She was quite taken with Open Office, and liked that it came pre-installed. She had been wanting to get Excel, but didn’t want to pay the $150.00 for MS Office.

Her main drawback was that videos that she received in her email didn’t play. I told her about downloading the “Gstreamer” codec packs from Add/Remove, and that solved her problem.

Next thing you know, she’s downloading all sorts of stuff from Add/Remove. Checking it out, uninstalling it if necessary. She told me “You know that star rating doesn’t mean anything. I have a few programs that I love, and they only have one star.”

After a week of use, Jeanne has only booted into Windows once, and that was to grab her MP3’s and Photos to a jump drive…

My conclusion: Jeannie is open to new ideas, and willing to try them out. She didn’t know there was an alternative, but now is much happier with her computer than before. She still dual boots her computer, with Wubi, just to keep her options open.

Sandra S.

Well now. From an original statement that “I always use Linux. I just can’t because DeVry says to use XP.” to “I don’t remember Linux being like this.” We’ve quickly established that Sandra is full of crap. So I do my best to set the crap aside, and continue with her observations.

I wish I would have recorded this for you all to listen to… this phone call was HILARIOUS.

Sandy: Firefox won’t connect.
Me: You’re connected. Just put in the web-address.
Sandy: What do you mean web-address.
Me: You know, like www.google.com
Sandy: Oh, you mean the web-site-address.
Me: Okay, sure.
Sandy: Well, it’s really slow. I’m going to check my email.

A few minutes later…

Sandy: Look! You said ‘NO’ viruses. It just got a virus from that picture!
Me: Um, huh, what?
Sandy: That e-mail from my sister has a virus on the picture of my nephew.
Me: I don’t think…
Sandy: See, you move the mouse over it and it get’s bigger. Move the mouse away, and it gets smaller.
Me: Sandy, that’s not a…
Sandy: That’s the whole reason I won’t use Linux! There’s too many problems, and no one knows how to fix it. Now I have to run a McAfee scan again!
Me: Wow, you’re about as much fun as having sex with a light-socket!

My Conclusion: At Sandra’s age (53), she’s grown accustomed to doing things her way. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But dear god, what turned her into a pit-bull. Sandra was complaining about this experiment from the beginning, giving me lecture after lecture, and only agreed to do this to help with my class. The funny part is she didn’t realize how much she really helped. This is a paper about habits, and HOLY CRAP, she “enforces” her habits.

Alyssa I.

It didn’t seem to matter one way or the other. XP or Ubuntu. I think Alyssa only uses the computer when she ‘HAS’ to. “I mean, Ubuntu works just fine, but so does XP.”

I took a few moments to explain security, viruses, and cost.

“Well, no viruses is nice. But if I can’t connect to the internet, and I call the help desk, how are they going to help me?” and “My computer came with Windows, why not just use Windows? I mean, I didn’t have to buy it, so who cares?”

Quite a statement in itself. It has merit. The illusion of security. Funny though, as all of us Linux users know that the help-desk doesn’t do jack-squat anyway.

My Conclusion: Alyssa doesn’t really ‘use’ computers, therefore no habits have really formed. It was a bit like selling a freezer to an Eskimo.

Jack K.

Ahh, Jack… you little power user, you! Finally someone to pick apart Ubuntu and truly deal with all of the actual differences.

An odd turn of play, Jack decided that he wasn’t going to use Wubi. He would do a dual-boot all by himself. This made his initial week truly “Hell”. He couldn’t get his ATI drivers to work, it caused multiple problems with video playback, and compiz. So Jack went to the boards to find a solution. Try this, try that, try these… Dear God, I would have given up twice as quickly, but he stuck it out.

He was outside his comfort zone, and it was apparent when he wasn’t able to solve his problem quickly. He kept trying things the way he was used to. He spent most of his time searching for DEBS of known Windows programs on Google. A lot of his statements were “If it can’t run ‘enter Windows program here’, then what good is it?” I started explaining alternatives. I told him of programs like aMSN instead of MSN Messenger, Amarok instead of Winamp. But he was stuck on running Windows programs. I told him to download Wine, and see if it could run his programs. He didn’t want to toy with it anymore.

Now comes the “Hell” part. After He decided to remove it… Grub stayed. He then tried to remove Grub. In the process, his recovery partition was lost. He ended up Using the LiveCD, to boot, then grab his data off onto Jump Drives, so he could reinstall Windows… Linux to the rescue! Whether he liked Ubuntu or not, he was certainly glad that it was there for him when he ‘needed’ it.

My Conclusion: Jack has used Windows for most of his computing life. He has learned how to use it, and utilize it very well. I am inclined to think that it is even beyond just habit for Jack, almost to the point of instinct. His habits make it difficult to find alternative ways to accomplish tasks. If Jack were asked to think outside the box, he would have to remove the box from inside his head first.

Joey A.

Well, the first person to actually use Ubuntu in a professional business environment. After a lot of convincing, he decided that he would use it for one full day at the office. Due to the nature of the use of this computer, Joey will be running off of an external HD.

He immediately noticed the performance difference. And thought Compiz was kind of cool. After explaining how to add a repository, he thought that was amazing. “Your drivers will automatically update? No way!” With the ability to read PDF’s by default, queueing up print jobs would be a snap.

Then came the real challenge. Setting up the printer… Which, mind you, is not an ordinary desktop printer. It’s a RIP unit from EFI, which provides print services to a high speed color copier. This “Fiery RIP” unit is a postscript interpreter, so we thought about running a generic postscript driver… no dice. Apparently this proprietary driver is only available for PC or Mac.

This took up a major portion of the day. Guess this, guess that, try this, f*ck that… etc. etc. etc.

Finally, he came to the conclusion that because Ubuntu doesn’t run Adobe CS4, nor can set up his printers, it wasn’t the operating system he could use. However, he would use it on a non-commercial based home computer in a heartbeat. It was great for web-browsing, basic office applications like OpenOffice, and multimedia.

My conclusion: Joey immediately noticed the performance and security benefits of Ubuntu, but cannot adapt it to his business.

Peggy A.

Mom. Mom decided to try it, because she has issues with her laptop and Vista. I get phone calls to the effect of “What is taking this thing so long? Why does it do that? I think I have a virus.”

To clue you in a bit, my mom called me one day and said… “A window popped up while I was web-browsing and it said that I needed this program to eliminate viruses. So I clicked on it, went to their web-site, paid for it, and downloaded it. But it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.” Well, we just worked our way back from there.

So I threw on Ubuntu with a Wubi installation (at her request to not mess anything up on the computer.) Her immediate response was that she loved the simplicity, and especially the Evolution Mail client. My Dad, who calls email “The Internet”, preferred Evolution as well.

Then we hit a speed bump. Ubuntu locked up, froze solid. Couldn’t do anything. So I had to hard boot the computer. Once again, about 10 minutes into it, it locked up solid. This is a piss off, to say the least. Hard boot a third time, lock up.

I don’t know what caused this problem, so I couldn’t fix it. Either case, if she had installed this herself, and had this problem… it’d be gone faster than you could blink.

So, conclusion here is: She liked it, but didn’t get the opportunity to use it.

Rose R.

Rose was thoroughly impressed, and seemed to have the time of her life. She liked the performance, the simplicity of customizing the interface, the menu, and especially Compiz. When I first checked on her, she had changed her theme, font, and screensaver.

To her, it booted fast, she could web-browse, run her instant messenger (Emesene, she found it in Add/Remove). Play games, for some reason, she loves Klotzki. She even thought clicking on “Install” inside Update Manager was WAY easier than Windows Update.

Her only issue was finding an alternative for “Kodak Photo Manager”. Familiarity was the only issue.

So Rose came into this unknowing, and what I found with her was… Ever single one of the tasks she used her Windows computer for, she could easily accomplish in Ubuntu.
My Conclusion: We did a Wubi installation to begin with, but after her first week of use, she called and asked me to help her get RID of Vista entirely.

Because of her lack of knowledge about computers, but her want to use them, led her to be open to an alternative. After using the alternative, she was absolutely blown away by the simplicity of the GNOME interface. She likes it, and isn’t looking back.

Nick A.

This guy is a graphic designer for a local print company. As a matter of fact, he’s a bit of competition for Joey A. This computer is used primarily for design work with Adobe CS4, and for printing on a large format vinyl sign printer. And because of the nature of this computer, we are running off of a LiveCD.
Well, once again, same problems in the professional environment. No printer support, and the proprietary program to run the Vinyl Printer is only for Windows.

But the great nature of Ubuntu, was that Nick decided to take the LiveCD home and run it there! He loved the interface, and the fact that it installed in about 10-15 minutes, 20 if he did all the updates. He actually explained to me that installing XP on the computer he has took at least 45 minutes, and an additional 2-3 hours of updating.

My conclusion: Ubuntu wouldn’t work for him due to proprietary software, but he liked enough to take it home and run it there!

Nick K.

A Linux hater, right from the get go. He only agreed to do this to help with my assignment. So, due to the nature of his crappy attitude, he will be running a LiveCD.

He toyed around with Firefox, went to his favorite web-sites. Checked his email, and basically told me “It’s the same thing as Windows, just brown. Why wouldn’t I just use Windows?” He didn’t notice any performance differences at all, he thought Compiz was just “fluff” , and because his computer CAME with Windows XP, why bother with anything else.

My Conclusion: He didn’t want to do it, he didn’t care to do it, he didn’t like doing it, he went back to his original setup. It’s about the same thing as trying to convince a two year old to try broccoli. No matter what you do, they ARE GOING TO HATE IT. It’s a preconceived notion that “different” means “bad”. If he were older, he’d be complaining about how much better the rotary dial phone system was, and how pissed off he is that we all switched to touch tone.

Brett J.

Viruses, Spyware, Adware, Pop-Up Blockers, Trojans, Worms, and of course “Porn”.

These are the contents of Brett’s computer. He downloads “Fix A”, and that didn’t work, so he downloads “Fix B.” and that didn’t work, etc. etc. etc.

Finally we are up to Fix “Double D” (Aptly named, because of where he got the virus to begin with.) I told him to wipe that computer clean, and start fresh. My original option was for Brett to do a Wubi installation, but because his computer is a bit of a Typhoid Mary, we clean wiped the sucker and put Ubuntu on it.

A week later, Brett is still up to his old antics on-line, and this time didn’t have to install anything. He didn’t get a single virus, worm, trojan, etc. on his computer.
Well, we found an online-condom for him, apparently. Then came a problem. Familiarity. He wanted to use his iPod, and couldn’t install iTunes. I told him about Hipo, and GTKPod. He tried both, but was insistant on iTunes. Finally we had a little talk.
“Look Brett, you have a computer that does everything you want it to, and doesn’t cause you any frustration what-so-ever. Now the only problem you have is iTunes. If you learn an alternative, which won’t take much time, you will not have these problems anymore.”

Apparently he took the advice, and is happily running Ubuntu.
My Conclusion: Familiarity breeds contempt. He only needed one program from Windows (or Mac). After viewing an alternative, and deciding to take the time to learn it, he was fine.

My grand conclusions: Familiarity, and compatibility.

Nick K. and Sandra S. were great to see how the human stubbornness has actually gone to the point of controlling their way of thinking, and refusal to allow new ideas or options into your life. Where Nick K. didn’t care, Sandra S. even went so far as to lie and make up stories to justify her unwillingness.

Jeanne C., Rose R., Joey A., and Nick A. were open people, open to new ideas. When they were told about an alternative to Windows, they were more than willing to give it a try. Their openness showed immediately that they knew it would be different than what they were used to. But I think difference was a major factor. Nick A, unfortunately cannot use it at his place of business, but loves it at home.

Alyssa I. Was kind of different. It really didn’t make much difference to her either way. But if it were an alternative way to accomplish something she was actually interested in, it might be different. Alyssa is about as interested in computers, as a the prom queen wanting to fix cars.

Jack K. and Peggy A. Both had problems with their installation. Whereas Peggy’s problem wasn’t really attempted to be fixed, it was however, easily removed. Jack was a completely different story. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to be rid of a hardship, which is why a lot of us don’t use Windows to begin with. The funny part is, it doesn’t matter how much it costs, if it doesn’t work, no one is going to use it.