User Friendly vs User Reliable

On various occasions, I heard some people saying 'Linux is not user friendly'.

I asked them which Linux distribution they used.

Most of them said that they have not at all used Linux. Then how could they come to the conclusion that 'Linux is not user friendly'?

Only because of gossips by their peers.

I took some of them to see the Desktop of latest UBUNTU (10.4 to 11.10) versions. There were impressed on the desktop features and application collection.

I took one of them to one of my customer place, who runs Mandriva Linux version 10, since 2004. For the past seven years he was using it without any interruption, without any virus, without any reformatting of hard disk partitions. From the words of my customer, the gossiper came to know , how reliable Linux is!

I told him Linux is not only 'USER FRIENDLY' but also 'USER RELIABLE'.

Just a beginning

On 1st October 2004,  we started developing and deploying Linux based desktop solutions to various business domains. Initially we wanted to provide a solution to local grocery stores.

In Super Markets and Malls, the consumers are allowed to pick the commodity according to their choice and finally the bill is prepared. Bar code system is helping here much for speedy billing.

But in traditional grocery stores, first the bill is prepared and then the corresponding commodities are picked and delivered by the staff of the shop.

Normally more than 2000 commodities are available in a medium to higher end  grocery store. If a busy grocery shop wants to use computers for billing, selection of the required item among the available items is a key factor in deciding the bill preparation speed.

Also the staff of the grocery shop are not well educated to read English. So, the computers in grocery store shall use local language. The printer shall be able to print in local language at high speed.

Some of the consumers may not understand local language, so there need to be English printing also.

Keeping the above points in mind, we had created a completely Bi-Lingual application on Linux having interfaces and printing facility in both Tamil & English.

We created a mapping for the Unicode Tamil font in Linux to ISCII Tamil fonts for TVSE 450/455 Champion Dot Matrix Printers. This facilitated our application to print in Tamil at the speed of printing English.

Also we have provided multiple selection methods for easily selecting the items required by the customer.

We installed the software in one of a reputable customer in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu. We followed up the requirements for the next six months and incorporated the changes needed. Then most of the reputed stores in and around Dharmapuri installed our application and reaped its benefits.

And we had created an awareness about Linux and its strength in our area.