit dull, but as I say, I was day-dreaming.

Cheers,
GCoffee.

[Ub1476]

Say "Steve Balmer" and they'll still be puzzled.

[fatality_uk]

Say "Steve Balmer" and they'll still be puzzled.

Say Ray Ozzie and they might say, "Oh err yeah I know this. The guy with the bat, lead singer of, oh you know that band."

[MaindotC]

Yeah but they know Anna Nicole, Paris, and Brittany don't they...

[Dr Small]

My uncle thinks that Ubuntu / Linux is some application that runs on Windows ...

[Mazza558]

"Linux? Isn't that a new toothpaste?"

[Twitch6000]

Say Ray Ozzie and they might say, "Oh err yeah I know this. The guy with the bat, lead singer of, oh you know that band."

That's Ozzy Osbourne's real name?Wow I am shocked lol.
Anyways not a lot of people know about Linux due to two things,Microsoft holding the most of the market share.
Second they have never had the chance to explore like most of us.

The other day I tried to install a Linux on my friends OLD computer(p3 with 128 ram) I showed him how fast it was.First thing he said was HOW THE HELL.Then the story begun but that's to long to tell.

[Barrucadu]

Very few people I know know about Linux, in fact I get puzzled stares if I so much as mention something more complex than GCSE ICT (save me...)

[Old Marcus]

Very few people I know know about Linux, in fact I get puzzled stares if I so much as mention something more complex than GCSE ICT (save me...)
I know what you mean, its distressing sometimes...

[MaindotC]

"Linux? Isn't that a new toothpaste?"

Yeah I've learned working at the help desk not to make fun of people because it's mean but this is an example of some of the interesting terms non-it people come up with:

http://mvgc.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=2346&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

I like the "install the internet" reference...

[Icehuck]

Hello all,

I was pondering today, about linux ( well, sort of daydreaming but..) and now I come to think of it, you would be suprised how many of my friends give me blank stares/faces when I mention words like: ubuntu. linux, linus torvalds.. ETC

I thought, surely if more PC/Laptops came shipped with linux then it would be more well known?

Sorry, if this sounds a bit dull, but as I say, I was day-dreaming.

Cheers,
GCoffee.

It's only well known in the IT field. No one in my family has a clue what it is, and neither do my non IT friends. Yes more vendors ship it, but you have to know what you are looking for. Dell doesn't make it obvious that they are shipping Linux(fedora now I think?).

[toilet-handle]

yea i had my laptop in school and you should have seen the looks on peoples faces, one kid tried to tell me that it was really vista with a dl theme:confused:

[Fedz]

Some I mention it to think it's a Window$ application and some think it's a geek thing from the bygone age but, when you try to tell them and or show them they look totally shocked you can have a PC with another OS other than Window$ - always makes me laugh :rolleyes:

[cardinals_fan]

Try telling people that you use Solaris...

[bufsabre666]

Try telling people that you use Solaris...

better yet minix

[Jordanwb]

I didn't hear of Linux until two years ago when a kid in my Math class told me about Knoppix.

[wdaniels]

I can be a bit of a linux bore, so almost everyone I know has now heard of it, making it a bit difficult to gauge properly these days. But I went to see my Mum yesterday and she told me quite excitedly that she'd seen somebody when she was out shopping wearing a "linux rules" t-shirt. She said she felt stupid because she wanted to go over and tell him that her son would agree :D

Most people that I know outside of the tech industry don't even draw any distinction between Windows and any application they run on it (e.g. if I ask what they use to write documents with, they say "um, I think it says Windows or something when it loads up"), so no, I don't think linux is very well known generally.

And even a lot of people who really ought to know better don't seem to grasp the idea of an "operating system", especially one that doesn't run Windows programs! My brother is reasonably technical - he works for a software company, training people on how to use their software, and even writes some small programs for AutoCAD in VB, but he was under the impression that linux was some kind of alternative desktop application, because he'd seen somebody at one of his customer's offices running linux in a virtual machine.

[init1]

Say "Steve Balmer" and they'll still be puzzled.
Yep. I was shocked, but it's true.

[init1]

I can be a bit of a linux bore, so almost everyone I know has now heard of it, making it a bit difficult to gauge properly these days. But I went to see my Mum yesterday and she told me quite excitedly that she'd seen somebody when she was out shopping wearing a "linux rules" t-shirt. She said she felt stupid because she wanted to go over and tell him that her son would agree :D

Most people that I know outside of the tech industry don't even draw any distinction between Windows and any application they run on it (e.g. if I ask what they use to write documents with, they say "um, I think it says Windows or something when it loads up"), so no, I don't think linux is very well known generally.

And even a lot of people who really ought to know better don't seem to grasp the idea of an "operating system", especially one that doesn't run Windows programs! My brother is reasonably technical - he works for a software company, training people on how to use their software, and even writes some small programs for AutoCAD in VB, but he was under the impression that linux was some kind of alternative desktop application, because he'd seen somebody at one of his customer's offices running linux in a virtual machine.
I asked someone what browser they were using and they replied with the site they were on. It's quite depressing.

[Kinst]

When I was young I thought linux was a penguin.

[yssida]

When I was young I thought linux was a penguin.
Hey, I thought so too!

[aeiah]

it isnt that suprising, although some of the general public will know what it is. casual computer users think their computers are 'windows', unless its a mac, and then its a mac. a lot of people will use linux on a day to day basis too, be it on the server at work, the libary database at university, their router, their in-car GPS, their set top box etc. none of the hardware will explicitly say that they're running linux. ubuntu only casually mentions that its 'linux based' on their front page. it wont mean anything to most people.

i think its less important to get people to be aware of linux and far more important for people to be aware of FOSS and GPL software in general. i can now say to my boss "the new version of inkscape will be useful to us because you can edit pdf documents with it. its GPL" and he'll know its software that he wont have to pay for, that is legal, and wont print 'trial version' over everything it spits out.