Tech ping?
I like Ubuntu just fine, but then again I’m not a typical user. Shoot, I’ve dual booted Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (its most stable version) and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (beta version, final release due sometime next month) before just for s**ts and giggles. I’ve always been of the mind that you go with what works for you. I like Linux. My husband is a gamer, so he runs XP. Someone else likes Macs. If it works for you, then there ya go.
Tried to put Linux (Puppy Linux) on a computer, and it was very difficult to get it to work. Actually, it didn't fully work.
When they make a free operating system that installs easily and then functions easily--and, as freepers on one of the EU court decision threads stated, when more software comes out that works on Linux--then there could be a flood of people to move to Linux (it is free, after all).
It’s ready for me. I went DOS—>Windows98—XP, over 14 years. Last winter, I installed Kubuntu and went cold turkey. Likewise my65 year-old brother whose user profile is like mine—long time Windows user. We thumb our noses at MS updates and viruses.
Kubuntu is great.
I burned the Ubuntu CD and boot off it occasionally.
Aside from losing all my settings when I shut down, the thing that turns me off more than anything else is the fonts.
Some sites render readable fonts but a few sites I go to, ugh!
After reading several horror stories from folks that attempted to partition and install Linux on their Windows comp. I decided to try it only off CD.
Frankly, I'd argue that if Linux isn't ready for Joe User then neither is Windows. I grow weary of hearing the memes about Windows "it just works" and "it's easy to use".
Most issues that people cite as making Linux harder to use than Windows are usually tied to setting up the computer (getting drivers installed and printers set up, for example). In this arena, Windows only "just works" because they got it preinstalled. If these same users had to do a vanilla Windows install (i.e. from a retail box, not the Dell-ified ones they get with their PCs), they would find that "hard", too.
I've had to set up Dell boxes with Windows and then scramble online to get the drivers (even drivers for the network card!). If Windows had the level of support expected of Linux, you'd never need a driver disc with a printer or scanner. It would all be there. The truth is that Linux has built in support for more hardware than any other system on the market.
Another one is that they say that they shouldn't have to go to the command line and edit /etc/some-file.conf to get their printer running. Fair enough. But let's keep the playing field equal here. Do you think that the registry settings are easier? That being told "run regedt32 find key {002300323432-A34jq23942} and change BZORK to true" is better than editing a conf file? I remember sitting in a Chinese restaurant waiting for an order, picking up a paper and glancing at the tech column. Some user (an average joe, from all indications) had written that Outlook Express had conked out on them. The solution? Edit some obscure registry setting. Is that less opaque? I don't think so.
The biggest reason people feel that Windows is easier to use is inertia. They've been using Windows their entire computer lives. They kinda know their way around in it and can survive. By "Linux is hard to use" most of them really mean that "Linux isn't like Windows!". But if Linux were just like Windows, there would be no need for Linux, now would there?
Dell, HP, and Lenovo who sell to the average user disagree..
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yeah. But wait about 5 years and check where Ubuntu is at. It’s Microsoft’s worst nightmare barreling down the track right at ‘em. They know it too. They’re opening up some source code (and hijacking some open source code, changing a line or two, then filing copyrights).
...
I’m installing Ubuntu from a disk I got last week at VMWorld even as I type into a VMware Virtual Machine to give it a go. Perhaps I’ll write it up after I’m done too. :-)
IB4GE