I agree that today Open Source is very technical. So were IBM PCs when they were introduced. Back before Windows GUI command line DOS was all there was and the only people who used PCs were technical types.

I clearly recognized the difference in what I was seeking and what my co-workers at IBM were doing. I wanted to USE the PC to accomplish a particular task while they would fill their hard drives with programs so they could play with them. Their PCs had no data on them.

Admittedly, hard drives were extremely small back then by today’s standards. The concept remains the same though. Most computer users don’t want to tweak them or understand the complex workings any more than every person who drives a car wants to know how to tear down the engine.

Ubuntu CAN quickly be just as easy to use as Windows. That will happen just as soon as the brilliant minds behind it realize just how sophisticated their knowledge and abilities are and how simple it must be made for other users.

Ubuntu – or some other variety – of Unix IS capable of changing the world – literally. That must happen soon. People caught on the treadmill don’t have time to figure it out – and when their treadmill crashes and burns they may not have the money to even say online.

It makes far more sense to improve the GUI to the point where that is not necessary. A personalized glossary plugin that offers a definition in a mouse-over window could easily handle the geek-speak and acronyms. That should become standard across blogs.

Just like Windows (where DOS is ever-present but most don’t have any idea it is there), Ubuntu can retain all that powerful capability behind the scenes.

Ubuntu has come a very long way. Boo has provided some very useful links. More and more of us will get up to speed and each of us can then teach others. That is how PCs became common and how non-technical users got online. It is also how Ubuntu can become the operating system of choice among those who realize the importance.

Thank you for blogging. What you write benefits us all.

When you refer to the GPL for example, it say a lot of things to someone who understand what it is. It tells me that this program is open source, and in three letters tells me exactly what my rights are in terms of modification and distribution. It would take a lot of space and time to explain that every time the license was used.

When someone doesn’t know what it is, they can either ignore it as you mentioned, or they can look it up. Once you’ve learned what it is once, you’ll understand the term from there onwards.

The fact is, that open source software is a technical subject. You wouldn’t expect to learn about a topic like chemistry or even blogging without picking up a few new phrases, and I don’t see why this should be any different.