Courtesy of OSWeekly.com

"All Aboard, the Misinformation Train is Leaving the Station."

A common theme that I have heard when people explain to me why they have no real desire to try Linux is the perceived learning curve. When pressed, the person being asked will eventually divulge that they were told that it was simply too difficult to learn. Finally when pushed into giving their "source" of this information, the truth ultimately comes out - they heard about it from another disheartened user speaking about their feelings with regard to one particular distribution.

And there it is. So many people point to Microsoft as the biggest contributor to the misinformation machine when in reality it is simply the people who are tired of feeling frustrated when attempting to learn the open source operating system. You know something, I honestly don't think that I have a simple answer to this.

Now I did address that bootable CDs are not used nearly enough at Linuxfest Northwest in Bellingham, WA back in 2004. The collective reaction when stated aloud to a pro-Linux group that in many ways they were at fault for holding Linux back was interesting to say the least. My reasoning was actually quite simple and was actually further illustrated as one new Linux user stood up in support of what I said next. "Unless we take the time to actually work with new users and while doing so, lose the attitude, Linux will remain a geek-only endeavor."

It was at that point that the gentleman that stood up previously and said aloud that he just fails to understand why Linux can't "get their act together." He was quickly frowned at for hitting the nail right on the head. It really comes down to standards and support. Linux has made huge inroads with their community support; however, the standards still remain a ways off.

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