New to Linux is tough for some. Its uncomfortable

[jpeps]

There's also a different mentality in creating applications with freeware than commercial products, although the documentation issue has been greatly eased with the availability of web searching.

[linuxbear]

I don't know why anyone would bother with a linux OS that didn't enjoy the learning curve.

Are you joking?
There is less learning curve with Puppy than with Windows... or most devices for that matter.

I don't know many people who were brought up using Linux computers, so for most it's a choice to learn something different.

Me! .... I did it backwards. I started with X-Windows in an R&D environment and had to learn to fight MS windows later.

[linuxbear]

There's also a different mentality in creating applications with freeware than commercial products, although the documentation issue has been greatly eased with the availability of web searching.

What really confuses windows folks is Enlightenment E-17 with the shelf set to auto-hide. They get a bit upset when there is nothing visible on the desktop to click

[Rattlehead]

Refugees from other OS', unless they are computer savy (and if they are so, they very often will choose Linux in the first place), are usually pretty scared by computers. The close source companies have worked very hard to make that so, because that way they can justify the bloat of their operative systems, and all the stupid and criminal shit they do.

For those people who are not computer savy, there are no degrees of malfunction: either it works, and then you breathe with relief, or it doesn't and you feel like smashing the computer with an axe.

What I have found in my (delightful) experience with Linux, is that, due to the huge variety of flavors and hardware models targeted (which is is also its wealth), things rarely work right out of the box. The tweaks required are usually minimal, once you do them the computer flies, and they are very easy to apply, but alas: they are very easy to apply ONCE YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT. You cannot go to a M$ refugee and tell him 'oh, it's very simple, just link the foo file and call it foo.0, and it will work'. For them an error is an error and that's all.

Other example: first time I tried Puppy, after checking out the live CD, and coming from a Windows mentality, the next thing I wanted do was to install it in my HD. With all logic, I tried the Universal Installer. It did not work. I had to make my way through the forum. I think it is misleading to have this kind of programs unless they are bulletproof. Otherwise they increase the clutter.

On the other hand, the title of the post is 'New to Linux', not 'New to Puppy'; what's the intended result here? Introducing more people to Linux and free computing? Then, on a distro perspective, it would be interesting creating a distro 100% specific, obsessive, neurotically focused on usability -and promoted like that-, which could be used as an entryway to other distros. I'm not sure if Puppy Linux could be that distro. From my point of view, its focus is mostly on speed, small size and the capability to run in old hardware. The pupsave system, although brilliant and handy, is not very intuitive even for a Linux resident. And documentation and tutorials of course increase the size so... one must choose...

Just my two cents

[jpeps]

You cannot go to a M$ refugee and tell him 'oh, it's very simple, just link the foo file and call it foo.0, and it will work'. For them an error is an error and that's all.

Fortunately, MS opens a dialogue box, where you report the error...they always get on it immediately, with a personal apology and fix in your email box within a few hours.

[RetroTechGuy]

You cannot go to a M$ refugee and tell him 'oh, it's very simple, just link the foo file and call it foo.0, and it will work'. For them an error is an error and that's all.

Fortunately, MS opens a dialogue box, where you report the error...they always get on it immediately, with a personal apology and fix in your email box within a few hours.