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Is there a Linux based OS for public computers, such as at a library or a PC cafe?
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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As a librarian this is an awesome idea but unlikely to work out long term for a couple of reasons relating to the libraries.
Patrons will absolutely freak out if the computer they sit down at doesn't look like the Windows machine they are expecting. Even the time-keeping software we use makes people uncomfortable and it's just a countdown clock for the 30 minutes they signed up for. I've had a very expensive Mac desktop for art and music software go totally unused for years because most patrons want a Windows computer to check their Hotmail. Librarian sobs
Unless the library 'technologist" or IT team is already really into Linux in their off time AND paid well enough to bring that experience with them to the office, the people tasked with keeping it running will fail within 6 months and revert it back to something they can fix fast. Generally there's one IT department that's handing the libraries and other government run service offices and they will not take the time to do anything out of the ordinary.
Maybe for a subset of computers in a large library like the stand-up quick access stations or catalog lookup computers near the books. Linux can and does a lot of good keeping these one-use stations going despite the fact the run on 1998 Dell Potatoes.
In my experience as soon as they get a web browser, people don't care. Most people are lost when they have to deal with the file manager on Windows anyway...
Problem is people are really sensitive to change
We see it as "oh just open the browser and it's the same" they see a foreign system, different icons, UI elements, etc and panic
We've got the biased viewpoint of people who know computers well enough not to be afraid of breaking something by clicking the wrong button
I imagine if you put a windows skin on KDE or something to make everything look the same they wouldn't even notice though
My experience with "real" people is that they don't even see the difference. Only so-called "Windows power users" are annoyed.
I got my mother a Chromebook and she used it for years, even tried to explain her it was not the same as her previous Windows PC she never understood it was not the same.
I strongly disagree with your first point. Kids these days are more familiar with ChromeOS than Windows. Google has proven that as long as it has Chrome and a taskbar at the bottom people will be fine with it.
For long term support I also disagree with #2. The company I work for develops software that goes into both windows and Linux environments. The Windows environments are several orders of magnitude harder to secure and maintain because you never know what bullshit Microsoft is going to pull with their updates.
It may be easier to find a Windows IT person to maintain the system but it's going to be significantly more expensive and significantly less reliable than an immutable OS like Fedora silverblue.
The vast majority of computer users at my libraries have been adults over 50. The kids in my areas use the Chrome OS Computers they are getting from the schools.
If we had a lot of under 25s coming in to use the public PCs, I agree that Chrome OS would be a good pick.
I live in a large metropolitan area in the US and my kids have never used ChromeOS. Our school district issues iPads for elementary school and middle school and beyond receive Windows laptops. Our public library is 100% Windows with the exception of the makerspace which has a few imacs scattered around. Their Windows computers re-image themselves after every use so securing them is really not much of an issue.
To your first point, a huge portion of the use library computers get is from people who don’t own or can’t afford their own computer but just need to print government/work/school docs with some minimal document editor. Sure you could run with LibreOffice or something and hope no one cares, but you’re right that most people would freak out if they can’t open something in Word or have to learn how to print something in Gnome/KDE/whatever.
Most of them are following instructions they are getting from elsewhere to do those tasks and most instructions the offices are giving out are expecting a Windows computer. I still have a lot of users looking for the Blue E. headdesk
Sorry, but definitely not true.
Source: See my comment regarding the majority of danish municipalities using Linux. No problem for the users or the people doing the sysadmin work.
Do you really think that's the case for the rest of the world? Like some town in Missouri follows what the Denmark municipal library system uses?
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent a lot of time and money putting Windows computers in many libraries and schools around North America in the '90s and '00s.
That would be my guess, yes. Why would the danish librians and users in libraries differ from other places? We're talking ordinary people with an average in computer knowledge in cities and libraries of all sizes.
Being a dane you have to explain the Missouri reference. If you mean something like small cities, see above.
That wasn't a reference, that was a rhetorical question. Do you really need it spelled out how a small town library on the other side of the world may have a completely different situation than what is happening in a small Danish library? Or that someone who relates an experience that is totally unfamiliar to you isn't saying something "definitely not true" just because you cannot imagine life outside of your own immediate vicinity?
As I said, I cannot see the big difference. Please spell it out for me 🙂
The 'definitely not true' part was a reply to 'ain't gonna fly, Liberians and people can't use Linux'. Which is a statement from one person without any evidence to back it up. The evidence shows it's a false statement, because it is in fact working on a large scale in Denmark, without issues and people are happy with it.
So yeah, it is 'definitely not true'.
Library computers never used to look like windows. They were terminals into a larger system that allowed people to look up information, and the UI was just simplified to just that. People coped fine.
I'm pretty sure you don't say "anything goes" on library computers, so they are going to have some kind of restricted interface already. As long as that is navigable to the things that are allowed, people will cope.
By "never used to", when are you talking about? I think the last time I saw a terminal catalog in the way you're describing was 1995.
Pretty much every thing after that was a modified Windows install of one flavor or another with an intranet or web catalog interface for the user.
I'll buy that they were kept longer in some.places than othern but where and when are you pointing to?
Yes, I'm probably talking 20 years ago, but well into the era of windows being the dominant home operating system and the internet being a thing. As long as people can see an icon and double click it to get a web browser, they're happy.
Windows has been a staple in North American libraries for decades.
My local library uses some sort of Linux for the card catalogue. I don't use the general purpose library computers, but I think they are some flavour of Linux as well.
My impression was that they were probably sold as a low maintenance plug-and-play solution.
My local library is part of a larger library system, so I'm pretty sure the librarians won't know anything about them, that any computer maintenance is handled by somebody dispatched from the head branch. I'll still try and have a look here in a bit.
While I love Linux and free choice in OS, it's painful that this needs to be said, and painful that it's being attacked so harshly. Having watched people have meltdowns in university libraries after having to use OSX instead of the already taken PC's, people will likely lose their shit. Hell, they lose their shit over stupid things like start menus being on the top of the screen or Firefox instead of Chrome...
On your second point, I'm sure there is an argument towards free Linux education for a specific sector where Linux has a genuine benefit. The problem as I see it is libraries are often council/government run, and you'd basically need to petition at that point to say "you will pay X for Windows, use Y, which supports all of your old, clunky hardware, with free training on us, and you'll save Y".
Of course, this all involves having a distro that'll easily solve driver issues for 20+ year old printers and fax machines, with support for the shitty web interface libraries use that require IE7 or it flips out, and great support if something does go wrong...all while ensuring that Microsoft won't just give out cheap subscriptions to keep libraries on their tab.
Absolutely agreed. Something facing the public like this is supposed to be comfortable and familiar first and foremost. Works like a charm if you know what you're doing but we're not able to expect that from the general library computer owners.......