Posted on 06/12/2006 5:41:51 AM PDT by N3WBI3
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, its 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 Ive used as of yet. What this is, is a gripe against the mainstream OS and computer manufacturing business.
Mainly, new computer users dont use Linux because theyve never heard of it and almost no PCs 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 64s and Amigas (as well as early IBMs and Apples) without any problem but today if you stuck 99% of people in front of one of them, theyd instantly transmorgrify into a sack of potatoes. The OSs (and support services) of today simply produce people who are convinced that you cant 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.
Ive put together a small comparison so you can get an idea of what Im talking about. Well 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 cant fit 75% of the website that you visit on one screen. You have to scroll from side to side in your web browser. * You dont know how to get to the control panel let alone operate in it so you cant 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 dont 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 dont 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 youre 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 isnt a feature, but its 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. Theres also a convienient option to add or remove options from this menu that you may or may not want. * You dont 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 didnt 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 doesnt just update The OS. It also takes a fraction of the time that Windows Update does and doesnt 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 cant be messed with by other users on the same computer. Computer brings up the drives that you can access on your computer. (Its 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. (Theres 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 youre 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 dont actually OWN the the OS, youre 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 dont 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. Ive 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 youre 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 doesnt cut it.
Now, which side of the OS industry do you think has it right? I dont think Microsoft is Evil, dont get me wrong. I actually kinda like the company. Their competition fuels a lot of third party innovation. I dont 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 its time for PC big business to go back to the drawing board and try building a bridge.
Boy, talk about "Speak the name of the Devil..."
It's a clone of American software called Unix, put out by the son of noted communists in Finland.
Ummm, the GPL does not grant you "ownership" of Linux - it merely grants you a license to use and modify it.
If you're referring to Bob Young (the founder of Red Hat), he's not from the USA. And surely you aren't referring to Suse, which comes from Germany.
Oh puhleaze!!!
Is this guy kidding me ?
Linux is far less user friendly to inexperienced people than windows.
I lost all interest in this article after I read that line because obviously this writer is a few kernels short of a full operating system.
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Redhat was not ofunded by Bob Young but way to make stuff up for points... Red Hat was founded by Marc Ewing..
Red Hat founder joins the circus
Bob Young has traded in his Red Hat for a top hat. Known for sporting a crimson fedora at trade shows, the founder and one-time chairman of Linux software maker Red Hat now plans to don the duds of a ringmaster when he kicks off his latest venture, Lulu Tech Circus, at the end of this month.
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-956636.html
Linux is foreign no matter how much you'd like to cover it up.
"Linus is one of the most mellow and balanced voices in technology."
Ridiculous, Torvalds has suggested people "hire a hit man and whack the guy" if they ever sue you for patent infringement.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=torvalds+%22whack+the+stupid+git%22&fr=FP-tab-web-t400&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8
Which may be why no one has sued for patent infringement yet, despite open source groups admitting there close to 300 violations in the kernel alone.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=283+patents+linux&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t400&x=wrt
I know darn well what it is. I use it for my personal system (and a laptop, no less). Software is cloned all the time. That doesn't make it "fake" (unless they claimed it was UNIX, which they didn't) and being the son of a noted communist does not make you yourself a communist. Your reasoning on that score is the same one that liberals use to say that whites should pay reparations.
What IS your beef with it? Is it that it is not an "American product"? (if so, bear in mind that programmers from all over the world hack away on it and it isn't "owned" by anyone the source is, well, open).
All of this I know. I use Gentoo Linux at home and I love it. I am just trying to get his "arguments" (you called it slander, which fits far better) out in the open before someone who knows no better goes away thinking that Communists are planning to take over the world by spreading the insidious software known as Linux.
I have many problems with it, as do many others, which is why it's stuck down in minority number of users despite the obvious campaign to push it down everyone's throats.
To start with, it's not American, and exisiting American products are better. It's backed by radical leftists, like Richard Stallman, whose stated goal is to make all software free, thereby destroying a huge US industry that provided the wealth for several of the richest Americans, including the world's richest man. Yet it's constantly pushed by those who wish to claim it's somehow superior to the existing American products, and try to hide the fact it's foreign and backed by socialists like Stallman. They also want to deny that every communist government on Earth is standardizing on it, as is the DNC here in the US.
Until you're willing to admit those basic facts, or at least admit their possibility, there's little for us to discuss. I just want the truth to be known, despite the concerted effort by some to constantly cover it up.
I, for one, admire your patriotism. I'm not quite sold on what an OS has to do with national pride, but I'm glad to see someone sticking up for America. =)
Like what? It's more secure and more stable. The main reason that it is "stuck" in the minority is that it is facing a near monopoly--one that was already in existence when it was first written in 1991.
While there are some overzealous geeks who would "shove it down people's throats", there is no "obvious campaign" except in your own paranoid mind. The vast majority of computer user's don't even know it exists.
To start with, it's not American, and exisiting American products are better.
It isn't American. But then again, it isn't Swedish, Finnish, Chinese, Mongolian, or even Summerian. There are people from all over the world, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES who work on it.
It's backed by radical leftists, like Richard Stallman, whose stated goal is to make all software free, thereby destroying a huge US industry that provided the wealth for several of the richest Americans, including the world's richest man.
First of all Stallman founded GNU and GNU != Linux. Linux is an operating system kernel and, in case you didn't know, the GNU project has been working on their own kernel, HURD, and were working on it before Linus began his.
Secondly, American != Better. A free market favors the best products rather than the ones made within a certain country (ours isn't truly a free market, but rather an almost-free one). Linux is a better product. Give it time.
Thirdly, even if GNU/Linux became the system of choice, this would not bring down software. GNU relies on programmers to create the code. Companies would, unquestionably, hire them to write code within the projects to implement features they needed. Furthermore, many companies use applications that are developed and used 100% in-house. They will still need programmers to create and maintain software for their own use. While Stallman might like to end commercial software it won't happen and even if it did, it wouldn't end programming as a profession.
Fourthly, by using it you are not supporting Stallman or his politics.
They also want to deny that every communist government on Earth is standardizing on it, as is the DNC here in the US.
There are a few reasons for that. First, it could be that those organizations LIKE IT BETTER! Secondly, it is free ("as in beer"). This is a boon to communists who don't really want to pay anyone anything. Besides, they probably care more about security than many members of the US government. Remember the loony hacker who broke into US computers looking for UFO info on military computers? The computers he broke into were Windows systems (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4715612.stm). It's just a lot easier to have a good, secure Linux system than it is a good, secure Windows one.
Nobody is covering up anything. Calm down. The fact is that none of your complaints have anything to do with whether or not it's better. You never argue that Windows is superior to Linux technically. You just attack those who use/create it.
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