Desktop Linux is and always will be a non-starter. Too many competing distros. No uniformity of UI. Besides, Linux is way too hard for most people and they wont want to deal with it. Install software on Windows? Double click an icon. Install Linux software? Find the correct repositories for your distro. Download it and try to install it with the command line. Oops. Wont work. Dependency failure. Missing libraries. Linux is best as a server OS and as a geek toy.
also people want the windows software, not linux software
Heh, careful there, them’s is fightin’ words for some folks! :)
I wonder if this machine can be slapped around to become a reasonable media center. Shove a high-end video card into it...
...oh wait, that’s right Linux. I’ll stop right there. The next step in that process is cruising usenet to find drivers for the video card, finding them, installing them, discovering they don’t work, finding the source code for the drivers, installing developer tools so I can rebuild it myself... All of this, of course, being done without a monitor. Gah.
I used to think this. However, I installed Ubuntu linux on a spare machine this summer, just to see where Linux was at, and was quite surprised. It was very user friendly and had a very windows-esque look and feel to the desktop. Installing programs (even those downloaded from the net) has become automated and is no longer the "geeks only need apply" hassel it used to be. If all I was using a computer for was office apps, internet and music I would switch in a second.
You obviously have never heard of Synaptic or Aptitude. Installing software in Debian based/Ubuntu based distros is far, far easier than installing Windows software. The only exception is installing Windows software in Linux (which defeats the whole purpose).
I installed Ubuntu Linux 7.1 on my primary machine at home (the one I'm on now), and I think that your response is a little off target.
I downloaded the ISO, burned it to a CD, and rebooted my machine. The CD loaded up, and after it ran through its processes, it came up to a desktop, with an option to install permanently. I told it to do so, and it did. No hunting for drivers, no real problems at all. In fact, the only "real" problem was my secondary drive was formatted as NTFS, and I had to do a little reading to correct that issue - just like when I first started out running DOS - had to do a little reading.
I think one of the great things about the OS is the community. If I have a question, there are a group of forums I can go to, post my question, and have an answer in a very short period of time. The Windows community seems to have a ton of folks who enjoy sniping at newbies (and even old hands) who have questions. I haven't encountered that yet within the Ubuntu community. I'm sure that will change, though, as more folks come over.
Install Linux software? Find the correct repositories for your distro. Download it and try to install it with the command line. Oops. Wont work. Nope - I go to System, Administration, Synaptic Package Manager, and select the software I want. I'm already connected to the Repository, and have a dozen or so others to select from if I need to. Haven't had to mess with Terminal for the command line, with the exception of calling Wine so I can run Windows applications, and so far, I've only needed one.
Dependency failure. Missing libraries. Haven't had any of those problems yet. And if I do, I'll deal with it like I've dealt with all the Windows problems I've had. I'll research the issue, and correct it.
It does everything I want it to do, and everything I need it do to do. It does it well, and it does it easily. No lockups, no BSOD, nothing. My 74 year old father is getting ready to install it on his machine. But then, he's a real geek.
How to install software on Ubuntu Linux
1) Boot up Ubuntu
2) Open Synaptic
3) Choose software
4) Click “install”
2) Profit!
(Question marks were unnecessary in this case. :p )
If you’re really interested in Ubuntu, check out this site.
This is where I got started. Wubi will install Ubuntu as a dual boot on your machine. I ran that for a few weeks before I decided to make the change.
FWIW, I run a linspire machine (Which is yet another distro of Linux based on the Ubuntu distro) and I have had zero problems with the box at all.
It runs everything I need, I have installed a few things with their “Click and run” software so there are no issues with compiling or make install issues.. lol
Im a unix geek but this was a 200 dollar box I got from Sears and it has been VERY cool for day to day use. Mainly I got it as a toy.. but I have found it very helpful for many tasks.
Best part? Putting in USB Drives and not needing to mount them.. box does it all.. lol
"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
I’ll tell you this: I switched, cold turkey, from years of XP to Kubuntu. I don’t know linux from a hole in the wall. I function beautifully in Kubuntu. I use Adept to install new programs so I don’t have to find repositories or use command lines (unless I want to). Kubuntu is made for the masses of non-nerds.
Welcome to the new millennium. First off, this so called pc is a recipe for failure. It’s just a google money making ad harvesting gimmick...just like their so called phone.
But, to my point. To find, install, and run new software on an Ubuntu, Mandrake, Red Hat, Mepis, Minix, Debian, SuSe, etc, etc, etc, distro, you need to...
1. Click on your package manager
2. Select the software to install
3. Click Apply.
4. Click on the Panel (Menu) and click on the software you just installed to run it.
It really is that simple. The other night I had my wife, who hasn’t ever seen a Linux machine, can’t even spell geek, install Ubuntu. The rules were...she couldn’t ask any questions at all.
37 minutes later, she had a fully functioning Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty distro up and running and surfing the net, and playing cd’s. And it does come ready to work or play.
Download an iso, and burn it, then give it a whirl by running it “live” from the cd, you might be surprised. :)
Bill Gates is that you ?
Bull. Modern Linux distros plus OpenOffice (particulary Ubuntu) are amazingly slick — everything works and they install faster than Microfraud Vista, XP, etc.
As I see other people have pointed out subsequent to your post, your description would have been quite apt 7 or 8 years ago. It’s a different world now on the Linux desktop.
I like the part where you type in “MAN XYZ” and it floods your screen with page after page of cryptic options.
And after near 30 years of mainframe work, ain’t like I’m a newbie or somethin!
But I do actually like the latest Knoppix distro. Fairly easy to use and setup. Even though it is billed as a “rescue system”, it’s better than almost all others I’ve seen!