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CBC Recommends Linux To Average User
rustalot42684 writes "The CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] has posted an article on its website promoting the use of Ubuntu Linux to the 'average computer user'. 'With the exception of gaming, which is limited, almost all of the average person's basic computing needs are well looked after with this package. I've used the last three versions of Ubuntu on my main portable web-surfing computer for years just to avoid viruses and spyware (as the vast majority of these nasty programs are written for Windows), and I have yet to be disappointed.' The author seems to have made some sweeping generalizations about the development of GNU/Linux, but that aside, will mainstream media coverage help more people switch?"
The CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] has posted an article on its website promoting the use of Ubuntu Linux to the 'average computer user'.
No, David Conabree, a regular reviewer of new high-tech gear and longtime computer user has written a favorable story on Ubuntu that's been published on the cbc.ca website.
I'm a big fan of cbc.ca and most things Canadian (except for the beer, of course), but I doubt they have an official position of open source software, or are otherwise in the habit of recommending a particular Linux distro to their readers.
Since Dapper it's had a live CD based GUI installer, and Feisty is going to bring in easy installation of restricted codecs and graphics card drivers. Trust me, it's ready.
I have to agree with the bit about Average Joe and Ubuntu. While I skim /. daily, I am in no way technically inclined, and I just installed Ubuntu on my XP box. It did take me over a week to get it right (working in 2 hour increments due to my crummy schedule), but we are talking remedial level here. And what I was not able to figure out on my own, the community stepped in to fill the gaps for me.
There are four boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Don't be sad. Look at it from a corporation's point of view.
#1. FREE!!!!!
#1a. No more money spent tracking licenses
#1b. No more time spent tracking licenses
#1c. No more threats of "license compliance audits".
#2. The package system means that upgrades are even easier than on Windows.
#3. Text-based config files means it's EASY to troubleshoot problems. Diff the files between a working box and the problem box.
and so on and so forth.
People will become familiar with Linux when it starts to replace their existing desktops where they work. That's going to take some time (years).
That will get the hardware support which is the REAL issue.
We're seeing this in some companies and governments. It's only going to accelerate over time.
Up to 2003, I think overselling linux was a real problem. These days I think many here are underselling linux - people are not complete idiots. They may not know how computers inside or out - but many just want a decent browser, a word processor, and many, with kids, want something that little Timmy can't mess up - the little kids not being able to install crapware and killing the computer is a big plus.
Is sweeping your computer for malware with several programs more tolerable? How about slowing it down in general with virus detection. How about running all these programs and still having crap slip through?
You can make Windows secure, but default it isn't. Windows is not some magical utopia where everything works - it is work but people don't recognize it as such - instead it becomes an "inevitable" task - like having to defrag the drive is normal chore on Windows given hardly a thought "why am I doing this crap?"
I think many in the Linux community are selling Linux short by problems that were issues 3 or 4 years ago but not so much today. The last few people I switched were people who had malware infested Windows computers almost beyond repair and they wanted Linux for several reasons - I was asked to help them put it on there, they even specified Ubuntu. These are not computer people.
Most of their printers work seamlessly. Their cameras work seamlessly. Their MFCs work for the most part - though there was one that was a pain in the ass to install for no reason (looking at you brother).
And games? Many don't play games in the first place though I keep their Windows partition around just in case. One guy plays flash games on line a lot - no linux barrier there.
Linux is truly good enough for a large segment of the population out there.
That pretty much nails it. Just the other day I was trying to figure out why my PC was running slow after getting a new audigy sound card. Well, come to find out, the "driver software" also included about ten other "helper" programs that I didn't even need, some things were even for devices my particular sound card does not have. Of course these weren't in the places you'd expect (like services.msc or startup dirs). Some of these startup programs weren't even in msconfig. Noooo, instead they were in some CurrentVersion registry key, RunOnce I think it was. Insane. I remove them, and all is well. Why am I telling you this?
Because it's just as you said: just another piece of trivia to add to the heap. These registry edits, which I just found online, probably won't apply to Vista. Heck, I'd have never known where to look had I not stumbled across this info. There is no systematic approach one can take to fixing problems on Windows. I definitely feel like all the knowledge I have accumulated from fixing my PC as well as everyone else's (which I do successfully all the time) is just that...a heap of disconnected facts.
While I am somewhat green with the linux CLI (but typing this post on my ubuntu box, so I use linux), I have noticed that things are a bit more consistent on the Linux side. I think the one thing that make Windows easier, though, in spite of itself, is that somewhere someone has had a similar problem and fixed it. I have not had the same success with googling linux problems.
blah blah blah
See for yourself in this blow by blow install and feature compare. Summary here. A lack of drivers and compatibility were only the start of the author's problems which digital restrictions greatly multiplied.
As usual, the Microsoft story is worse than you would expect.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
As a Canadian Linux user and advocate, I have handed out more than my share of Ubuntu and Kubuntu disks. To outline the problem that Linux is having in terms of actual adoption in Canada, the following story says it all.
A few days ago two studies were being discussed on both the CBC and CTV. The first study wanted to learn how many Canadians actually believed global warming was a reality. The numbers were high, and generally speaking believers numbered somewhere around the 70% mark. The second study wanted to learn how many people in Canada where prepared to do anything at all to help prevent global warming from actually happening. If memory serves, it was found that almost nobody ... effectively 0% ... would actually do anything themselves to help reduce the effects of global warming.
So, the studies show Canada to be a nation composed of a great many ardent believers in global warming, but believers who will do nothing themselves to prevent it. If you study our politics you would know that our actions in the last decade or so regarding Kyoto would certainly support that assessment. Simply put, we take great self-righteous pride in our ability to talk the talk, but anyone who pays attention soon learns that in the end we are completely incapable of walking the walk.
... back to Ubuntu ...
I have given out dozens of disks, and each person really, really wanted to try it. Successful installs to date? You guessed it ... Zero. Not one person was willing to spend two seconds learning even the most basic information about the beige box under their desk. In talking to people over the years I have learned that the idea that they would 'change' their computer to be about the same intellectually as asking them the grow an extra limb.
So I keep talking to people, and I show them my nifty looking Linux systems, and I convert the occasional rookie Windows sysadmin who hasn't yet had a chance to be burned by the Redmond flame, but average home users? I am becoming more and more convinced that unless Virii and such get so bad they destroy the Windows platform completely, Linux will only make major double digit inroads into the 'average user' base when hardware comes with some flavour of Linux pre-installed...
...or a whole shitload of non-programmer advocates like myself do it for them free, in our spare time.
--
Just curious, would it be correct to call a Windows rookie a Wookie? :-)
In B.C., our fascism is green.
You obviously haven't installed Ubuntu, have you! To first try it out: turn on computer, open cd tray, insert disk, close tray, reboot computer. Wait. Now you are running Ubuntu (off the CD). To install, click on "Install Ubuntu". Answer 3 questions (one is a password for you, another for the administrator), and 1 is the time zone you live in. Done. The computer will reboot, and you have Ubuntu. It will partition disks if you want to keep some old dead legacy system around. Installation is painfully simple. I *HAVE* installed windows operating systems in multiple ways (across networks, with CD/DVD, and from current hard disk drives (actually sent over a serial port )--Windows install images sent over a twisted pair serial link to a hard disk on the target computer-- and installed it, complete with service packs, very sucessfully. But all of these are fantastically harder than installing Ubuntu. You can have 9 (just 9) monkeys typing randomly for less than a day, and have all 9 'accidentally' install Ubuntu correctly!
You can actually install 3 versions of IE on linux easily.e
http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Pag
I doubt they [CBC] have an official position of open source software, or are otherwise in the habit of recommending a particular Linux distro to their readers.
Nah, might as well dismiss it as another crackpot letter to the editor, right? Wrong. The guy is a regular contributor with other articles, like this one to his name. So, yes, the author and the institution have issued an opinion. There will be more like that too.
If you listen to the BBC, you won't be using Vista anytime soon. As M$ jumps up the breakage of XP, there will be lots of people trying and liking free software.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I have a desktop on a mobile cart with a UPS running Dapper. I unplug its network cable daily, and I haven't rebooted that machine in at least a month. Also I have three computers running Ubuntu (Dapper on the mobile desktop, Edgy on my laptop, and Feisty on this, my main desktop) and Linux compatibility was never a consideration in buying the hardware. In fact I hadn't even heard of Linux when I built the first two. As far as I know the only hardware I own that Ubuntu doesn't support out of the box is my Creative Zen Touch, which I was foolish enough to install the MTP firmware on (and it works just fine after a bit of tweaking).
My 70 y.o father runs both linux and windows. He has tried to switch to just linux, but he finds that he is missing certain things (in particular, lotus home organizer is holding him back). So he currently runs both. He is not a geek (airforce/airline pilot, rtd), but he is not stupid.
:)
What is interesting is that he has installed Linux on computers of over a dozen other friends of his. Most of these ppl are also retired pilots who were using windows for simple web surfing, and handling of bank and retirement funds. They have no desire to spend their hours managing windows. They do not want the security hassles that MS is. They all love the Linux price and the lack of admin time. Once it is installed, it just works. ALL OF THEM are apparently happy.
What amazes me is the opportunity that companies like the geek squad are missing. Apparently, several of these folks called geek squad and asked to be ported to linux and were told that they did not do that. Nor would they support it. Oh, well. I guess that Airline pilot's money is no good
Now, if IBM (esp lotus), and Intuit would just port their damn software, then you would see a HUGE exodous off windows. A couple of thse ppl have moved off Quicken onto GnuCash and can work it. But they have reported liking Quicken better. Interestingly, only a few of them had used Office and loved using Office. Basically, Linux, GNU Cash, and Open Office can trump from windows 2000 on back. XP appears to be battle except for the fact that MS has created a security nightmare.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I don't know how you can say all that without mentioning that the standard streaming format for the CBC is Windows Media. As far as show downloads: I can find no rhyme or reason. Some shows are in RealAudio, some in Windows Media, some in MP3. Every show maintains their own archives HTML page, sometimes well and sometimes poorly. There obviously is no overarching strategy when it comes to digital distribution which is a sad state of affairs in 2007.
Check Epson brand scanners. They seem to change their interface more slowly than the other manufacturers and therefore release a lot of scanners that are immediately supported with no extra work by the Sane developers.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Pinko commies.
3/5 of my family are female. We use Linux (Ubuntu 6.10 for them, 7.04 for me).
3/5 of the computers in my family are running Linux. One is a Mac Mini (G4) running OSX and the other is a G4 Powerbook dual-booting OSX (clean install solely for music production) and Ubuntu 6.10 (for everything else, chat, e-mail, web, games). I've been running Ubuntu since Breezy Badger (2004 or so, soon Feisty). I had been running XP up until then (it was installed on the HP I purchased from my job) and was debating dual-booting XP and Ubuntu, but figured I would spend more time in XP since that's where all my music production was being done. I moved all my music production to my Powerbook and took the plunge. I figured that would be the easiest way to learn everything (I've been using Linux (Debian,and more recently Gentoo) on servers (both play and work since 1997) so while I was comfortable with Linux, though I had never used it on the desktop. Luckily I have my Mac Mini and (soon-to-be) Ubuntu desktop on a KVM switch, and the xorg.conf problems I ran into with my Nvidia TNT2 M64 and later Radeon 7500 (RV200) were resolved easily.
The other two computers in my household are also running Ubuntu. My fathers Dell laptop is running Dapper, because for some reason, Suspend-to-RAM and Sleep-on-lid only work with the 2.6.15 kernel in Dapper. The 2.6.17 kernel in Edgy does not work for some reason at all. He is incredibly pleased with it. Both he and my mother use it for IM, e-mail, web, and my mom uses it for games. They're also running Quickbooks (in wine) for their business as well as Photoshop 7. It also goes on the road to trade shows twice a year and their friends (craftspeople) are all quite impressed with it. He has a Linksys WPC11v4 PCMCIA wifi card (using the Windows XP RTL8189 driver in NDISwrapper, which wasn't difficult at all to setup with the GUI) which he connects to the home wifi network as well as on trips.
My fathers desktop is also running Edgy. Both he and my mother were sick of how long XP was taking to boot up, the constant running of av and spyware scans, and the fact that it simply took forever to do anything on it. Their bookmarks were exported out of Firefox to Edgy as well as their e-mail copied over to Edgy from Thunderbird. They used a really, really, really, crappy desktop publishing program (Serif Publisher if you've ever been graced with its presence), which we migrated out as EPS files (the program has almost no export function, and writes broken Adobe Illustrator files) into Inkscape. They're also using Quickbooks and Photoshop in wine.
The kicker was my sister. She kept coming home with a Thinkpad constantly messed up with spyware and trojans and broken internet (switching from ethernet to dial-up in Win98 seemed to be the most convoluted process ever). She finally got the "Let me install Linux (and teach you how to use it), or start taking your laptop to a shop and pay for the repairs" speech, and caved. We found a better laptop and I installed Edgy. As I was demoing software (OpenOffice (she needed Word and Powerpoint capability for her job at a preschool), KMyMoney, Digikam/Picasa, Inkscape, GIMP, the slick (IMHO) Add/Remove Programs applet in Kubuntu) the very first words out of her mouth were "Wait, how much does all this software cost?" It took a bit of convincing that it was all free. She and her husband started playing with it and fell in love. I ended up getting a card from them a while later thanking me for installing Ubuntu and how much easier it made their life.
I also helped a friend from MO. install Linux. She too got sick of windows, and ended up wiping her HD. The installer for her was very simple. Automatic partitioning, (click next), and she was done. I had her create a user account for me to SSH so I could add some more repositories, install NX Server, Automatix (for codecs), and help her get her 2G iPod nano working in Amarok. She IM'd me a few days later and said she was in love.
Linux isn't that
Tech support. I switched to LINUX and my browser won't work. Hello? Tech support??
cursethedarkness