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GNU is Not Unix Software Linux

Why Linux Is Not Yet Ready For the Desktop 1365

An anonymous reader writes "Every now and then a new- or old-media journalist tries to explain to everyone why Linux is not yet ready for the desktop. However all those men who graduated from their engineering universities years ago have only superficial knowledge about operating systems and their inner works. An unknown author from Russia has decided to draw up a list of technical reasons and limitations hampering Linux domination on the desktop." Some of the gripes listed here really resonate with me, having just moved to an early version of Ubuntu 9.10 on my main testing-stuff laptop; it's frustrating especially that while many seemingly more esoteric things work perfectly, sound now works only in part, and even that partial success took some fiddling.
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Why Linux Is Not Yet Ready For the Desktop

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  • by Hoover,L Ron ( 610796 ) * on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:02AM (#27993723)
    I always enjoy these /. stories about Linux acceptance. We are guarenteed a full vetting of why this article is wrong by the Linux-heads and why it is so right by the M$-heads. It's even numbered for easy reference to the sprcific points
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:24AM (#27993905)

    Notice the ".ru" at the end of the domain of the "article". Russia, eh?

    I'll tell you what's going on:

    The Slashdot gang, desperate for traffic and the subsequent advertising revenue from said traffic, teamed up with the Russian mafia and they're writing these Troll articles. Now, nothing increases viewership like controversy and the biggest controversy among computers nerds is Linux vs. Microsoft and how Linux isn't ready for the desktop.

    There you go.

  • No (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:24AM (#27993911)

    Not this shit again.

  • by damburger ( 981828 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:26AM (#27993927)
    LOL Anecdote! My girlfriends computer couldn't uses its sound or graphics card under XP, both worked out of the box with Jaunty. Next anecdote please!
  • by wisty ( 1335733 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:37AM (#27994079)

    Interestingly, the article mostly works if you replace the word "Linux" with "Vista".

  • by trytoguess ( 875793 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @08:44AM (#27994165)

    You even copied the "No reproduction of any kind is allowed without express permission by the author." This makes me smile for some reason.

  • by lazybeam ( 162300 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @09:03AM (#27994463) Homepage

    I'm surprised it's not slashdotted!

    Server: ZX_Spectrum/1997 (Sinclair_BASIC)

    As to the article, I thought almost all of the points are "being resolved" but understand some of them actually require people to agree on things, which does seem to go against the freedoms of the people who don't!

  • Re:Games (Score:0, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18, 2009 @09:19AM (#27994733)
    Why would one who has windows license use linux? Just to be 'cool'?!
  • Re:Games (Score:5, Funny)

    by FingerSoup ( 928761 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @09:36AM (#27995089)
    VM's are a long term viable solution for backwards compatibility... Just ask the designers of Windows 7.... :P
  • Re:Wow.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by KGIII ( 973947 ) * <uninvolved@outlook.com> on Monday May 18, 2009 @09:47AM (#27995351) Journal

    I think it would have been funnier (the article) had it just said "Linux sux" and been done with it. It would have been shorter, amounted to the same gibberish from the same author, and would have saved us all a lot of time and we could have spent more time sitting here debating the merits of various operating systems.

  • Re:Games (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18, 2009 @09:52AM (#27995445)

    ...flapping their wings and squawking like the silly little parrots they are.

    Wouldn't they be silly penguins?

  • by kcokane ( 253536 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @10:36AM (#27996319) Homepage

    Ubuntu 9.10 is great for average users as long they
    can run the thing from a root CLI.

    to configure screen resolution (default 800x600)
    first you get an error message that the default
    config tool won't work because of proprietary
    drivers. do you want to use the proprietary tool?
    yes. proprietary tool fills screen and bottom
    (with apply/save buttons) overflows and is inaccessible.
    figure a way around this by opening more screens.
    apply the new setting. save setting, get error
    message about backup file privs.

    plug in a USB drive. get message that you don't
    have privs to mount it. look for DiskManager tool
    that was present on 8.10. not there. synaptic
    pachage manager: install MountManager. hides button in
    in another menu which you need to configure. find it
    and click it. nothing happens. so, CLI in
    root mode - library object error message in
    MountManager. so, edit fstab and remove offending
    lines. correct privs for mount dirs in /media.
    reboot. screen res wrong again. back to step one.

    eventually, you forget why you were trying to
    access the USB drive.

  • Re:Troll -3 (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18, 2009 @11:18AM (#27997153)

    My, that IS insightful.

  • Re:Games (Score:3, Funny)

    by ArsonSmith ( 13997 ) on Monday May 18, 2009 @11:57AM (#27997965) Journal

    2001 called, they want their Linux complaints back.

"May your future be limited only by your dreams." -- Christa McAuliffe

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