[sf-lug] Consumer & admin (was: Possibly interesting data point on jobs postings)

[Sarah Mei]

On 5/16/06, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> Quoting Sarah Mei (sarahmei at gmail.com):
> > Besides, the point of groups like this is to, over time, grow the
> > linux community beyond its current bounds of mostly programmers and IT
> > techs, until it includes people who aren't programmers by trade, maybe
> > people like, for example, recruiters.
>
> Never yet seen that in fourteen years as a Linux user, don't expect to.
> (However, life's a glorious cycle of song, a medley of extemporanea, to
> quote the good Ms. Parker.  I.e., life holds surprises when you, er,
> least expect it.  ;->)

It doesn't seem like we're that far off if Wal-Mart is selling PCs
with some modified version installed.

I have a question for those of you that are more experienced in the
larger Linux world and know its history and politics.  It seems like a
lot of effort has gone in to making Linux's desktop and
consumer-facing applications feel familiar, but administration is
still the realm of the technically able.

Is that true for every distribution?  If so, was that a deliberate
choice, or have they just not gotten to it yet?  I think one of the
big reasons my in-laws, for example, don't want to switch from Windows
is that they, and anyone, can do baseline Windows admin -- automatic
updates, antivirus, antisypware.  But they can't navigate a command
line, which seems to be a prereq for any kind of admin'ing, even
really basic stuff.

Thoughts?

Sarah