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Ubuntu 6.06 Reviewed
Mark writes "This year has been a huge step forward for Desktop Linux users. First, Fedora Core 5 was released and featured the new Gnome 2.14. Then SUSE 10.1 showed us how well applications could be integrated to make a desktop look great. Now it was time for Ubuntu to release their latest version: 'Dapper Drake.'" Oh yeah, the inital review is good, too. Worth checking out for desktop Linux users.
Also, she is completely able to download and install an updated executable from the correct website when she is in Windows.
Of course she is able to: Because Microsoft offers an automatic update feature. Grandma doesn't have to do anything but click "OK" to get her updates. And these updates from Microsoft include binary hardware drivers (unlike Ubuntu - due to ideological reasons)! Ubuntu's update service does not unless poor old grandma updates "Universe repository" (yea, I'm sure she'll understand what that is!).
hat you are trying to say, is that not everyone can setup and manage a computer, and maintain a healthy, powerful and updated operating system on it.
No, what I'm saying is that some operating systems have a long way to go before they equal the usability of XP or OSX. I think I said that quite bluntly. And when grandma, or any other non-tech savvy person, can't play MP3s or family videos on Ubuntu because of "licensing restrictions," they aren't going to know what to do. Oh, they're supposed to google "ubuntu mp3 support" and execute apt-get install gstreamer-whatever gstreamer-mpeg-whatever to get the support they need. Do you really think these "simple" commands are understandable to grandma? Or do you think she is even going to know what a repository is? Why would she fool around with this when she can just use XP?
Then compare installing any other application on Dapper vs. Windows.
Ok. In windows, grandma just double clicks a setup.exe which does all the work for her. If a similar application doesn't exist in the default Ubuntu repositories as a .deb package, then she's out of luck unless she knows how to ./configure ; make install.
Windows is more difficult on this much more common task for a newbie than installing custom, 4%-extra-performance-gaining graphic drivers.
That's an uninformed comment. Double clicking setup.exe every single time is not harder than having to compile some obscure application that doesn't exist in the repositories. And nvidia doesn't exist on merely 4% of computers. I'd wager that it's closer to 30% or 50%. And video acceleration is needed for a lot more than just video games. That is why microsoft provides these binary drivers in their Windows Update mechanism.
> Not that I do not epect any bugs at all, but their number is so great.
So quit whining and start fixing them.
My other car is first.
As for why Nvidia should contain trade secrets and Intels should not. Perhaps it's because Intel produces a mediocre integrated graphics chip for laptops and cheap PCs and certainly not something which is competing with Nvidia & ATI at the bleeding edge of graphics performance. If you don't want to buy a decent card then that's your business, but don't think for a second that your choice or your own lack of pragmatism should dictate what other people expect or want from their own systems.