Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld) [LWN.net]

Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld)

Posted Aug 5, 2003 12:32 UTC (Tue) by MathFox (guest, #6104)
In reply to: Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld) by blitzmoo
Parent article: Study: Linux nears Windows XP usability (ComputerWorld)

I have the full German version of the report and the authors state that for most tasks the differences between KDE/Linux and WindowsXP are "unwesentlich" (insignificant). Even the difference in average time overall is statistically insignificant.
There were a few tasks significantly harder under Windows and a few task significantly harder under Linux. Overall conclusions were that WindowsXP mainly looked better.
You can read all the information on how they configured the systems, data and remarks per task, etc. in the report. (Available for free, redistribution allowed.)

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results not worth reporting

Posted Aug 8, 2003 16:15 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

The results as reported are just plain worthless for lack of detail. I'm not saying the study itself is worthless -- with the details of what was studied and what was observed, it probably has useful stuff to say.

But the numbers in the article leave out a fact which is crucial to assigning any meaning at all to the results: What are the backgrounds of the study subjects? Are they people who have never used any computer before? People who are upgrading from an earlier version of the same thing? Random people? If someone has found this information in the full report, it would be nice to post it here to complete this article.

If someone who has never used Windows or Linux before can learn Linux as easily as Windows, that means Linux is technically as good. But considering that the average person has used Windows and not Linux, that same result doesn't mean Linux is a good alternative to Windows XP.