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One big point about this, esp if it takes off. It answers a big question: How do you get J. Random User to use Linux? Don't call it Linux. Don't make it look

by aj700 15y ago

One big point about this, esp if it takes off. It answers a big question: How do you get J. Random User to use Linux? Don't call it Linux. Don't make it look like Linux. And Chrome for Windows synced over to an identical looking ChromeOS means he's escaped Microsoft lockin without even knowing it.

cryptoz 15y ago
> Don't call it Linux. That happened a long time ago. Google is already activating 400,000 Linux computers every single day for people all around the world. They call it Android.
- aj700 15y ago
  Yes. I meant get them to use it on a desktop computer. A computer that goes in your pocket is not, to my generation, "a computer", it's "a mobile device". If it's not a fullsize or laptop x86 machine (or sparc or whatever, not ARM) it's not "a computer".
  - cryptoz 15y ago
    So my dual core 10" Android tablet isn't a computer? The one with two cameras, one able to film 720p video, incredible 3D graphics abilities, video editing software preinstalled, voice-activated search and email dictation, crazy awesome Google Earth experience? The one that I can use my hands to paint pictures, watch live TV broadcasts (video out to big screens!), point at the sky and see what planets and stars I'm looking at, watch YouTube videos, record barometer data, write code and listen to music? You, sir, are living in the past. (Sure, the tablets aren't shipping in the hundreds of thousands per day. But they will be soon)
    - aj700 15y ago
      Your tablet is a computer. But it's not what I call "a computer" with quotes. I'm not living in the past. I was just born long ago in it. The commonly accepted meaning of words and phrases will change during your life too. My mother would probably call your tablet "an ipad" because she understands the equivalence even less and would use a genericized trademark.
fragmede 15y ago
> How do you get J. Random User to use Linux? Why do you want them to use Linux? Is it about the linux kernel? Is it about the GNU userland tools? Is it about Gnome/KDE, the configurability? Android is 'Linux', but it's missing most of the Linux bits that I want. (ChromeOS is also missing most of the bits I want too.)
- aj700 15y ago
  To clarify. I want them to use Linux, because then they aren't using Windows. Possibly you weren't using computers in the mid-90s when Microsoft was synonymous with evil. Yes, we are merely nursing meaningless old grudges, but victory is sweet. I'm not going to say Linux is better. It's just spite. How dare you get so rich selling rubbish to idiots? - I'm European and a lot of us really are communists.
rryan 15y ago
Richard Stallman wins again -- the question usually refers to GNU/Linux not Linux. Chrome/Linux and Android/Linux already have hundreds of millions of users. GNU/Linux is still in the millions and it's still an unanswered question of how to increase its growth rate.
- aj700 15y ago
  Chrome/Linux, as you call it, is Chrome ON GNU/Linux. It's Gentoo with Chrome. It's not Chrome with nothing inbetween the browser and the kernel. People would understand ChromeOS better if wikipedia wasn't currently hosed.

by aj700 15y ago

cryptoz 15y ago

> Don't call it Linux. That happened a long time ago. Google is already activating 400,000 Linux computers every single day for people all around the world. They call it Android.

aj700 15y ago
Yes. I meant get them to use it on a desktop computer. A computer that goes in your pocket is not, to my generation, "a computer", it's "a mobile device". If it's not a fullsize or laptop x86 machine (or sparc or whatever, not ARM) it's not "a computer".
- cryptoz 15y ago
  So my dual core 10" Android tablet isn't a computer? The one with two cameras, one able to film 720p video, incredible 3D graphics abilities, video editing software preinstalled, voice-activated search and email dictation, crazy awesome Google Earth experience? The one that I can use my hands to paint pictures, watch live TV broadcasts (video out to big screens!), point at the sky and see what planets and stars I'm looking at, watch YouTube videos, record barometer data, write code and listen to music? You, sir, are living in the past. (Sure, the tablets aren't shipping in the hundreds of thousands per day. But they will be soon)
  - aj700 15y ago
    Your tablet is a computer. But it's not what I call "a computer" with quotes. I'm not living in the past. I was just born long ago in it. The commonly accepted meaning of words and phrases will change during your life too. My mother would probably call your tablet "an ipad" because she understands the equivalence even less and would use a genericized trademark.

fragmede 15y ago

> How do you get J. Random User to use Linux? Why do you want them to use Linux? Is it about the linux kernel? Is it about the GNU userland tools? Is it about Gnome/KDE, the configurability? Android is 'Linux', but it's missing most of the Linux bits that I want. (ChromeOS is also missing most of the bits I want too.)

aj700 15y ago
To clarify. I want them to use Linux, because then they aren't using Windows. Possibly you weren't using computers in the mid-90s when Microsoft was synonymous with evil. Yes, we are merely nursing meaningless old grudges, but victory is sweet. I'm not going to say Linux is better. It's just spite. How dare you get so rich selling rubbish to idiots? - I'm European and a lot of us really are communists.

rryan 15y ago

Richard Stallman wins again -- the question usually refers to GNU/Linux not Linux. Chrome/Linux and Android/Linux already have hundreds of millions of users. GNU/Linux is still in the millions and it's still an unanswered question of how to increase its growth rate.

aj700 15y ago
Chrome/Linux, as you call it, is Chrome ON GNU/Linux. It's Gentoo with Chrome. It's not Chrome with nothing inbetween the browser and the kernel. People would understand ChromeOS better if wikipedia wasn't currently hosed.