[rodolphoarruda]

I'm a Linux newbie. Or should I say, an Ubuntu newbie. I don't know. I use this system for the same purpose as some people build things with Lego pieces. It's a therapy for me. I like the possibilities that the command line offers. Differently from clicking links (e.g on Windows' Control Panel) you just type what you want. I found it to be a more "precise" way to work. My only complain goes to the file structure and installation process. Whether in Windows you know things will end up in 'Program Files', there's no logic for me where apps are stored in Linux file system. Those three letter acronyms mean nothing to me. They remind me the old days when all data were abbreviated to fit small diskspaces and slow processors. That would be my only complain. I like Linux/Ubuntu so much that I replaced my mom's Win Vista with it. She uses Gmail, Picasa and Skype, aside from browsing websites. She doesn't know the concept of "file" or "folder". For her, the program talks to the Internet and makes all the magic happen. Maybe there are other people just like my mother out there, either too old or too young, with a different view (thus expectation) of the computer screen. Maybe that's what define the "user" anyway. Using Tron's allegory, maybe we are the tech-minded "programs" looking at users with prejudice and thinking about all the points they are missing by being just "users". And I think Canonical is welcoming these people now, like Apple did a few years back.

[rmk2]

I know that the comment is not liked by everyone, but I still think it is somewhat true: "It doesn't matter whether the program is installed into /usr/bin/, /usr/share/bin/, /bin/ or anything else", at least not for the "average user".

Linux puts all of those into a PATH-variable (if you'd like to see what it holds, type "echo $PATH" without the quotes into a terminal). Because of that, you really never have to give an absolute path to an executable (unless you installed it by hand after compiling, something that the fabled "average user" hardly does). Furthermore, since you usually install Programs via the Package Manager (Software Center in Ubuntu?), it gets deleted properly if you uninstall it. Instead, if you type for example "firefox" into a terminal, it looks through all the paths listed in the PATH-variable until it finds the executable called "firefox", then executes it.

Configuration files for individual programs usually reside in your /home folder, much like Windows' "Documents & Settings", only ideally on a different partition separate from the OS.

The only thing you really need as an everyday user is your own /home folder, and as far as I know, that is basically chosen by default for pretty much everything.

This is not so much Ubuntu specific, rather just trying to explain a bit to the parent about the "Program Files" analogue.

[edited for clarity regarding the function of $PATH]