I recently performed an experiment at the request of my husband, GeekTimeLinux Dave. He was preparing to review the new Xandros distribution, which has been described as the perfect distribution for a Windows user trying to make the switch to Linux.
You should know upfront that I am not trying to make the switch to Linux. We have about eight computers running in this household and only three have Windows. Two of those Windows computers belong to me and one of those is partitioned to include Suse because Dave had it built that way.
My laptop is Windows XP and the third Windows computer in the house belongs to our son. I tell you all this so you can understand my position regarding Linux vs Windows. I understand the benefits of Linux and I have my frustrations with Windows, but I consider myself to be a computer user, not a advocate for one OS over another.
I have been around Linux because I routinely open browsers on machines in Dave’s lab to look at pages at different resolutions or browsers. I also spent several months using only Suse because I had some computers problems and had to borrow one of Dave’s machines a few years ago and that was the deal.
So, even though it’s too late to make a long story short, I came to this experiment with very little anxiety about Linux because I intended to stomp off and ignore the project if I got frustrated and because I pretty much knew that whatever happened I would have the same issues I always have with Linux. The first issue is that I am used to those buttons you guys all call gooeys or GUIs or something like that (can you tell that Dave isn’t available for geek assist here?) - those buttons never make sense to me because I’m used to Windows, so I always have to slow down and try to figure out which button is which, and that absolutely infuriates me.
My next issue is that I am a very heavy user of Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc. I can not live without easy access to Office supplies and even though Dave has preached and preached that Open Office is just as good - I have never found that to be true.
Every time I have tried to use Open Office it took so long to open that I forgot what I was going to use it for before it was available. I hope to remember later in this post to mention what happened with the Xandros distribution and Open Office. I was pretty surprised until I had time to really think about it.
I agreed to take an afternoon and spend it trying to install Xandros all by myself in order to give Dave an unbiased or possibly negative review of the distribution for GeekTimeLinux. I did it only because I’m his wife and because he lets me shamelessly plug my stuff here on his site. I did not really expect success according to my expectations, but I was determined that it wouldn’t turn into a disagreement during the install itself. I figured that we could argue about it when I was through writing my review.
My conditions were pretty simple. I wanted him to be home in case I set something on fire or couldn’t figure out which mouse went with which computer or couldn’t get the CD in or out of the drive. All of those things are possible, but rather than tell you how I know that, I need to keep writing about Xandros here.
Even though I wanted Dave to be home and available to me during the install, he wasn’t allowed to talk to me while I was working on it unless I specifically asked him a question. I didn’t want any “help” or commentary while I was studying each step for myself. I did, however, ask him to sit nearby with a notebook and pen, to write down all the things I told him to make note of. I expected these to be problems or issues, but at the very least I wanted some notes for when I sat down to write this review.
When I look over the paragraph above, especially in light of how it all turned out, I think I was asking more of him in this experiment than he had originally asked of me. But I intend to still collect all possible “good wife points” before I tell him that.
My list of tasks for this install:
- Connect to the wireless network in our house.
- Change the home page to the one I prefer
- Add bookmarks to my list of favorite sites and organize those favorites easily
- Open and use a spreadsheet and a text document
- Go to Pogo and play games with no quality or pop-up issues
- Login to the affiliate networks I use daily and make links, read reports, etc.
- Do screenprints and other copy and paste functions that I’m used to
I just found the notes from the install. I made 5 notes during the process. I sent Dave to watch TV during minute 2 because he started to tell me something and I wasn’t quite ready to stomp off yet. I had made a list of things I wanted to do before I started. I use my computer to work and so my needs and wants probably differ from yours, but if you’re truly thinking about moving from Windows to Linux, your list might be similar to mine.
The Xandros distribution came in a box that I read completely, which took me about 10 minutes and told me how seamlessly and transparent the switch from Windows to Xandros could be. When I figured out which machine matched the monitor and mouse I was sitting in front of, I put the CD in the drive and opened the Quick Start booklet.
The very first instruction created momentary confusion and was the reason Dave got banished immediately. The booklet said to put the CD in the drive and restart the computer and then wait for the Installation Wizard to come up. I did and it didn’t. I was getting a screen full of technical geek crap and the seconds were ticking away. After 30 seconds Dave suggested that I shouldn’t have put the CD into the drive until AFTER I restarted the computer (which does make all kinds of sense, even to me) BUT I said the point was for me to follow the instructions and see what kind of problems that caused.
I grabbed the Quick Start guide again and started reading about “troubleshooting”. I’m a speed reader, but I was in study mode and before I got 3 lines read about what to do, the Wizard Window appeared and gave me three wishes. Wait - different story. The Window came up and I was able to start following the simple and specific directions.
Before I put the installation CD in the drive, I made my first note - the time. I made my second note when the Wizard came up - it says “very first instruction” and refers to what I just told you above.
The next note I made while I clicked through was the password I created. It would have been nice if they had told me the requirements before I created the user name and password and wrote them down. I think this is a common problem across every program. It doesn’t say anything about minimum number of characters until you do it wrong. I think that is a Geek conspiracy. So, anyway - I wrote down a user name and password, crossed them out and wrote another set and made a note next to it - 6 characters!
The installation went so quickly from that point that I didn’t make any more notes. There wasn’t any time. Seventeen minutes from start to finish and that included the not-quite-two-minute wait in the beginning for the Installation Wizard to come up. I may have used some of that two minutes sending Dave to watch sports and taking over the notebook and pen.
I had no trouble connecting to the wireless once I figured out which gooey button (here we go again) was the network. I had to enter our encryption key in two different places. Both times the instructions were clear about what was needed.
As soon as I was connected to the network I ran through my list of chores from above. I was able to do everything quickly and easily until I tried to find some “Office supplies” - a spreadsheet and text doc. That was when Dave reminded me from the other room that there was another disc for applications. I put that in, started picking and choosing and thought I would be trying to entertain myself while things were installing. Not so. As soon as I decided what I wanted it was almost done. I’m a very impatient person and I didn’t even have any time to make notes about how it was working.
I opened the Open Office applications and played with them for a minute or two. I was surprised at how quickly they opened this time, but I think that with all the attention Xandros gave to making typical Windows applications easy to find and use, they did a good job of integrating Open Office into the mix.
There was one thing I never did figure out and gave up in frustration. I think that someone with more patience might have given it enough time, but I didn’t. I never did figure out how to take a screen shot and paste it into a document. That may or may not be a big deal to you. It’s a big deal to me, but not a complete deal killer, because I have worked in several places where the print screen button didn’t perform any usable function and I learned to adapt.
I would have to say that this install went so well and so easily that I would be inclined to continue “playing” with it until it fully suited my computer needs. There are so many more available applications in this distro that I didn’t even touch. There’s a disc included that helps you transfer all your Windows “stuff” over to the new OS, including helping you set-up the POP3 mail accounts and everything. It also does the “crossover” thing so you can actually install Windows Office, but my thought is that if you’re going to switch - then switch. So I didn’t follow through with any of that.
My final thought about all of this is that considering the cost of keeping up with Windows and the need for better security over all computer systems - I can see myself using Xandros exclusively in spite of having to learn to recognize all those different little icon things. My primary appreciation is for the work somebody did to make the transition this easy for somebody who really doesn’t care HOW it works - just that it does work. My computer is like my car in that regard. I don’t want to tinker with it. I want to turn it on and Go! There might be other companies doing the same thing as Xandros, but for Windows users like me, this distribution will be pretty hard to top.
