The Next Leap for Linux 517
Nrbelex writes "The New York Times is taking a look at the state of Linux. "Linux has always had a reputation of being difficult to install and daunting to use. Most of the popular Windows and Macintosh programs cannot be used on it, and hand-holding — not that you get that much of it with Windows — is rare. But those reasons for rejecting Linux are disappearing." The article discusses major PC makers' newest offers and compares them to their Windows counterparts."
Less keystrokes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Insightful)
If acceptance of linux is something that the community wants, then it needs to realize that Windows biggest flaws are also some of its best advantages. Afterall, its so easy to install programs on Windows that they practically do it themselves
The ubiquitous nature of windows makes it very easy to fix your machine should something go wrong. Part of it is due to the fact that there are very few versions of Windows, part of it has to do with the vast user base that windows has. You may not like how MS got there, but dislike of the situation won't change the problem.
To those of you who know how to use linux, remember this: While windows may have a steep learning curve when it comes to administrative work, with Linux the curve is a brick wall for most users.
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Insightful)
How is that any different than Linux, with the exception that with Linux, I wouldn't have to leave my house to go fix her computer?
The only reason I've left her on Windows is that she plays those Reflexive.net games. If they played on Linux, and were easy to install (there's nothing easy about Wine, and it only works on these Reflexive.net games some of the time) then I'd switch her over. Heck, I could even install the games for here remotely, if they'd run afterwards.
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Less keystrokes (Score:4, Informative)
Under Linux, you obviously don't need cygwin, and an ssh server is usually installed and ready to go after a default install of most distros. VNC is just as available for Linux as for Windows, although most Linux distributions give you quick access to many VNC flavors through their default package managers, so you don't even have to manually download and install files.
Of course, under Linux, you can just install an NX server/client, which does have its own setup headaches, but once it's installed, using it is just as easy as Remote Desktop. You don't need to establish an ssh connection, then tell the client to tunnel through that connection; it handles all of the ssh stuff automatically and transparently. And with the latest version of NoMachine's NX server/client, you have the option of establishing a new session (even while someone else is running another local or remote session), or attach to a currently running session.
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Informative)
The poster below has the right idea: tunnel the VNC session over SSH (which adds the needed encryption) and then only allow the VNC server to accept connections from the local IP address (I.e. from the SSH server on the same machine).
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know about the rest of you who serve as help-desk for a wide circle of family and frineds, but the average user is completely lost if he clicks an icon and nothing happens. The only reason Linux isn't making inroads against MS on the desktop is that you can't go down to Best Buy and find computers with Linux pre-installed.
More than 60,000 Windows programs won't run on Linux. Partial List here. [viruslist.com]
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And you can do it over Live Messenger which I install to every computer I have to set up.
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Ignoring that what you described can be accomplished in Windows with some type of VNC, it doesn't matter that in your case your mother doesn't fix her computer. In those cases, it doesn't matter if your mother was using Linux, Windows, Unix, or MacOS. That class of computer users will ALWAYS call someone else to fix their computers. But what about the people wi
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Troubleshooting is not easier in Windows, especialy if an uninstall program f**s up and leaves your startup and registry in a mess.
The only real problem from the end user point of view is the numerous intall package formats, if you are r
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:4, Funny)
I feel absolutely qualified in answering your question...
"Very."
You're welcome!
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You can be damn sure. Just this morning a junior tech was trying to install XP SP2 on a computer. He came to me because he thought the SATA hard disk was fried. I pointed out that BIOS start messages showed it properly; then he told me the problem was that XP install just hanged. I told him, "just take the netinstall CD from Debian and run it to the point it offers to partition the hard disk and we'll see" and I returned to my stuff. 25 m
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And even if a Windows installation is done in 60 minutes, what can you do after that? Write in Notepad, i guess. To install all the applications and assorted crap like codecs that a general user will need usually takes a few more hours. In contrast, an Ubuntu installation is
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Of course, only when your Windows CD is old do you understand how crappy Windows is. I recently had the honor to install Win XP Pro SP1, and boy was that annoying. Of course there are many downloads with such an old release, a linux distro would not be fundamentally different (though it seems to me that for the amount of patches Windows downloaded, it should have included apps too, like a distro does). But I assure you that a linux distro would not reboot 20 times in the process. Boot, log in, Windows Update finds patches. Dl, install. Reboot. Login, it finds more patches. Dl, install, reboot, login. It finds more patches, and so on and so on. Why the fuck can't it download everything at once?
Or how about patches that you need to install before Windows Update even offer the latest service pack to you? The service pack is a cumulative update! There should be no prerequisite patches. granted that when installing SP2 via windows update, some files may be skipped if they are irrelevant (already up to date), but I have personally found that on at least 5 different systems, Windows Update was not able to install SP2. I had to download the huge offline install EXE to install SP2, so I'm definitely re-
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Informative)
Also, if you think troubleshooting Windows is easy, you probably haven't done it much. Try installing WordPerfect Suite, Corel Draw, Photoshop, Crystal Reports, PowerTerm Pro, Lotus Notes, and PagePlus on 10 PCs. Crash half of them by cutting power. Then, troubleshoot the DLL hell and disk corruption that results.
Troubleshooting Windows may be easier for you than troubleshooting Linux. That's not an objective measurement. I'd say both have their strengths and weaknesses in troubleshooting. One of Linux's biggest strengths is that so many production server machines so rarely need troubleshooting in the first place. I've never had a Windows server run for three months without downtime, let alone a year or two.
Desktops of both kinds are more likely to need troubleshooting than servers, because you have more finger-poking happening. A well-administered Linux desktop is safe from lots of this, while most Windows desktops still have to be run as administrator to get real work done. Microsoft is making progress on the limited account front, though. On Linux at least you can remove and reinstall a particular package without trashing the libraries in use by other programs, and without rebooting to release any libraries still in use by other programs. Microsoft's registry is probably a really good idea for the OS, but making it a central
repository for every application is a mess.
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If NTFS has gotten as good as ReiserFS and ext3 at r
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Aaaaahahahahaaaaa! *wipestearsfromeyes*
Are you serious? windows is such a bitch to troubleshoot that nobody even tries anymore. Everyone with a clue just reimages when it inevitably starts to act up, home users and corporate IT departments alike. In Linux distros I have wonderful logging by the kernel and the apps, and I can run the apps from the cmd line where they will spit out lots of useful info, and often even have a --debug or --verbose switch. (Not even counting
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:4, Informative)
Windows XP: Go to opera.com, download the Windows installer. (This is chosen automatically, so you just have to click 'Download' on the front page, and then 'Download Opera' on the next page.) Save it to the desktop. Double click on the new file on the desktop. Click Next until you can click 'Finish'.
Ubuntu Feisty: Go to opera.com, download the Windows installer. (This is chosen automatically, so you just have to click 'Download' on the front page, and then 'Download Opera' on the next page.) Save it to the desktop. Double click on the new file on the desktop. Click
Wow, Ubuntu is easier! Maybe you shouldn't have let me pick the program. While there -are- programs that are harder on Linux, any that provide a
Far easier than navigating and downloading through a web site, and updates are handled automatically.
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1) package is in the repository
2) leave out simple steps I listed
Stuff in the repository is real easy to in Ubuntu.
It has add/remove programs like Windows, but you can actually add pretty much whatever program you want.
For stuff not native to the distribution I chose to include everything not in the package manager for my install directions. If Linux ever gets wide commercial support for desktop apps I don't think the situation will be as good though (see SimCity 2000 problems, whic
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Sorry, but that's just not true. In fact, the famous Geek Squad usually fixes all Windows problems by re-imaging your box (which may solve the problem, but also wipes all your data, which is not cool at all, and not REALLY a true fix.) It would be like hiring someone to fix a leak in your roof and you come home and find that the roof was replaced, but now all your personal possessions in your house are gone.
To really fix windows problems requires a fairly significant amount of skill / knowledge that MOST end users (and Geek Squad employees) simply DO NOT HAVE. If this guy's mom runs into problems on Windows, she will call him anyway.
Once a Linux box is properly setup and running (which I admit may be a bit of a challenge if you have certain bits of "Windows Only" hardware) it is LESS likely to have problems than a Windows box in the first place.
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Yes, and those that have that knowledge usually charge a price. What would YOU rather do... pay someone knowledgeable for 6-8 hours to remedy the situation or pay them for 2 hours to re-image and update the machine? Even plumbers charge $90 per hour.
It's a simple matter of economics.
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:4, Informative)
I'm running the stable branch (I don't have enough time for the bleeding edge) and the problems with dependencies have been few and far between. The only piece of software I've needed that I haven't found in Portage (the Gentoo package repository) is Alpine, which is still in alpha stage anyway. Of course, you'll have to compile. And you'll have to compile a lot. But typing './configure', 'make', and 'make install' has pretty much become a thing of the past, 'emerge' does it all for you. And I've never had to move the installed files anywhere. And 'equery' tells you to which package a file belongs to, and which files belong to a package, so you can easily figure that out as well.
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The problem with Linux for Joe Blow is not fixing it when something goes wrong but getting it to work with peripherals, or new programs. It's gotten a lot better, but when Joe goes out and buys some device and plugs it into his Windows machine, the manufacturer of that device has made it as easy as possible for Joe to get the thing working. On Linux it's not (always) so simple
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The ubiquitous nature of windows makes it very easy to fix your machine should something go wrong. Part of it is due to the fact that there are very few versions of Windows, part of it has to do with the vast user base that windows has.
Windows easy to fix? You must mean, "Umm, where's that installation CD again?" ;) I've used Windows 10+ years, Linux 5+ years, and my experience is that Windows is difficult to fix. It's hard to find the root cause for problems, and it's difficult to figure out what can be done to fix the problems permanently. You just hack away and cross your fingers. And boot after every change in settings (okay, this has improved a lot lately.)
Of course, Windows has interesting, non obvious features to prevent breakag
Re:Less keystrokes (Score:5, Funny)
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The fact that it's on mainstream press.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Poor network performance in Vista, the OOXML vote and now, the Excel 2007 calculation howler have made bad press for Microsoft. Not a day passes on Digg without Ubuntu articles getting over thousands of Diggs. So now, the NYT, Forbes, Gartner, Yankee and the rest must join the Linux bandwagon. Or be left behind.
Re:The fact that it's on mainstream press.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Linux's biggest mainstream advance over Vista will probably stay it's lower price for the next few years.
Re:The fact that it's on mainstream press.. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Er.. how many BSD licensed distros have made it to mainstream press? The simple truth of the matter is that GPL has ensured that users get the most benefit from the Freedoms. Else, the corporate idea-thieves would've long ago taken over Linux, and made colourful, bloated clones.. back to Unix days. GPL
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I'm not quite sure what the GP was trying to get at, but this is a bit misleading. The chief innovation of Linux was not technical, it was social. It's not like Linus was the first decent OS architect, but h
Hardware still an issue (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately there really isn't a whole lot the developers can do to change this unless hardware vendors start opening their specs. The good news is that a lot of vendors do realize that having the FLOSS community write the drivers is pretty much the cheapest way to outsource development. As a bonus these drivers tend to be a lot more stable as well.
Re:Hardware still an issue (Score:5, Insightful)
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Amen to that! A wiki should not replace a good configuration tool. I've used YAST in SuSe, Mandrivas tool are pretty good too. But for me the best little setup has got to be PcLinuxOS [pclinuxos.com] it has the same configuration tools as Mandriva , but uses Synaptic to download software. And there are a ton of packages available. You never need to install a new version, it is completely upgradeable via synaptic.
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Re:Hardware still an issue (Score:5, Informative)
Managing releases at fixed date and coordinating with upstream project release is probably the toughest challenge Ubuntu is facing. But on the other hand, this is exactly what gave it the edge in the distro war. So far, the execution have been pretty good and Ubuntu reap the benefits.
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Wait, let me stop myself there. I had to check the Creative open source page [creative.com] to confirm, and there are beta drivers now! But, a Gentoo forum thread [gentoo.org] shows that these are really just alpha drivers. Still, some
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There was talk recently of at least one major OEM demanding that hardware they buy must have linux drivers available, and i doubt they will accept anything marked as beta. Component makers can't afford to lose large OEM contracts.
With companies like Dell now offering Ubuntu, it doesn't make financial sense to maintain completely different sources of components for linux and non-linux systems, they will try to use as many of the same parts across the b
Drivers are a money loser for vendors (Score:3, Informative)
Why Closing a Driver loses its vendor money [catb.org]
ESR may or may not be popular on Slashdot, but he covered this topic pretty well in the Cathedral and the Bazaar [catb.org].
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Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
Those reasons disappeared years ago, what needs to disappear now are stories repeating them.
Re:Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
Its been that way since i installed slackware 1
Re: your sig (Score:2)
So... much improved and faster?
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Filesystem choice? The installer defaults to 'auto' mode and chooses for you.
Network? Last time I installed, it didn't even -ask- me about this. DHCP automatically. (I'd have prefered it ask, since I use a static IP on my network. It was easy to change afterwards through the KDE app for it.)
Package configuration? The only configuration that nee
Impact of the article ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Which basically translates to not for me for the average person, being neither a geek nor wanting to have the self-image of being 'basic'.
CC.
The article contradicts itself. (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course, the article itself already stated:
It's a holdover from Windows/Mac, where installing software can be hard and requires some technical knowledge. The author still subconsciously thinks of installing software as 'difficult' even though they've actually seen the evidence that on Linux it's not. On any modern desktop Linux, software installation is no more complicated than "I want this program. Gimme."
Re:The article contradicts itself. (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope, that's a trap [wikipedia.org]. OS/2 was essentially 100% Windows 3.1 compatible, and what happened? Developers thought, "Why bother writing an OS/2 native app when I can just write a Windows app and be compatible?" So OS/2 never got any apps to speak of. And we know where it is today.
Linux needs those alternative, native (or at least cross-platform) apps.
Linux Dell cheaper than Vista ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Evolution of Linux (Score:5, Interesting)
10 years later, there are some things that are still a bit rough around the corners, but at least now I am using it full time because I find it genuinely more usable and I can get a lot more work done using it than I ever could on windows. It is more stable, and short of accidentally hitting the switch on the power-strip with my feet, never have to deal with system crashes or BSODs.
Right now, we are starting to see some 'really' neat things taking off like next-get UI's (compiz/beryl) and zeroconf that when refined over the next many years will undoubtedly make Linux systems the leader of the OSs. Additionally, due to the compound effect when more users switch over, more companies will release more goodies onto 'nix.
Over the next decade I really think that there will be massive proliferation of Linux desktops and that maybe finally the IT industry can start the long journey to finally rid itself of nasty kludges presented by Redmond year after year. Of course though, we will have to watch out for self contrived idiocies such as political breakdown within the wizard circles (kernel, KDE, Gnome, Mozilla, etc) and also try and sanely resolve niggling issues like the current GPLv2 vs GPLv3 dilemma.
So far since my indoctrination to the Linux world I have seen such vast improvements it boggles my mind, and I expect nothing less for the next 10.
It is as difficult to install windows. (Score:5, Insightful)
Another disappointing thing about the article is that it positions Linux as a "cheap" alternative. The main point of Linux is not that it is cheap, it could be or it might not be. The real power of Linux is avoiding the vendor lock.
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Exactly. Only people who have installed windows knows that it's not very simple, but most people have not. This is why it's completely irrelevant to compare installing linux to installing windows. Installing linux needs to be as simple or simpler than booting up a fresh copy of windows vista for the first time, which incidentally requires no effort beyond pressing the power button. Ye
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Most people would not mind paying more, if they can use the PC as reliably as they use the VCR. The reason why most common consumers use Windows is because, they are familiar with it at work, so they buy the same thing for their home. They seem to reason, "ok I use this machine at work and have built some level of expertise. Same machine at home, I can handle it. If there is a problem, I can ask collegu
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I guess I must have missed something then, as I've installed various flavours of Windows over the years and have never had any issues. Of course, I've never had any issues installing Linux either...
Difficult? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Difficult? (Score:5, Informative)
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have modern hardware without IDE but SATA? gotta have a floppy drive.
Why dont you buy a modern PC and try it instead of living in the land of old outdated hardware.
Why microsoft shipped XP install without the ability to mount and read a USB thumb drive is mindboggling. Vista installer is the same way. god help you if you are using a unsupported raid card for your install/OS disk.
Shouldn't the TFA have been titled (Score:2, Funny)
Thank you (Score:5, Funny)
Linux must tackle this first (Score:2, Redundant)
The other thin Linux distros must do is to make the default install beautiful. I knoe beauty lies in the hands of the behol
Re:Linux must tackle this first (Score:4, Funny)
I know what you mean! My elderly parents have no problem navigating to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and tweaking a REG_SZ value, but ask them to open up Gedit...
(Yes, this was sarcastic.)
Re:Linux must tackle this first (Score:4, Insightful)
This was back in the early days of XP, when a lot of home users had Win9x. I also had to walk them editing some text files like config.sys on occasion. Getting them into the editor was easy, but then..."No sir, you don't need to read me the whole file. Yes sir, I know exactly what we're looking for here. Alright, do you see a line of text that starts with 'buffers'? No? Okay, move your cursor to the end of the last--click the mouse there--right. Okay, now press enter--yes, it should start you on a new blank line. And I want you to type 'buffers=10'. Yes, b-u-f-f-e-r-s. No, don't spell equals, use the sign. Two horizontal lines, to the left of your backspace key. Correct. And the number ten, as in one zero. Yes. Now you want to save that and exit notepad. Yes, overwrite it. No, that won't break anything so long as you did exactly what I told you to do.
The point-and-click interface gives people a sense of security. It makes them feel like they're in control without being at risk of REALLY screwing things up. And there's some truth to that: changing a switch by editing a number in a GUI field is a lot different than editing a text file. You aren't risking breaking the configuration by deleting a slash or a hyphen...the only way to break it is with a configuration that doesn't work.
I would like to see a more unified control panel for the Linux GUIs that allowed you to tweak text files without having to dive into them. It's one of those things that would provide a bridge between being able to use the OS and being able to get the most out of it for your particular requirements. As with all things Linux it has drastically improved in recent years, but it wouldn't hurt to do more.
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Most of those users who hate having to edit a text file, would hate having to change registry keys too.
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COULD THIS BE!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably not.
There's not going to be some sudden revolution to Linux, its going to come gradually. There won't be a Year of the Linux Desktop, I'm thinking one day we'll all look back and marvel about how mainstream Linux snuck up on us.
I doubt this article will get any more than a couple dozen people to try it. But its a start.
What amazes me is how rapidly its improving. The Kubuntu install I'm using is only a year old, but the new Gusty Beta is so much different it might as well be a different OS entirely. How much does Windows improve in a year?
Oh, that's right, they take SIX YEARS to improve, and ended up with Vista.
(K)ubuntu is out pacing Windows so bad its only a matter of time before it overtakes Windows in all fronts. I mean, the automatix problem they're talking in TFA is supposedly already fixed for Gusty, and there's a ton of other features that people will love.
And yeah, and takes days to get an XP reinstall into a usable state too, with drivers and Firefox and updates and anti virus and antispyware and office suites and media players that have to be installed.
Seems to me people who ask the question "is Linux ready for Mainstream?" compare it to a perfect Windows that I've never seen in person.
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That's right, any more than there was a "Year of the Linux Server". Linux's presence in the server area just kept growing, until now it's just one more tool to be used when appropriate.
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Yes, but does it run on... (Score:2, Funny)
And to bring things closer (Score:5, Informative)
Seems to work pretty well, too.
http://www.wine-doors.org/wordpress/?page_id=5 [wine-doors.org]
NO! Not Automatix! (Score:5, Informative)
Codecs are now installed automagically whenever you attempt to open a media file for which you do not have the correct CODEC.
Automatix IS NOT recommended.
Re:NO! Not Automatix! (Score:4, Informative)
On a fresh 7.10 install:
Add/Remove, Show all packages, "restricted". Install restricted package.
You now have installed: Java6, Flash9, video codecs, lame, dvd playback, ms fonts, and more.
No command line, no downloading of a 3rd party unrecomended script. Just easy. Compare that to Windows.
Even going outside of the package manager, most people find there is a deb for their distro (eg. Google Earth).
I removed the "Made for Windows" sticker and replaced it with a "Powered by Ubuntu" sticker. Ubuntu 7.10 is the release that has replaced Windows for me.
Let them eat Windows (Score:2)
Sure, it would be nice from a driver standpoint, as I can foresee many more hardware manufactur
installation difficulty vs windows (Score:2)
Vista bomb not helping Linux (Score:2)
"Ready for the Desktop" (Score:3, Insightful)
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My parents are like most computer users in that they don't really know anything about different operating systems. They simply expect the software on the CD (or that they downloaded) to install and work. If that doesn't happen, guess who gets a phone call.
Yes, I know
The other 'problem' with Linux (Score:3, Insightful)
You're right about the hardware support. I have been planning to move my home PC to dual boot with Linux since forever: I've been leaving separate hard disk partitions free for this purpose for years. But I never have actually installed Linux on my main home machine, because every time I come to look at it and do the research, I find showstopping issues with some piece of hardware or other.
I don't think that's the biggest obstacle to widespread Linux adoption, though. In fact, the real problem with Linux
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Usability is a nightmare. The UI is cluttered with useless, confusing icons and half of the functions behind them don't even work properly
What are you talking about? Have you seen a recent GNOME or KDE desktop? Lots of thought and care were put into uncluttering the desktop and making icons and menus make sense -- on both of the major desktops.
But configuration is the worst problem, why is it so hard to make a system architecture and drivers that don't require constant hand holding regarding even the most basic settings?
It's not. I haven't had to compile a custom kernel in gods-knows-how-long. Most common hardware devices are supported out of the box on modern, polished distros like Ubuntu or Fedora. For the four computers in my house, I only ever needed to manually configure ONE piece of hardware -- a USB wirel
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What are you talking about? Have you seen a recent GNOME or KDE desktop? Lots of thought and care were put into uncluttering the desktop and making icons and menus make sense -- on both of the major desktops.
Personally, I like KDE, I even like Gnome, but I'm a geek. And I'm not denying that desktop environments didn't come a long way towards usability. At the same time, I think it is necessary to refine them relentlessly. Anyone who thinks KDE is ready for their mom or your average office worker is clearly kidding themselves and I invite them to conduct their own study.
It's not. I haven't had to compile a custom kernel in gods-knows-how-long. Most common hardware devices are supported out of the box on modern, polished distros like Ubuntu or Fedora.
Huge issues for me are multihead configuration and other graphics int
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You're talking about Windows, right?
Second, supporting Windows apps is a huge problem, too. For all intends and purposes Wine just doesn't work, at least not of you don't know how to tweak and
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1. The machine came with Windows, they have no clue that there is an alternative. Much the same as to many people IE is "the internet", for a lot of people Windows is an integral part of the computer and they have no concept of changing it any more than you would change the tube in your TV. (No, that does not make them retards, it makes them uninformed)
2. It is what they know and they are afraid of change. Even when Microsoft dictates change with an upgrade, the changes between two versions of the same bit of software are perceived to be smaller than the jump between different bits of software (whether or not this is true).
True, but publicity helps. However, I'm a little afraid that average people (let's get away from the retard image) when they finally say "hey, I'm gonna try this Linux thing" are in for a disappointment. I'm talking for example about people who love to tinker with their computer in their spare time. There are lots of them and they tend to be huge influencers on their social surroundings. And I know we can't win a huge portion of them over, just because nobody cared enough to make this a priority.
3. They are not interested enough to change - their computer does more or less what they want and they don't want to go to the effort of changing (even if the change would make things better for them in the long run).
I think t
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When was the last time you tried a fresh copy of Ubuntu? 7.10 seems way less cluttered than Vista to me and I think it's quite similar to 7.04 and 6.06 (never tried those, but Screenshots look similar).
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You could always just use VMWare Server. Free (as in beer), easy to use, and doesn't require hardware virtualisation support for 32bit guests.
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3. Objective publicity, especially in comparison to Windows.
It is just amazing how much problems Windows users withstand with a shrug of the shoulders, thinking "it's just the way Windows is". It's incredibly acceptable for Windows to have problems. In contrast, any problems average people face with Linux are huge. It's perfectly okay to tell your boss that Windows ate your source code ("Well, shit happens."), but try that again with Linux ("I just knew this would happen.").
I
Re:what? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's nice to see an article that at least touches on the shortcomings that hold Linux back as a desktop operating system AND about what is being done/needs to be done to resolve those.
I think this sums it up nicely:
Linux is easy to start using, especially distros like Ubuntu that bundle a lot of good apps into a near-turnkey solution. I don't think any other OS is quite so functional immediately after install. Linux is also a dream for the technical-minded power users who love to customize and control every aspect of their digital workspace. Where Linux falls short right now is in the middle ground: going from the basic install to a system that is functionally competitive with Vista Home Premium or OSX without being one of those powerusers is a daunting task that can--and will, given time--be made easier.
Articles like this coming out of the mainstream media can seem like fluff with very little content to the avid Linux community, but they need to be taken seriously. They're a good indication of what the outside world wants to see in the next round of distros, which gives the developers at least a hint of a way to expand the userbase. Based on this article and others like it, I'd suggest two things:
1) Make media easier to start using. I'm sure there are a dozen distro teams working on this right now, so I'm probably preaching to the choir...but it needs to be said, lest no one say it at all. I've had issues making media work in Linux recently, and am sticking with Vista at the moment because I can't find a few consecutive hours to devote to troubleshooting the matter.
2) The current method of documentation is quite informative, but a bit dry and sometimes difficult to absorb due to the format. The Linux community would be greatly benefited by solid tutorials based on the documentation and FAQs that are spread all over the internet. I'm not talking about a text file tutorial...I'm talking about a video, or even (if it's possible) a custom live cd distro for the purpose of instructing users. However it can be executed, the end result should be advancing the skill level of the user beyond that which they might reach with the current documentation. (disclaimer: I have a personal interest in this, as I tend to stall out on Linux projects because I have trouble finding some crucial piece of information that might be better taught than read.)
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I got a challenge for you. Install Linux on an empty hard drive (shouldn't be a problem), and then install Vista in a way that
a) You resize the Linux partition to make room for it
b) After installation you have dual boot for both Windows and Linux
c) Both still work
If you can manage to do this, I bet that James Randi will give you the 1 million dollar prize.
And for the record, not once has the dualboot installation failed when I have installed L
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Dude, calm down. You're seriously going to get all pissed about Dell shipping a binary network driver?
I think it's a legitimate concern. I'm a proud owner of a Dell Inspiron that came with Ubuntu pre-installed. I don't know if the network hardware is proprietary on it. Nevertheless, with binary drivers, sure it works now, but what about with a later version of Ubuntu? What if Dell stops supporting it? Open source/specifications is not just a fell-good concept, it directly effects usability and longevity of hardware.