[sf-lug] [LINUX USER QUESTIONAIRE] How did you become a Linux user?

[Jeff Bragg]

Gradually and inexorably.

For me, it took awhile for familiarity with MS to yield to the power of
Linux.  Using it daily (both at home and at work) helped a lot to highlight
the real advantages of using Linux (which in my mind have little to do with
Microsoft).  Ultimately, Linux allows me to do just about anything I want to
with it; it seems like much more of a fight in any other OS I've tried.  As
a hacker (in the non-noxious sense), that appeals to me a lot.

On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 8:50 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:

>
>
>   your questions are not disruptive in my
> mind. i like that people are interacting
> over your questions--it's interesting to
> see the variety. my take is that it will be
> better to have the questions one at a time
> (in separate emails), so that each discussion
> can be tracked separately.
> jim
>
>
> On Tue, 2009-07-28 at 18:41 -0700, Edward Janne wrote:
> > On Jul 28, 2009, at 5:32 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
> >
> > > 1. Edward, how long _is_ your questionnaire?
> >
> > I have six further questions. Some one suggested I post them one at a
> > time, but perhaps in the interests of brevity I should simply post
> > them all at once.
> >
> > But I should like to wait to see if others feel this research is too
> > disruptive.
> >
> > > 2.  As long as you're plowing onward:
> >
> > > Quoting Edward Janne (tigakub at mac.com):
> > >
> > >> Question 2: How did you become a Linux user?
> > >
> > > As stated, this question lacks context, i.e., we can't tell whether
> > > you
> > > are asking _by what method_ each respondent became a Linux user, or
> > > why.
> > > The literal-minded interpretation of your question is the former
> > > one, i.e.,
> > > that you're asking after the mechanics of initially installing and
> > > running Linux -- but that doesn't make a great deal of sense.  Why on
> > > earth would you want to know?  What possible use would you (or your
> > > professor) have for that information?  Don't you also need to know
> > > _when_?  If you do, why don't you say so?
> >
> > The aim is to obtain qualitative data which describes cultural
> > characteristics, rather than quantitative data which often become
> > meaningless statistics that tempt the researcher into drawing
> > conclusions where none can really be made. Certainly "when" one first
> > started using Linux could be considered an indicator of how familiar a
> > user is with Linux, but doesn't really account for frequency or depth
> > of use. Asking "how" someone first became a Linux user will reveal to
> > me many things. Was it out of necessity? Was it out of curiosity? It
> > goes a long way to revealing different types of Linux users, although
> > of course not an exhaustive taxonomy.
> >
> > And if the questions sound open ended and vague, that is how it should
> > be. I am not supposed to steer the study one way or another, but to
> > leave it up to the respondents to decide how they wish to respond. How
> > you choose to interpret my questions is interesting in its own right.
> > Your responses, for instance, have already answered several of my
> > other questions.
> >
> > > And, actually, the question also fails to say what you mean by
> > > "become a
> > > Linux user".  Do you mean "used a shell account on a Linux
> > > machine"?  Do
> > > you mean "installed a Linux distribution"?  Do you mean "used in any
> > > way
> > > a device that runs Linux"?
> >
> > You have identified three broad categories. I presume you consider all
> > these to be Linux users in a narrow sense. Are there sub-groups within
> > the Linux community? Do those who can rebuild the kernel regularly
> > gather to guffaw at the antics of less proficient users?
> >
> > > Hundreds of millions of people use devices that run Linux, including
> > > all
> > > TiVo users, all Palm Pre users, all Google G1 users, all Motorola
> > > RAZRv6
> > > users, all users of the Google search engine, users of many and
> > > perhaps
> > > most of the world's Web servers, and pretty much anyone who's used
> > > software that's done DNS queries.  Among others.
> >
> > It certainly never occurred to me that one may be a Linux user without
> > even knowing it. Makes sense though, just as most iPhone users don't
> > know they're using OS X, or even care for that matter. That will be
> > fascinating to discuss in my paper. I'm especially interested to know
> > how incidental or unwitting users are perceived by "true" (and I use
> > this word tentatively) Linux users.
> >
> > Questions that come to mind: Do you like or dislike the idea that some
> > users are not even aware that they are using Linux? Is recognition of
> > the platform important? Why?
> >
> > > I first became _aware_ of being at that moment running processes on a
> > > Linux machine in 1992, when I logged into a shell account on a
> > > friend's
> > > experimental machine.  I first constructed (i.e., software-loaded) a
> > > Linux machine in 1993, using downloaded copies of H.J. Liu's boot and
> > > root floppy images for constructing such systems.
> >
> >
> > That is very cool! How did it feel to do that? What do you think of
> > how easy it is to install Linux now?
> >
> > -edj
> >
> >
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>
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