Task Orientation vs. Application Orientation

The problem with many users nowadays that presents a mbuttive hurdle in getting them to adopt alternative platforms and software is the mindset of app orientation vs. task orientation.

Usage breeds familiarity; and thus monopolistic commercial software corporations vie for the mindshare of consumers by doing everything possible to get them to use their software (andonlytheir software) in order to accomplish tasks.

In doing so, people no longer think in terms of task orientation, but rather they automatically buttociate the task with the application to the point that they don't even differentiate the two.

For example, Internet web search becomes "google", to the exclusion of the myriad other web search engines in existance like Lycos, Dogpile, etc. The internet becomes "Internet Explorer", email becomes "Outlook Express", the computer itself is now "Windows". Total and complete mindshare.

In presenting Linux and OSS to people, the first thing that has to be done is to break them of this artificially induced dependancy on proprietary software and get them to think in terms of task orientation...

"Mrs. Jones, what is it you would like to do?"

"I want to get on Internet Explorer."

"What site were you trying to look at?"

"I want to go to Yahoo"

"Any WEB BROWSER can get you to Yahoo, you don't need to use Internet Explorer, as a matter of fact, it's better that you don't. Here, let's launch Mozilla Firefox and get to that page..."

You see? Once people are shown the difference between a "means-to-an-end" and the end itself, then they can be successfully introduced to better alternatives. As they use these alternatives, then they break the cycle.

We need to get people to start thinking in terms of Task Orientation.

-- rapskat - 18:30:22 up 1 day, 21:25, 6 users, load average: 2.90, 2.18, 1.85 Abandon the search for Truth; settle for a good fantasy.