I'm lucky... Work for me is Linux. Wife came with her computer bundled, and when it broke (Caps blew. It ran XP Home), I steered her to Apple. It has a much better WAF and is much easier to use for her. So, I don't get "I can't do it, you do it"... Now I say: "Apple is made for people that don't think like computer people.... You'll have an easier time finding it than me". Works like a charm.
So we've been Microsoft free for a few years now and I had no complaints whatsoever. Myself, I exclusively use Linux on the desktop/laptop.
I never heard about the game, but since it has a Linux version and it only costs around 9€, I just bought the damned thing. Showing a bit support never hurts. It's pretty fun, I played it for an hour over lunchtime. I'm already stuck. I haven't been any good at video games since I've been 14.
Yes, absolutely. I understand where they come from. Every year, when I got my reminder email, I checked if they modernized the automatic script system. It stayed the same old one, always. Fine back when they started, not fine for at least the last five years. My post was mostly intended as constructive criticism, not to bash them. I do think the Linux Counter Project is a worthwhile initiative, but there is serious potential for amelioration.
I have an account and log in once a year, when I get my reminder email. Usually, I have quite a lot to update: decommissioned machines, upgraded machines, new machines and that's only for my personal machines.
They have a script which uses sendmail to
update your information. That's unacceptable in a desktop setting. What they should have is a simple, but relatively robust update system like freedns.afraid.org uses.
If on top of that they can package their updating script and convince major distros to carry it as an opt-in for default installations, it could get some accurate stats.
Yup, it's in the same league as Jupiler, Maes (well, some might argue that one, but I happen to like Maes) and Primus. It's nothing more than "just another pils". Which is fine, if you like pils, but don't act all giddy when you get a Stella. They did have some funny commercials though...
(Disclaimer, I stopped drinking... Ah, a good cold one. The memories.)
That seems to be a 50/50 split... I use a theme that came with the Media Centre Edition. It's called Royale Noir. You can use it on stock XP Home/Pro too. I have a Theme file for it, but I have no idea where I got it form. I think my sister gave it to me.
*grin* For the given task at hand and the given time I had (which is why it was important to do it in small steps, and where preparation could be done when time was at hand), I'd call it "easy". So, how would you have done it? In an easier way, moving the important data as quickly as possible from the failing disk and with the same (or less) downtime? I'm listening.... The end result must be the same: data disk spinning, system disk SSD and upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit.
Bonus points for a solution involving Windows 7. Keep in mind that making an image of the disk wasn't possible any more.
On Linux it's easy... Very easy. My moms desktop (Linux, yes, I know) had a dying 500GB disk... or that's what SMART claimed. Due to lack of time, I decided to do several small steps in order to avoid data loss, and minimize downtime. First move her data to another 500GB SATA disk I had lying around (I first tried to make an image of the original disk, but that failed) and mounted that disk at/home. The system itself remained on the failing disk, but her data would be safe. (Step 1, not much work). Then I took a 160GB SATA disk I had lying around, installed Linux on it using a different computer so I could do it at my leisure at home. She was running 32-bit Linux, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to 64-bit. Then I swapped the defective disk with the 160GB disk, made sure her data disk was mounted correctly and presto! Working system. (Step 2. It was quite some work, but the percieved work for my mom was pretty much the disk swap). Now, the last step will be to buy a 16GB SDD, move the system from the 160GB disk (How much does a typical Linux installation take? 4GB max?) to that 16GB SSD. I'm not there yet, because I usually pool some tech purchases together in order to save money on shipping.
While I did have some work, I managed to keep the downtime for my moms machine very low. I don't imagine I could have done anything similar with Windows (I might be wrong of course).
I'm no big fan of Windows 7, and when I bring up the pain of program/data separation, I usually get slammed. (Do note there are other problems... It's not the only gripe I have with 7) Reactions typically are: Who partitions these days? Why bother... etc... Well this is why one bothers and the SSD problem just emphasizes the problem. Glad I found someone who thinks at least likewise on these issues.
First part: No, no and no.... How exactly could I have known? My main experience with Debian is on servers and usually I have everything I need in the stable branch for that.
On Ubuntu (LTS 10.04, my work machine):
user@hostname:~$ aptitude search adobereader p adobereader-deu - Adobe Reader v adobereader-enu -
This comes out of " deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner". You might say "that's not a repository". I say, for an end-user it's as good as it gets. You can enable it with a simple program, which is the indeed the "Software Center". Installing it manually from Adobe, introduces the "do I get updates?" problem. While not as good as the mainline repositories, you have at least a chance that Canonical and their partners will give new releases with security fixes. If I simply install and forget, that will not happen, ever. Subjecting my users to greater danger.
Compiz: I hope you realize that I don't actually care about compiz and neither do my users. The rest was about polish and (surprise) you agree with me on that. Debian Squeeze Gnome2 default theme feels Win2000 like. You might not agree, but it's how I feel. Shiki really is fine though.
Languages: Did you ever try to setup a desktop that is English for the Interface, has a Luxembourgish lcoale, supports German, French, Dutch and English spell-checking/thesaurus for all installed applications (where possible of course)? No? Well, that is my environment, because I live in Luxembourg, I prefer my GUI in English but need the correct locale and I want writing aids for all languages I speak, read and write. Outside of mono-lingual cultures such a setup is not uncommon at all. The sheer number of packages you need to know to install on Debian is really impressive. Ubuntu solves all this with a simple interface except for the locale, but I found a pretty easy workaround for that. It works under Ubuntu and Debian and makes no problems whatsoever. Do note that this problem exists pretty much on all operating systems. It's also solvable on Windows, but the approach for doing so is totally orthogonal to the Linux solution.
I actually run Debian Squeeze on LXDE on my Asus EEE PC 701 4G and I'm very happy with it. Could I give that to my mother in law or my own mom. No way in hell. The slashdot journals I linked to were Squeeze too (and I even tried testing and sid, which broke way too much). The goal is "fire-and-forget", "usable for non-tech" and "polished". Ubuntu gave me that (note the past tense, I have no confidence they'll fix their issue), but to get Debian at that level you need a lot of work with the uncertainties introduced by having no updates for software like Adobe Flash/Reader.
I know that. The problem is that formerly (under XP), you right clicked on "My Documents", declared a new location and everything was done. Now you need to do that for every folder manually. That's really bad design, the XP way was clean, efficient and pretty much 100% automatic (it did offer to copy all your data). Moving the folders out of "My Documents" was a really bad move in Vista/7. I do realize that the XP method was really just the user data and not the "rest" (settings, registry, etc...) but to most users that was what's really important. It also made it damn easy to backup the "important stuff".
With my first experiences on 7, I hit on this hard, as I was used to do proper partitioning separating operating system, programs and user data. I never managed to do it as cleanly as on XP and had to settle for a mere user-data/everything-else separation.
Has Microsoft solved the problem that it's really friggin hard to separate user data and system data on a Windows Vista/7 installation? This is the best way I found to do it. On XP it was much easier to do and possible without a reinstallation.
I might be overseeing something, but given the popularity of SSD, it should be two clicks on a live system to do this and a (normal, GUI selectable) option during a normal install.
Yes, I agree. Now show me a motherboard with included ARM CPU for < 100 € in microATX format with Gigabit NIC, four SATA-II ports on which I can install my operating system of choice (Okay, let's limit it to Linux or OpenBSD, either one is ok for me) without having to hack anything.
Unless you can, the x86 dependency is here to stay and the Atom, while an underpowered chip, can be gotten cheap and run fanless.
Ah, completely forgot... I also have a fanless Atom 330 based board with four SATA ports. That one was expensive (well, compared to the Intel D510MO). It was being used for another purpose when I was building my parents server. Again, you won't get it 100% silent because of the disks. For the power supply, you'd be able to take something like PicoPSU, I think...
At my parents, I'm running a D510MO with three 2TB disks and it has a mini-PCI express slot in which I dumped Startech.com 2 Port Mini PCI Express Internal SATA II Controller Card. Alas, it turned out that one of the ports is then blocked by a USB header, but it gave me the (desired) third SATA port. It's not noiseless due to the powesupply and the disks, but it doesn't need to be as it's in the basement.
For my own usage, I use a Soekris net5501-70 with a 1TB 2.5" SATA disk. You can only put in one disk as far as I know, so it doesn't fit your requirements. It does make a fine fileserver and it's virtually silent. A fileserver doesn't actually need much oopha. I do a nightly backup to USB. It's not RAID as with my parents, but I feel secure enough in case of disaster.
Of course, if your intention is to run RAID0, you can disregard anything I said, but then my 1 disk option isn't all that much dangerous.
For the record, there are Atom motherboards that come with > 2 SATA ports. Thing is, I originally didn't plan to use more than two. I changed my mind, hence the PCIe card. In hindsight, I should have gone with a more expensive board (Intel Atom boards are dirt-cheap) that natively had more SATA ports.
Yes, and no... If you're used to a certain amount of polish, you rarely want to go back. I made the corporate disk image for the company I work for. It's Windows XP and I defaulted the theme to "Classic" because I like it more than "Luna". No user has kept it that way (didn't enforce it): all went to Luna. (It's a small company with +/-10 users... so it's not really representative)
So, say you're a Ubuntu user and go to Debian. Radiance and Ambiance are actually good themes (well, to my taste... this is a matter of taste after all)... Now go and look at the default theme Debian/Gnome2 offers. That's closer to XP "Classic" than you'd like to admit. The other default themes aren't much better. Which means, and that brings me back to your post, there is not really a good "default" one.
I might not have been clear. I use Ubuntu (LTS) as a fire-and-forget (for three years) installation for non-tech-savvy users (Read: my mom, my mother in law... You know *those* kind of people). Personally, I do manage to run a Debian installation and once you do set it up like you want it, you'll be fine. However, you can't use Debian as a fire-and-forget installation if you want things that people require from their modern day desktops. This is mainly due to the "free-at-all-costs" stance.
That's fine, I understand that it's a good thing, and I can live with it. Try to see it from a user perspective though. I trained them for years (even while still on Windows) that they should use Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for email. The migration to Ubuntu was easier because of this knowledge. My support calls are next to nothing ever since I switched them to Ubuntu LTS. That's how I want it, and I know the distribution will keep itself healthy. Do I have the guarantee with Debian backports? Does it get as much "love" as the main branch? I sincerely doubt it. Going with official Mozilla downloads is a no-go, as I'd have to login remotely to their system to update it every time I hear of a greater security issue.
There are other things, like for example the only large support call I had this year. That was Ubuntu, so it probably wouldn't have been avoidable at all. My mother in law had a big issue with a PDF. Turned out it was a PDF with a form and the built in PDF reader (evince, I think) didn't handle that. At least, I could remotely login and install Adobe Reader from the repository. I know Ubuntu has it. Debian might in the non-free section, but I'm not sure.
Sometimes it's the small things. I happen to be multi-lingual. In Ubuntu there is a great tool in "System"-"Administration" called "Language Support". It's basically a hub for anything language related: Want the interface in Dutch? Only want the German spellchecker? It's there, it's a click or two and it's installed. Debian simply doesn't have an equivalent (or I didn't find it).
While I agree that Gnome2 is great and Unity and Gnome3 are definite steps backwards, the Debian themes do look a bit dated. I can live with it. It's fine, I found that the "Shiki" theme is great even though I prefer a light-theme. On Ubuntu Radiance is what I use and I love it. Still, for me, lacking compiz and a bit dated theme is okay. However, my users are used to the polish Ubuntu gives. I'm, pretty sure my users won't miss compiz if I'd take it away, but the polished themes are something else. We know it's just eyecandy and not important, but how would you feel if you're used the the Windows 7 interface (which I dislike, but that's not important) and gave you a Windows 2000 interface (Which I loved). You'd probably wouldn't be happy (I'd be, but put yourself in the shoes of a non-IT user).
It's lots of these little things. I'm certain it's completely because of my inability and incompetence. I'd be glad to read a how-to for achieving just that: have a modern multi-lingual, proprietary-software, friendly, Linux desktop that doesn't look like made in 2000 which I can install and forget for three years.
Oh, it's clear something has to change! The question is more like: What exactly? I have no good answers to this, but as a user I equate the 11.04 release to "Vista of Canonical". I stick fervently to the last LTS release which seems to be good. Sure, I still have two years left on it, but by the end an LTS release loses love and does get stale.
On my own desktops (So, not the desktops I support for family and friends), I usually run the latest release of Ubuntu. The experience was so bad, I personally went back to the LTS. I hope 11.10 will be better, and I'll get back to normal releases if it is.
I've heard good things of Linux Mint, which is Ubuntu based. Thing is, for my family/friends users, I really don't want to switch distributions every few years, just because one has lost my favour. That's going to hurt my credibility.
I've been thinking of switching completely to Debian, but the amount of work to get that running right as a modern desktop is daunting. I can do it, I have done it, but for example, to have a modern browser you either have to manually install it bypassing the package management (bad!) or use backports to get modern compiles of iceweasel. Neither is optimal.
What I fear, is that the proposed shorter release cycles are going to make Ubuntu break too often. That will turn off users, and they cannot afford to lose even more users after the 11.04 release.
I can't provide pics, but with a few clicks you find my CV and can find the company I work for. From there it shouldn't be all that hard to find out which company is the parent company and what exactly they sell. However, "pics" is going to be pretty hard to provide, especially I'm just a sys-admin.
Oh, glad to fill in, even if wikipedia probably is a better source than me. I did some Google searches to come up with the 16A. What I can say that it's not unusual to have (for example) a 3000W water cooker plugged into the normal mains. These days I haven't seen any devices requiring any special connections any more (three-phase). I think, but it's so long ago I might be incorrect, that the washing machine my parents had in my childhood required such a connection. From what I can see, all my large household appliances (washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, fridge) use a normal connections.
When I was a student and I rented a room, there was one thing I shouldn't do. Use my 2800W water cooker and watch TV at the same time (small CRT TV. I think 21" or so). That would blow the fuse of the floor I was on. It was an old house with old cabling. I've never seen that happen in a house built in the last 40 years, though.
There are countries outside "The States"... That was pretty much the point of my post.. My country is listed as having 230V. I think you can pull up to 16A.
Slashdot Mirror
As a general rule, don't put laptops on your lap... ;-P
It shouldn't be like this, but it is like this.
When did that happen? Steve Ballmer left Microsoft? When? A cursory scan over his wikipedia article doesn't indicate anything in that direction.
I'm lucky... Work for me is Linux. Wife came with her computer bundled, and when it broke (Caps blew. It ran XP Home), I steered her to Apple. It has a much better WAF and is much easier to use for her. So, I don't get "I can't do it, you do it"... Now I say: "Apple is made for people that don't think like computer people.... You'll have an easier time finding it than me". Works like a charm.
So we've been Microsoft free for a few years now and I had no complaints whatsoever. Myself, I exclusively use Linux on the desktop/laptop.
I never heard about the game, but since it has a Linux version and it only costs around 9€, I just bought the damned thing. Showing a bit support never hurts. It's pretty fun, I played it for an hour over lunchtime. I'm already stuck. I haven't been any good at video games since I've been 14.
Yes, absolutely. I understand where they come from. Every year, when I got my reminder email, I checked if they modernized the automatic script system. It stayed the same old one, always. Fine back when they started, not fine for at least the last five years. My post was mostly intended as constructive criticism, not to bash them. I do think the Linux Counter Project is a worthwhile initiative, but there is serious potential for amelioration.
I have an account and log in once a year, when I get my reminder email. Usually, I have quite a lot to update: decommissioned machines, upgraded machines, new machines and that's only for my personal machines. They have a script which uses sendmail to update your information. That's unacceptable in a desktop setting. What they should have is a simple, but relatively robust update system like freedns.afraid.org uses. If on top of that they can package their updating script and convince major distros to carry it as an opt-in for default installations, it could get some accurate stats.
Yup, it's in the same league as Jupiler, Maes (well, some might argue that one, but I happen to like Maes) and Primus. It's nothing more than "just another pils". Which is fine, if you like pils, but don't act all giddy when you get a Stella. They did have some funny commercials though...
(Disclaimer, I stopped drinking... Ah, a good cold one. The memories.)
That seems to be a 50/50 split... I use a theme that came with the Media Centre Edition. It's called Royale Noir. You can use it on stock XP Home/Pro too. I have a Theme file for it, but I have no idea where I got it form. I think my sister gave it to me.
*grin* For the given task at hand and the given time I had (which is why it was important to do it in small steps, and where preparation could be done when time was at hand), I'd call it "easy". So, how would you have done it? In an easier way, moving the important data as quickly as possible from the failing disk and with the same (or less) downtime? I'm listening.... The end result must be the same: data disk spinning, system disk SSD and upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit.
Bonus points for a solution involving Windows 7. Keep in mind that making an image of the disk wasn't possible any more.
As said, I'm listening.
On Linux it's easy... Very easy. My moms desktop (Linux, yes, I know) had a dying 500GB disk... or that's what SMART claimed. Due to lack of time, I decided to do several small steps in order to avoid data loss, and minimize downtime. First move her data to another 500GB SATA disk I had lying around (I first tried to make an image of the original disk, but that failed) and mounted that disk at /home. The system itself remained on the failing disk, but her data would be safe. (Step 1, not much work). Then I took a 160GB SATA disk I had lying around, installed Linux on it using a different computer so I could do it at my leisure at home. She was running 32-bit Linux, so I took the opportunity to upgrade to 64-bit. Then I swapped the defective disk with the 160GB disk, made sure her data disk was mounted correctly and presto! Working system. (Step 2. It was quite some work, but the percieved work for my mom was pretty much the disk swap). Now, the last step will be to buy a 16GB SDD, move the system from the 160GB disk (How much does a typical Linux installation take? 4GB max?) to that 16GB SSD. I'm not there yet, because I usually pool some tech purchases together in order to save money on shipping.
While I did have some work, I managed to keep the downtime for my moms machine very low. I don't imagine I could have done anything similar with Windows (I might be wrong of course).
I'm no big fan of Windows 7, and when I bring up the pain of program/data separation, I usually get slammed. (Do note there are other problems... It's not the only gripe I have with 7) Reactions typically are: Who partitions these days? Why bother... etc... Well this is why one bothers and the SSD problem just emphasizes the problem. Glad I found someone who thinks at least likewise on these issues.
First part: No, no and no.... How exactly could I have known? My main experience with Debian is on servers and usually I have everything I need in the stable branch for that.
On Ubuntu (LTS 10.04, my work machine):
This comes out of " deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner". You might say "that's not a repository". I say, for an end-user it's as good as it gets. You can enable it with a simple program, which is the indeed the "Software Center". Installing it manually from Adobe, introduces the "do I get updates?" problem. While not as good as the mainline repositories, you have at least a chance that Canonical and their partners will give new releases with security fixes. If I simply install and forget, that will not happen, ever. Subjecting my users to greater danger.
Compiz: I hope you realize that I don't actually care about compiz and neither do my users. The rest was about polish and (surprise) you agree with me on that. Debian Squeeze Gnome2 default theme feels Win2000 like. You might not agree, but it's how I feel. Shiki really is fine though.
Languages: Did you ever try to setup a desktop that is English for the Interface, has a Luxembourgish lcoale, supports German, French, Dutch and English spell-checking/thesaurus for all installed applications (where possible of course)? No? Well, that is my environment, because I live in Luxembourg, I prefer my GUI in English but need the correct locale and I want writing aids for all languages I speak, read and write. Outside of mono-lingual cultures such a setup is not uncommon at all. The sheer number of packages you need to know to install on Debian is really impressive. Ubuntu solves all this with a simple interface except for the locale, but I found a pretty easy workaround for that. It works under Ubuntu and Debian and makes no problems whatsoever. Do note that this problem exists pretty much on all operating systems. It's also solvable on Windows, but the approach for doing so is totally orthogonal to the Linux solution.
I actually run Debian Squeeze on LXDE on my Asus EEE PC 701 4G and I'm very happy with it. Could I give that to my mother in law or my own mom. No way in hell. The slashdot journals I linked to were Squeeze too (and I even tried testing and sid, which broke way too much). The goal is "fire-and-forget", "usable for non-tech" and "polished". Ubuntu gave me that (note the past tense, I have no confidence they'll fix their issue), but to get Debian at that level you need a lot of work with the uncertainties introduced by having no updates for software like Adobe Flash/Reader.
I know that. The problem is that formerly (under XP), you right clicked on "My Documents", declared a new location and everything was done. Now you need to do that for every folder manually. That's really bad design, the XP way was clean, efficient and pretty much 100% automatic (it did offer to copy all your data). Moving the folders out of "My Documents" was a really bad move in Vista/7. I do realize that the XP method was really just the user data and not the "rest" (settings, registry, etc...) but to most users that was what's really important. It also made it damn easy to backup the "important stuff".
With my first experiences on 7, I hit on this hard, as I was used to do proper partitioning separating operating system, programs and user data. I never managed to do it as cleanly as on XP and had to settle for a mere user-data/everything-else separation.
Broken Promises. Cracks me up every time I see it, and I'm not a Mac user.
Has Microsoft solved the problem that it's really friggin hard to separate user data and system data on a Windows Vista/7 installation? This is the best way I found to do it. On XP it was much easier to do and possible without a reinstallation.
I might be overseeing something, but given the popularity of SSD, it should be two clicks on a live system to do this and a (normal, GUI selectable) option during a normal install.
Yes, I agree. Now show me a motherboard with included ARM CPU for < 100 € in microATX format with Gigabit NIC, four SATA-II ports on which I can install my operating system of choice (Okay, let's limit it to Linux or OpenBSD, either one is ok for me) without having to hack anything.
Unless you can, the x86 dependency is here to stay and the Atom, while an underpowered chip, can be gotten cheap and run fanless.
Ah, completely forgot... I also have a fanless Atom 330 based board with four SATA ports. That one was expensive (well, compared to the Intel D510MO). It was being used for another purpose when I was building my parents server. Again, you won't get it 100% silent because of the disks. For the power supply, you'd be able to take something like PicoPSU, I think...
At my parents, I'm running a D510MO with three 2TB disks and it has a mini-PCI express slot in which I dumped Startech.com 2 Port Mini PCI Express Internal SATA II Controller Card. Alas, it turned out that one of the ports is then blocked by a USB header, but it gave me the (desired) third SATA port. It's not noiseless due to the powesupply and the disks, but it doesn't need to be as it's in the basement.
For my own usage, I use a Soekris net5501-70 with a 1TB 2.5" SATA disk. You can only put in one disk as far as I know, so it doesn't fit your requirements. It does make a fine fileserver and it's virtually silent. A fileserver doesn't actually need much oopha. I do a nightly backup to USB. It's not RAID as with my parents, but I feel secure enough in case of disaster.
Of course, if your intention is to run RAID0, you can disregard anything I said, but then my 1 disk option isn't all that much dangerous.
For the record, there are Atom motherboards that come with > 2 SATA ports. Thing is, I originally didn't plan to use more than two. I changed my mind, hence the PCIe card. In hindsight, I should have gone with a more expensive board (Intel Atom boards are dirt-cheap) that natively had more SATA ports.
Yes, and no... If you're used to a certain amount of polish, you rarely want to go back. I made the corporate disk image for the company I work for. It's Windows XP and I defaulted the theme to "Classic" because I like it more than "Luna". No user has kept it that way (didn't enforce it): all went to Luna. (It's a small company with +/-10 users... so it's not really representative)
So, say you're a Ubuntu user and go to Debian. Radiance and Ambiance are actually good themes (well, to my taste... this is a matter of taste after all)... Now go and look at the default theme Debian/Gnome2 offers. That's closer to XP "Classic" than you'd like to admit. The other default themes aren't much better. Which means, and that brings me back to your post, there is not really a good "default" one.
Full reply here... Should have attached it to your comment as you pretty asked the same question. Better a link that duplicating a post, right? :-)
I might not have been clear. I use Ubuntu (LTS) as a fire-and-forget (for three years) installation for non-tech-savvy users (Read: my mom, my mother in law... You know *those* kind of people). Personally, I do manage to run a Debian installation and once you do set it up like you want it, you'll be fine. However, you can't use Debian as a fire-and-forget installation if you want things that people require from their modern day desktops. This is mainly due to the "free-at-all-costs" stance.
That's fine, I understand that it's a good thing, and I can live with it. Try to see it from a user perspective though. I trained them for years (even while still on Windows) that they should use Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for email. The migration to Ubuntu was easier because of this knowledge. My support calls are next to nothing ever since I switched them to Ubuntu LTS. That's how I want it, and I know the distribution will keep itself healthy. Do I have the guarantee with Debian backports? Does it get as much "love" as the main branch? I sincerely doubt it. Going with official Mozilla downloads is a no-go, as I'd have to login remotely to their system to update it every time I hear of a greater security issue.
There are other things, like for example the only large support call I had this year. That was Ubuntu, so it probably wouldn't have been avoidable at all. My mother in law had a big issue with a PDF. Turned out it was a PDF with a form and the built in PDF reader (evince, I think) didn't handle that. At least, I could remotely login and install Adobe Reader from the repository. I know Ubuntu has it. Debian might in the non-free section, but I'm not sure.
Sometimes it's the small things. I happen to be multi-lingual. In Ubuntu there is a great tool in "System"-"Administration" called "Language Support". It's basically a hub for anything language related: Want the interface in Dutch? Only want the German spellchecker? It's there, it's a click or two and it's installed. Debian simply doesn't have an equivalent (or I didn't find it).
While I agree that Gnome2 is great and Unity and Gnome3 are definite steps backwards, the Debian themes do look a bit dated. I can live with it. It's fine, I found that the "Shiki" theme is great even though I prefer a light-theme. On Ubuntu Radiance is what I use and I love it. Still, for me, lacking compiz and a bit dated theme is okay. However, my users are used to the polish Ubuntu gives. I'm, pretty sure my users won't miss compiz if I'd take it away, but the polished themes are something else. We know it's just eyecandy and not important, but how would you feel if you're used the the Windows 7 interface (which I dislike, but that's not important) and gave you a Windows 2000 interface (Which I loved). You'd probably wouldn't be happy (I'd be, but put yourself in the shoes of a non-IT user).
It's lots of these little things. I'm certain it's completely because of my inability and incompetence. I'd be glad to read a how-to for achieving just that: have a modern multi-lingual, proprietary-software, friendly, Linux desktop that doesn't look like made in 2000 which I can install and forget for three years.
I actually wrote a bit about trying to achieve this. Feel free to read it: You don't realize how much polish Ubuntu provides... and Backports is the magical word.... and finally I have to give Ubuntu 11.04 some slack., which I need to include because it shows that the problems I had with Ubuntu aren't limited to Ubuntu itself.
Oh, it's clear something has to change! The question is more like: What exactly? I have no good answers to this, but as a user I equate the 11.04 release to "Vista of Canonical". I stick fervently to the last LTS release which seems to be good. Sure, I still have two years left on it, but by the end an LTS release loses love and does get stale.
On my own desktops (So, not the desktops I support for family and friends), I usually run the latest release of Ubuntu. The experience was so bad, I personally went back to the LTS. I hope 11.10 will be better, and I'll get back to normal releases if it is.
I've heard good things of Linux Mint, which is Ubuntu based. Thing is, for my family/friends users, I really don't want to switch distributions every few years, just because one has lost my favour. That's going to hurt my credibility.
I've been thinking of switching completely to Debian, but the amount of work to get that running right as a modern desktop is daunting. I can do it, I have done it, but for example, to have a modern browser you either have to manually install it bypassing the package management (bad!) or use backports to get modern compiles of iceweasel. Neither is optimal.
What I fear, is that the proposed shorter release cycles are going to make Ubuntu break too often. That will turn off users, and they cannot afford to lose even more users after the 11.04 release.
I can't provide pics, but with a few clicks you find my CV and can find the company I work for. From there it shouldn't be all that hard to find out which company is the parent company and what exactly they sell. However, "pics" is going to be pretty hard to provide, especially I'm just a sys-admin.
Oh, glad to fill in, even if wikipedia probably is a better source than me. I did some Google searches to come up with the 16A. What I can say that it's not unusual to have (for example) a 3000W water cooker plugged into the normal mains. These days I haven't seen any devices requiring any special connections any more (three-phase). I think, but it's so long ago I might be incorrect, that the washing machine my parents had in my childhood required such a connection. From what I can see, all my large household appliances (washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, fridge) use a normal connections.
When I was a student and I rented a room, there was one thing I shouldn't do. Use my 2800W water cooker and watch TV at the same time (small CRT TV. I think 21" or so). That would blow the fuse of the floor I was on. It was an old house with old cabling. I've never seen that happen in a house built in the last 40 years, though.
There are countries outside "The States"... That was pretty much the point of my post.. My country is listed as having 230V. I think you can pull up to 16A.