Re: LiteStep and Linux themes as paired tools to help folks move to Linux?

On 8/16/07, Roy Gathercoal <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> ...
> > Yes, this is quite feasible. I doubt it would be very popular though.
>
> What I have in mind is not a "permanent" theme: Perhaps more like a
> 12-step approach to Windows users. So I'm thinking that someone who
> wanted to move to Linux could easily set up this pair of themes; use the
> first in the pair until the theme felt quite comfortable, then switch to
> the second (Linux-based) theme.
>
> Once the user gained enough confidence (in the "hey! I'm really running
> Linux! and the world hasn't ended!" sense) they would move on to some
> sort of more robust Linux theme/graphical theme/command line/whatever.
>
> So this pair of themes would typically be used in one way, ordered in a
> specific temporal manner (we would not expect anyone would use the Linux
> theme in order to switch to Windows, after all!), and would be designed
> really not as a long-term theme on either side, but rather as a
> transitory or transitional phased system.
>
> One goal: To provide a safe and comfortable way Windows users who wished
> to change to Linux to make the move without a cold turkey experience.
>
> One imperfect analog would be learning to ride a bicycle. You might
> start on a trike. Once entirely comfortable with that mode, you move up
> to a small bicycle with training wheels. This is certainly not any sort
> of permanent option--in many ways it captures the worst of both worlds.
> But it is a way through the transition.
>
> Then, perhaps you try the bike without the training wheels, with a
> parent or capable adult holding the bicycle upright. At some point you
> realize that you have left the "transitional adult/aid" behind and you
> are, in fact, riding a bicycle without training wheels and without
> direct help from anyone else!
>
> You certainly would not want to stick with the tricycle or the training
> wheels, and there is certainly a shared expectation that the assistance
> of your "human training wheels" is both transitional and transitory.
>
> Point is, bicycle riding may *look* scary if you haven't experienced it
> (how do those people keep from falling?) but you don't really have to
> study the physics of momentum to be able to ride a bike capably. Once
> you have internalized a couple of rules (e.g., "if you stop moving, you
> will fall!"), experienced riding for yourself, thus collecting your own
> sense experience, you are ready to tackle more useful and exciting
> bicycle riding.
>
> I'm envisioning here a pair of themes distributed together, and designed
> to be used (1) install and run Windows theme, (2) install Linux theme,
> and begin to use it (3) gain sufficient personal experience with the
> Linux theme to feel comfortable with the idea that you are now a Linux
> user, (4) replace the Linux theme and don't look back. . .
>
> > We could probably make an installer that would install LS plus
> > a minimal cygwin and would really mimic a unix system.
> > This could be distributed with tutorials and stuff.
> >
> >
> > I think the Linux experience is not defined by the organization of the
> > menus. The menus change much from a distro to another and from a window
> > manager to
> > another. We could make a LS bundle that would mimic some particular
> > Linux distro and offer that as a promotional/educational tool.
>
> exactly. Not a theme that would somehow capture all there is to using
> Linux--not even a tutorial (in the traditional sense) about how to use
> Linux.
>
> This would instead be a step beyond the "try the Linux distro"
> experience. My own experience has been that while the distro might be
> fun, it is more like riding on the back of a bicycle being powered by
> someone else (or perhaps the "training wheels" sort of thing).
>
> I believe much of the (unwarranted) fear of potential Linux users is
> that once you make the switch *something important* won't work and
> you'll be stuck. Not in the "not possible to do, here" sense, but in the
> "I don't even know how to start to figure this out" sense. For people
> who rely on their computers, moving to Linux is a bit like jumping out
> of the window because people are yelling for you to jump and they say
> there is a net below (which you cannot see because of the smoke).
>
> There is no shortage of people offering glowing testimonials about
> computing with Linux. Very few users (if any) believe that good Windows
> support is available from anywhere. Yet if all you've ever done is to
> ride that trike (perhaps even like a little daredevil) the bicycle looks
> like an accident waiting to happen.
>
> In theory the bike is better by far. You might even believe
> wholeheartedly in the adult helping you learn to ride. Yet it is
> painfully and dramatically obvious to you that even if you should be
> able to ride a few meters, you should not trust this bicycle-beast-thing
>   to get you to the ice-cream truck. . .or home again.
>
> So I am suggesting an intermediate step to or through the "try it
> out/live boot distros." I'm suggesting that people be able to use Linux
> (through this crippled theme--at least from the perspective of a
> long-time and entirely comfortable Linux user). I believe that if people
> could gain confidence in a particular Windows theme that, while not at
> all the best theme in the world, will allow you to get your work done,
> it will be easier for them to switch.
>
> Especially if they switch to a Linux theme that looks just like the
> Windows theme they have been using. . .
>
> So after they work through their fears about the thing crashing on them
> at any moment and building up some personal experience of working *in
> Linux* on a day-to-day get your work done experience, they will find it
> much easier to start making some changes to their Linux theme--changes
> that will make their computing life much easier.
>
> From then on, we have another successful Linux disciple.
>
> Looking at the situation from a rhetorical (in the sense of "speaking
> persuasively" rather than the "only talk/no action" pejorative modern
> sense), one ancient (pre-Socrates) aphorism about trying to convince
> someone of the truth of your position can be summed up:
>
> "Meet them where they are, not where you are. They will be convinced by
> their experience, not by yours."
>
> So in our quest to better the computing world by making it easier to
> move interested in Linux/disgusted with Microsoft folks, it makes sense
> to meet our potential Linux users where they are now: Windows.
>
> This should be an easy step for someone. Perhaps more accurately, any of
> our Linux-to-be users aren't able or willing to try and tinker with some
> shell settings within Windows, chances are slim they will ever
> voluntarily switch to Linux.
>
> So after personalizing a few basic things on the Windows theme (keeping
> in mind that this particular theme was *created* with the purpose of
> transitioning to Linux always in the forefront) the nascent Linux users
> start to "live with" this theme, running on Windows. No problems.
>
> Then, once these Windows users are entirely comfortable with this
> Windows theme, they take the next step: Move to the "paired" theme
> running on Linux.
>
> Because we have constructed the two themes in a way that will enable
> both to work well with the different environments (i.e., no
> only-in-Windows or only-in Linux items) this part of the transition
> which is the scariest, will be the least obvious change. So the day in
> which our users turn off Windows and turn on Linux they should feel a
> bit silly for fearing the change this much.
>
> As they build up their confidence-building experiences with Linux, they
> will be tempted to venture a bit further from home. Sometimes these
> explorations will be unsuccessful (yet not catastrophic--they always
> have the comfort of the familiar shell to which they can always return
> home).
>
> Sometimes, however, these explorations will turn up a wonderful and
> exciting new find--some aspect of Linux which quickly is set as an "I
> don't want to give this up--ever!" feature. Each time this happens, they
> are moving farther and farther from Windows, and making it
> harder--because of all the nifty new features--for them to return to
> Windows in the future.
>
> So eventually, depending on their specific experiences, access to
> helpful experienced Linux users, and their own capacity for taking risks
> these users will pull the plug on their limited Linux theme, and move on
> to a full-featured theme or perhaps even the command line. QED
>
> In retrospect I guess I'm talking about something that would benefit
> Linux more than it would LiteStep per se. Yet if it results in bringing
> experienced LiteStep theme authors back into active LiteStep
> development, it would be a big boon.
>
> So laying it out more specifically, in more of a step-by-step fashion,
> does it seem worthwhile?  If this is the sort of a project that a
> skilled theme author might find intriguing, how might we best set up a
> way to collaborate? (I'm assuming that the requirements underlying this
> theme-paired task would make collaboration helpful).
>
> Are there themes in existence that might lend themselves--with a bit of
> upgrading and tweaking--to this situation?
>
> Finally, let me clarify that as I am writing of "paired themes", I am
> envisioning multiple pairings, based on a number of theme sensibilities.
> It would be counter-productive to refer a high-tech/fantasy/goth theme
> to a Windows user interested in making the switch to Linux if they
> absolutely detested dark/techie/goth themes!
>
> While they are inherently crippled because of their position of
> straddling the line between Windows and Linux, themes intended to ease
> the transition by reassuring their users as the switch is made would be
> at a considerable disadvantage if they were despised on general
> artistic/sensibility grounds by the users.
>
> Useful? Worthwhile?
>
> It is quite easy to try a Linux distro nowadays with VMs and LiveCDs
> > but presenting a functional preview of the interface would be
> > something.
> > A preconfigured Gnome on cygwin
> > would do a better job at this but would weigh many megs and be long to
> > install compared to LS which can be small and quick to install.
> >
> This makes sense. Would the much longer install/simpler design be an
> issue if it were designed to be a one-time package? That is, rather than
> being accustomed to switching among a set of themes, this pair would be
> designed to be a download once/read once experience. After all, there
> shouldn't be much need to periodically reinstall training wheels on your
> 20-speed mountain bike!
> >
> > After I am relatively calm and confident about my new computer, I would
> >> delete the Linux side of the pair (not having used the Windows machine
> >> with its half of the pairing for awhile) and finish the transition from
>
> >> XP to Linux.
> >>
> >> Is this a worthy/doable project? (hope it's not my third strike, unless
> >> it's bowling and not baseball)
> >
> >
> > Doable : yes
> > Worthy : I don't know, maybe
> >
> sound any more worthwhile now in greater detail? (I hope)
>
> >
> > Is that some king of fish<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagabond_butterflyfish
> >
> >  ?
> Actually it's Latin for "wanderer." The butterfly fish, butterfly,
> spider, et. al.
> use this as an adjective in their name.
>
> Hence the English term, "Vagabond" while not a perfect description
> (primarily bed-bound) it does fit my typical online behavior. . .and I
> think it sounds somewhat mysterious--or at least eccentric. Not a bad
> thing, to be sure.
>
> Vagabundus
> Roy Gathercoal
>


Once again, long message, kinda hard to read it all considering my recent
lack of sleep.
One important point is that the main difference between Windows and Linux is
not the graphical interface. It is already possible to put an
almost perfect KDE, Gnome or other
interface in Windows. It is also already possible to put an Explorer
clone on Linux.

The main difference is which apps can
run, the way to install apps, the way to configure stuff, the way to
install new hardware and
other things that depend on the capabilities of the kernel and on the
software environment.


I also agree with the other replies on that our community's main goals are
to improve and promote LS.