Comment 49 for bug 1

The bug has an even uglier side on society as a whole. The average Joe out there has now completely entangled the two terms hardware and software. I have noticed this trend for awhile now and it has to do with the way things are marketed.

In a linux environment, problems are not generally referred to as “the computer is acting up” but as the Operating System or the piece of software in general has an issue.

In dark and sinister world of microsoft everything is referenced to the word computer. “Make your computer run faster”, “Your Computer might be at risk”. Phrases like those continue to dumb down society. It kind of irritates me when I hang out with friends and they say “Oh my computer is acting up” when all they need is flash installed.

The point I'm trying to make is that by using the term “Computer” to reference every problem has made the world more closed minded in general. If someone hears something other then what they normally hear they tend to get confused and scared. Try talking to someone that doesn't know a lot about computers about linux or any other operating system and you will almost always get a blank stare out of them. I'm not saying we should dumb down linux the way Microsoft has dumbed down windows and thus the entire PC user base. What would be good is a complete in depth guide to what linux is in plain english (or whatever language of the area is) words what linux is, why it is better then windows, and most importantly, why people should use it!

A big solution to the bug is education. If people are educated about the choices they can make more people would probably switch over. The only problem is getting the message out and making it appear in a way that everyone can understand.