Fat and patronizing, or lean and cranky?
Thomas Greene at the Register compares installing Windows XP Home Edition to installing Red Hat Linux 7.2 Personal Edition.
Would you rather be smothered in slighty toxic caramel, or subjected to the death of a thousand cuts (each of which requires a reboot)?
While Greene sometimes doesn’t quite get what I think most home users want, his story is a delicious one (mmmmm, caramel …). And it points out why WinXP will win this race — not because it’s better, not because the choices it force-feeds you are the best ones, or even good ones, but because it removes the need to make choices from the home user. It’s awful that it treats its customers like children — but that’s what most home users want. Or, more properly, they want to use a computer like an appliance.
Consider. Your refridgerator doesn’t require you to know what “drivers” to install. You don’t care much which bits and pieces were chosen by the manufacturer. You certainly don’t want to have to worry about what model of water and ice dispenser to have installed (and then install it yourself). You care about the color. The size. Whether it keeps stuff cold. Maybe energy efficiency. At most, you might hit Consumer Reports to see what the reliability rating is. And if you end up getting a useless service plan from the store — well, the only harm is the lost money.
That’s what people want out of their computers. Hell, within slightly broader parameters, that’s what I want out of my computer.
And XP, in good, bad, and indifferent ways, gives it to you. Hard.