1.2.2. Linux for non-experienced users
Companies such as RedHat, SuSE and Mandriva have sprung up,
providing packaged Linux distributions suitable for mass
consumption. They integrated a great deal of graphical user
interfaces (GUIs), developed by the community, in order to ease
management of programs and services. As a Linux user today you have
all the means of getting to know your system inside out, but it is
no longer necessary to have that knowledge in order to make the
system comply to your requests.
Nowadays you can log in graphically and start all required
applications without even having to type a single character, while
you still have the ability to access the core of the system if
needed. Because of its structure, Linux allows a user to grow into
the system: it equally fits new and experienced users. New users
are not forced to do difficult things, while experienced users are
not forced to work in the same way they did when they first started
learning Linux.
While development in the service area continues, great things
are being done for desktop users, generally considered as the group
least likely to know how a system works. Developers of desktop
applications are making incredible efforts to make the most
beautiful desktops you've ever seen, or to make your Linux machine
look just like your former MS Windows or MacIntosh workstation. The
latest developments also include 3D acceleration support and
support for USB devices, single-click updates of system and
packages, and so on. Linux has these, and tries to present all
available services in a logical form that ordinary people can
understand. Below is a short list containing some great examples;
these sites have a lot of screenshots that will give you a glimpse
of what Linux on the desktop can be like:
