[H-GEN] Supporting Mozilla

Sandra Milne fakungabubu at internode.on.net
Sat Oct 18 00:29:25 EDT 2003


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Jason Parker-Burlingham wrote:

> I find showing people the "block pop-up ads" features of mozilla tends
> to work *really* well.  Some public-access computers I work with are
> riddled with spyware and adware, mostly through (I think) users
> clicking on pop-up ads, inadvertently or because they don't know
> better.

I think part of the problem is that with a certain browser, if it's not 
patched, you don't need to click on anything. We discovered some 
nastiness on a computer we own that was impossible to get rid of without 
a complete reinstallation of the OS. After that, the computer has never 
had that browser as default again and the user of the computer fell in 
love with mozilla as I alread had.

Indeed showing users the block popups feature is a big selling point. A 
friend who had never used anything but IE, when shown on my computer 
exactly what Mozilla was capable of, immediately said "when are you 
putting that on my computer?". She loves it and refuses to use anything 
else any more.

I don't think we necessarily need to show people what linux is capable 
of, but what FOSS is capable of. Eventually they will become literate 
enough to want to make the change themselves. Baby steps is the way to 
go. My father, who always insisted that linux involved 'too much typing' 
is considering installing Mandrake "for a look".

People are leaving the billy-wagon in droves especially after the 
blaster worm. I've had more friends and family ask me to help them with 
FOSS choices than ever before. As linux continues to flourish on the 
desktop it will become more of a choice that people are willing to make. 
I've had lots of questions about LindowsOS as well. Unfortunately I've 
never used it or seen it used so I'm not helpful in that regard. Anyone 
have any experience with it?

Sandra.
-- 
fakungabubu at internode.on.net
http://www.livejournal.com/users/silne/
"The 'right thing' starts at the beginning of
the day, not after you've been caught."


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