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Hardy Heron Making Linux Ready for the Masses?
desmondhaynes writes "Is Linux ready for the masses? Is Linux really being targeted towards the 'casual computer user'? Computerworld thinks we're getting there, talking of Linux 'going mainstream 'with Ubuntu. 'If there is a single complaint that is laid at the feet of Linux time and time again, it's that the operating system is too complicated and arcane for casual computer users to tolerate. You can't ask newbies to install device drivers or recompile the kernel, naysayers argue. Of course, many of those criticisms date back to the bad old days, but Ubuntu, the user-friendly distribution sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth's Canonical Ltd., has made a mission out of dispelling such complaints entirely.'"
That's hard to do when OEMs are forbidden from advertising anything but Windows.
Quite frankly, I don't want to use the same operating system as someone who refuses to edit any configuration file.
Marketing Linux to the average desktop is a bad idea. Leave Linux to the power users and the server market.
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
Hey man, you should try out this latest version of Linux!
Oh ya I heard about that Linux thing, there are so many versions of it though, it confuses me - what is this one?
It's Ubuntu! The latest release, hairy hardon[1]! I mean.. oh.. bleh, nevermind.. *retreats*
[1] does this mean it's the 'porn browsing' edition?
which is totally what she said
sorry but that's no and no.
./ so by definition we're GEEKS and already technicaly minded... the rest of the world doesn't think like us!
Want to use your favourite software (photoshop, dreamweaver, GTA 4 etc: nope, that's for windows and/or mac only.
Want to buy new hardware... well you can if you scour the internet for days finding out if it's compatible; you can't just pop down pcworld one saturday afternoon and pick something up and know it'll work.
Want to use Ubuntu without broadband... nah it's not really designed that way, you'll be waiting days to install anything..
Want to install some software... sure... if you broadband no problem... oh, but it might install the software anywhere on your system... good luck learning to grep it. Fat chance if your friend has just given you a cdrom with software on it!
want to play games.... err... well... no.. not really, but hey we've got solitaire!!!
What about installing applications from magazine's cover disc (like what you can do with windows and osx)... err no, you probably can't do that either... as you'll have to compile something or other and you probably haven't got all the right library headers or something.
want to do anything other than surf the web and run openoffice... get used to using the terminal (still)
KDE and Gnome have come on in leaps and bounds, linux itself has come on enormously in recent years.. but it's still so so far away from being a user friendly OS for regular joes. (just looka the filesystem, it's still a throwback to the 1970s and is virtually unintelligible to non linux folk
WE might all think linux it's the dog's bollocks but we read
Install Windows -- it won't play DVDs out of the box. It's the same reason (patents/copyrights whatever).
I don't know why Linux distros don't just infringe the MP3 patents. They probably infringe loads of others, why treat the media codecs specially?