Linux? Windows? Huh?

This is not a gripe against windows. I use windows on a daily basis and I know how to get the most out of the experience. With a little work, it’s a highly polished and reliable OS. But how much “a little work” can we expect of an inexperienced new computer user. I have also recently installed the latest release of Ubuntu Linux and have found that its ease of use is second to no other OS I’ve used as of yet. What this is, is a gripe against the mainstream OS and computer manufacturing business.

Mainly, new computer users don’t use Linux because they’ve never heard of it and almost no PC’s come with it preinstalled. It wouldnt be hard to convince a person to use Ubuntu Linux who had no experience with computers. The words “Free OS and gobs of free software instantly at your disposal” would win someone over immediatley. And if you think Linux is hard to use, read on.

“Back in the day” people figured out Commodore 64’s and Amiga’s (as well as early IBM’s and Apples) without any problem but today if you stuck 99% of people in front of one of them, they’d instantly transmorgrify into a sack of potatoes. The OS’s (and support services) of today simply produce people who are convinced that you can’t possibly know anything about computers unless you have a degree surrounding them. Simply, they produce dummies. The idiocy of computer hardware vendors amplifies this ten-fold.

I’ve put together a small comparison so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. We’ll go Windows XP vs Ubuntu Linux 6.06.

When you (as a first time computer user) get a new Windows computer, the first time you boot you get the following:

* You get 400 trillion icons spread all over your desktop. * Your “blazing fast new computer” takes 15 minutes to finish booting because of all the packaged software that starts up with it. * Your system tray extends half the way across the screen which has for some reason been set at the stunted resolution of 800×600. * As a result of the preset resolution, you can’t fit 75% of the website that you visit on one screen. You have to scroll from side to side in your web browser. * You don’t know how to get to the control panel let alone operate in it so you can’t figure out how to uninstall programs. (You might not even know such a thing exists) As a result, for all eternity when you boot, norton, mcafee and pc-cillin all annoy the heck out of you constantly telling you that you should sign up for their updating service and buy full versions of their products. They all also run scans at random times for your 120 day trial (after which they still bug you) and this slows your computer down to a crawl on a constant basis. You also have AOL, Netscape, Netzero and other ISP message popping up every time you boot and no doubt 17 other programs asking you to finish or start some process that will no doubt ask you for a credit card number. * Did I mention that you don’t get a functional office suite? Yeah they give you MS Office…but in 30 days it will deactivate itself and demand $329 to continue use. Yeah there are free ones out there, but how many normal windows/office users have you ever met that have heard of OpenOffice.org? Maybe it lacks about 15% of the MS features…but free vs. $300+ sounds pretty stinking good to me. Heck, whole governments (local all the way up to national) have gone to using it over MS office and you don’t hear them complaining… * Do I need to mention how stunted windows help can be? Good luck trying to find out how to do something that you need to do… You can buy a book on how to use windows, but hopefully you’re OK with shelling out the extra $30 bucks on top of the extra $100 you spent to get Windows on this PC instead of Linux.

When you (as a new computer user) receive a new PC with Ubuntu Linux installed on it, the first time you boot you get the following:

* Well, first…you would likely have been told that the OS that came on your PC was totally free. You just saved yourself $100 off the price of a new computer. This isn’t a feature, but it’s worth mentioning. * Maybe one or two Icons on your desktop. They would be links to other hard drives that you have on your system. Other than that, the desktop if your domain to do whatever you want with. * In the top left, there is a menu that says “Applications.” Any idiot could figure out that this means “Programs that I can use!!!” In that menu, programs that you install are automatically placed in the categories that they go best under. You have Games, System, Accessories, Graphics, Internet, and Office Folders. There’s also a convienient option to add or remove options from this menu that you may or may not want. * You don’t know much, but you want to write a paper for class. Duh…the office folder. Inside that folder you find OpenOffice.org products. A word processor, Spreadsheet maker, and a Presentation maker. Aside from the fact that this was all free…you have found what you were looking for instantly…right where one would expect it to be. * Maybe you want to surf the internet or chat. Under the internet folder you find the Evolution mail client, Firefox Web Browser, and Gaim Instant Messenger. Upon starting Gaim you are walked through adding your AIM account, MSN account and Yahoo accounts all into the same program. Your browser suddendly is brimming with features, it automatically updates itself and it even allows you to open *tabs* which means surfing 5 sites doesnt require juggling 5 windows which are clogging up the taskbar (which is placed at the bottom of your screen.) * At the top of your screen you also see a “System” menu. Under this, your first two options are “Preferences” and “Administration.” * Under Preferences you see obvious options like “Desktop Background,” “Sound,” “Screen Savers,” and plenty of other things. * Under Administration you find more advanced options and a very special option called “Synaptic Package Manager.” This is your door to tens of thousands of free programs that you can almost instantly install with the click of a button. You search for what you want, Check the box next to the appropriate result of your search and click “Apply.” This program is downloaded, installed and configured for you. It now shows up in your Applications menu under the correct category and you can use it right away. While some people would say “What if you didn’t know it was there?” I would reply that any person who gave you or sold you a computer with Ubuntu linux would without doubt tell you about this feature. (My one complaint with the system is the lack of this icon being put on the desktop. Small gripe, but a gripe nonetheless.) * Also under Administration is the Update Manager. You open this program and it updates EVERY program that you have installed (yes you read right). It doesn’t just update The OS. It also takes a fraction of the time that Windows Update does and doesn’t require a reboot. * The center option on the menu system at the top of your screen is “Places.” Under this you will find “Home,” “Computer,” and a few others. “Home” is sort-of the linux version of “My Documents.” This is where your files for your user account are stored. What you put in here is yours and can’t be messed with by other users on the same computer. “Computer” brings up the drives that you can access on your computer. (It’s the Ubuntu version of “My Computer.”)

Those of you familiar with Windows are undoubtedly impressed with all you can do with so little effort. Ubuntu linux also installs in under 10 minutes and requires only one reboot. Updating it to the latest versions also takes less than one minute. The entire installation process is graphically driven from start to finish and when you insert the installation CD your computer actually boots into the OS to give you a preview of what you will have when you get done. (There’s an install icon on the desktop that you click to actually install the OS). It will walk you through Manually or Automatically partitioning your hard drive and setting up a user account, and then it will go to town. From this point until you’re done is less than six minutes on a midrange computer. You then eject the CD and reboot into your new OS.

Windows installs in 30-45 minutes. It begins with a semi-graphical/keyboard driven process where you agree to the user agreement (which, incedentally tells you that you don’t actually OWN the the OS, you’re just borrowing it from MS), and then allows you to set up the hard drive for the installation. It then copies some files and reboots. It enters an “out of control” stage where it takes over the installation and sets everything up. It will reboot two or three times during this process.After its final reboot you are brought to a prompt where you set up your user account, network connections and are prompted to register your copy of XP. (You don’t HAVE to register, but be prepared for a hassle if you ever want to call Microsoft for support.) You then must “Activate” your copy by sending your hardware information to MS. If you ever change enough substantial hardware on your PC, you must reactivate it by calling MS and having them give you a “special code.” I’ve done this before and it is about a fifteen minute process.

You then need to update the OS by going to windows update. This takes quite a long time. First you have to download and install Service Pack 2. This is a large file and can take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes (or more) to install after it gets done downloading. You then have to get all the updates that are not included in SP2. After downloading these updates and installing them you will be prompted to reboot. You then run Windows Update again and it will find more updates which were dependant on the previously installed ones. Do this until no more updates come up. At my last reinstallation of windows i had to run windows update 4 times to get all the updates installed. Each time required a reboot. Now Microsoft has what they call the “Windows genuine advantage” which double checks to make sure you’re not an “evil OS stealer” before it will allow you to run windows update. You actually have to download a program, run it and paste the “special code” it generates into windows update which will allow you to proceed.

I should also mention that a base windows install comes with only “basic” accessories and software. It includes not even a trial of an office suite or anything else. This compared to the Ubuntu compliment of almost a hundred third party programs at install time just doesn’t cut it.

Now, which side of the OS industry do you think has it right? I don’t think Microsoft is Evil, don’t get me wrong. I actually kinda like the company. Their competition fuels a lot of third party innovation. I don’t think MS really does much “innovation” except in their rewritten definition, but they do offer rather pretty alternatives to products and some of their stuff does do a better job. I just think having started off on the right foot, they and the hardware vendors stepped on the wrong stepping stone at some point and fell into the river. Now they figure if they throw enough crap into the river, they can somehow swim out. I feel that it’s time for PC big business to go back to the drawing board and try building a bridge.

I've got four servers at home. Because of their various roles, two run Win2K3 and two run Ubuntu (server-flavor) Linux.

I've got several workstations running everything from Win98SE through WinME to WinXP.

Yesterday, my primary desktop went from XP to Ubuntu, and I'm loving it! My laptop still has XP on it, and I'll likely be tethered to Microsoft forever because of my clientele and my skillset.

The article is exactly right, though. It took me about 10 minutes to install Ubuntu over the top of XP with no custom configuring.

Good read. My Dell e1705 came with an unbelievable amount of garbage installed, it took at least 5 minutes to boot. Once I reinstalled xp it booted in 30-40 seconds. It is worth mentioning that one usually has to ask for the xp reinstall CD when they buy their computer. Some companies even charge you for it.

Did any of you install Ubuntu Dapper from the live cd to dual boot Ubuntu and xp? I really like this distribution and would like install it as a dual boot system.

I have also recently installed the latest release of Ubuntu Linux and have found that its ease of use is second to no other OS I’ve used as of yet.

Whoever wrote this clearly doesn't use wireless networking.

When you (as a first time computer user) get a new Windows computer, the first time you boot you get the following:

All this is true and pretty terrible, but it's the fault of the OEMs who make money from including all the trial versions of the various junk. A fresh install of XP from a Microsoft (not OEM vendor) CD includes none of that junk. And if Dell, HP, etc. ever started offering Linux on their home systems, it would have all the junk bundled with it too.

Which Distro does Dell use?

What was the nationality of that companies founder?

Where is that company located?

BTW Welcome back, I hope days spent in the trolls corner taught you a little civility..

Whoever wrote this clearly doesn't use wireless networking.

Issues with wireless networking are almost entirely dependent upon the wireless card you have. Some cards have native support, for which, I've actually found it easier dealing with wireless than it is with windows. If you have an unsupported card, NDISWrappers works great, though it can be a pain to deal with when upgrading kernels.

The reason there is so much trouble with wireless cards is complex, but most of the problem can be layed at the feet of the FCC, which has regulations in place that the networking companies claim will not let them open up their cards for use with Linux. Personally I think their reasoning is not quite on the level, but we just have learned to deal with it.

This was on a pretty new notebook with a built-in Intel Pro 2200b/g card, which is as close to a generic standard as it gets. In searching various forums, distro wikis, etc. I learned that I either do or do not need NDISWrapper and I either can or cannot use it while booted from a LiveCD. Obviously I didn't get very far with that.

The other problem is wireless security. As far as I could tell none of the distros I tried supported WPA2, or even WPA. I may have tried disabling security with a couple distros, but I was never able to connect and I'm not willing to give up security anyway.

It's a shame, because I had gotten curious and really wanted to try Linux as an experiment. I figured as long as I could boot and get online, I could look up how to do everything else. But I finally had to give up on it after enough web searching convinced me that it wasn't just me - Linux appears to make wi-fi tough on everyone.

The distros I tried and failed to get online with were Knoppix 4.0.2, MEPIS 3.4.3, Ubuntu 5.10, SuSe 9.3, and SuSe 10.0. If you know of one that is up to speed with native wi-fi support, by all means let us know.

My laptop has an Intel 2200 card. What you need to make it work is firmware.

The page for the Intel 2200 drivers is at http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/

You need the IPW2200 binary firmware image. The firmware can be obtained here. Download the appropos firmware, and copy the files to

/lib/firmware/

I'm not sure why the firmware can't be a part of the distribution, but you can probably thank someone in washington for that.

What do you run on your Windows servers? MS SQL Server?

Just curious why.

One of them is a Windows Domain server (previously Windows NT 4.0). My network started out as strictly Windows. It also serves as an ASP platform, and FTP server (a holdover from my strictly Windows days).

The other is more of a File/Database server. It runs SQLServer and several MSAccess databases, as well as SourceSafe. It serves as the central repository for installs, sourcecode, work files, documents, photos, music, TiVo shared files, etc.

The first Linux server is strictly a firewall. The other handles HTTP, routing, DNS, etc.

...and of course, all of them fold!

Ah, what a relief. I see "Big Bird" is back.

As a fan of both operating systems, I was just starting to enjoy the comparisons again, sans the Microsoft boot-licking rhetoric.

Sigh. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Yea I know what you mean, I had someone ask me if I minded to lower volume after he left but all we were really missing was the noice in signal-to-noise..

Oh well if history is to be used as a guide he will take a forced leave from teh board at some point in the future (this is not even in the first half dozen times he has been banned over the past two years..

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