Why do people say that Linux is not user-friendly?

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Well, anyway, I'm using Linux again for my server after a stint with Windows and I *still* say that Linux servers are not as user-friendly as Windows. If I didn't have backed up config files from my last try at Linux, I would still be configuring the thing.

I know you guys probably think I'm an idiot for preferring GUI config tools over editing text config files, but that's just how my brain works. I have better things to do during the day than sit for hours googling options and values for config files when they should instead be a check-box or radio-button on a GUI config tool instead. What I've been through with Linux servers is NOT user-friendly.

I'm currently using Fedora 12 as we speak to type this. I think that people try to use the wrong distros when they first start out. Things like Debian, Gentoo, Slax etc are NOT for the faint of heart.

Newbies should stick with distros like Mepis, Fedora, SuSE (the newer ones), Mint, Mandriva and Cent OS. Basically the GUI and the command line should be both fully developed. I also believe that KDE is far easier to use then Gnome, which gets annoying real quick.

Newbies should also consider going to Borders Books or even Amazon to buy a book on the distro that they decide to use.

They also must commit to downloading and burning at least 3 different live CDs to test with their hardware and then getting the full DVD version. You can install off of the live CD, but the DVD will usually give you more features to choose from.

I would also advise those interested in switching away from M$ to try Open Solaris and PC-BSD as well as the friendly LInux distributions. Open Solaris uses Gnome, but still may be of interest to some. These 2 are true UNIX with a friendly interface, not Linux. PC-BSD is based on Free BSD.

It will probably take more then one live CD test before the best distro for your hardware and network makes itself known. Switching distros is not unusual either within the first 3 months. Be aware that the UNIXs can't read Linux filesystems easily and vice versa. Do you backups on FAT or NTFS if you switch between these.

whitelightning777 - Have you tried Debian lately? I don't find it any more difficult to use than Fedora, and it's certainly not in the same sentence as Slackware or Gentoo. You also forgot (or deliberately left out?) Ubuntu when talking about beginner distros. And I COMPLETELY disagree about KDE being simpler than Gnome - I find it's very easy for even an experienced user to "break" something in KDE, and it's not always easy to find a solution among the multitude of rarely-used options they present you with. Gnome to me is a simpler, more refined interface, where everything I need is there and everything I don't is tucked away neatly in a drawer, as opposed to KDE where everything is just strewn about. ...But other than that, I agree with your post 100%

Windows may be many things, but easy to understand it ain't. Get a novice to try to take ownership of a directory and assign NTFS permissions to it, or to understand a M$ log file. The squealing will get deafening real fast. If we wish to invite disaster, have them try out regedit a few times...

..... Kaboom ! !!

What those with limited computer skills need is a GUI type of desktop that is visual, not so much with the command line unless it is super easy. KDE does this job nicely as a desktop. So does Xfce, even though its light weight and a little bit Spartan.

In fact, I would go so far to say that the type of desktop is probably more important for a novice then whatever distro or operating system is underneath it. For example, my nephew who uses Linux howls bitterly if it doesn't run KDE 4 or at least Gnome. He can't stand KDE 3.5.