the Quest for the Perfect Desktop Linux
Nothing brings Linux gotchas into sharp focus like coaching a non-geeky computer user. My wonderful significantotherperson, Terry, has done more to teach me about usability than the smartest Linux gurus.
Terry is smart and willing to dig in and learn. She uses her PC for complex tasks like college coursework, audio recording and production, and digital photography. Like a lot of computer users, she learns better from a live teacher and visual aids than from text howtos.
There are a lot of little glitches that I gloss over because it's second nature to work around them. But for someone who is not steeped in years of deep Linux lore it's a different story. Terry is currently using openSUSE with KDE4. openSUSE, like any distro, has its share of peculiarities. First example: the little update status indicator. I love these. They sit in the panel, and change shape and color when updates are available. It does the job without being annoying. But when you click on it to get the updates, it asks for a root password and then disappears. No status indicator, no way of knowing how long it will take, you don't even know when it is finished.
Second example: KWord supports .fodt files. OpenOffice doesn't without hunting down and installing an extra package. It took a fair bit of Web searching to learn that much, let alone what the heck are they and why have them in addition to .odf.
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