"Freedom of choice is one of the great benefits of Open Source Software in general and Linux in particular. This freedom gives consumers the ability to select, without fear of litigation, what software they will use and how they will use or modify it. As a principal, this freedom is extremely valuable. However, a couple of announcements this week seem to indicate that market value of freedom of choice has dipped considerably. The biggest hurdle Linux adoption faced this week wasn't Microsoft, it was an enemy from within: Linux fragmentation."
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Member since:2005-08-07
I am hardly a rabid fan... and I also don't care much for Ubuntu either...
However I do have several family members running it, simply because it's easier. Hardware is well supported, their gagdets work fine, and they don't have to worry about drivers or virii etc, so they're very happy.
Ubuntu is stable, it's clean... and it has plenty of documentation. What more can you ask for in a distribution aimed at non-geeks?
Member since:2006-04-21
Ubuntu is stable, it's clean... and it has plenty of documentation. What more can you ask for in a distribution aimed at non-geeks?
Ubuntu is stable, it's clean... and it has plenty of documentation. What more can you ask for in a distribution aimed at non-geeks?
My first hand experience of Ubuntu indicates that its hardware support is crap...As for the documentation, I hear more complaints about it than praise.
Member since:2007-03-05
I am hardly a rabid fan... and I also don't care much for Ubuntu either...
However I do have several family members running it, simply because it's easier. Hardware is well supported, their gagdets work fine,
and they don't have to worry about drivers or virii etc, so they're very happy.
Ubuntu is stable, it's clean... and it has plenty of documentation.
What more can you ask for in a distribution aimed at non-geeks?
EXACTLY! - Sheesh..with a bit more ease-of-use, this Ubuntu thing could actually get to be semi-Widely Popular. Ubuntu 6.10 managed to grab me pretty well, and I'm a lot dumber than you guys!
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-04-21
I'm curious to see how that Dell thing works out. I suspect that 90% of those who asked for Linux pre-installed on Dell workstations are linux fans who have no plans on buying Dell workstations with Linux pre-installed.
True. Though I suspect it would be a different story if they had chosen a different distribution, such as Ubuntu. (I would replace Ubuntu with something else, but I'm not giving any money to Microvel.)
Member since:2006-03-12
"I'm curious to see how that Dell thing works out. I suspect that 90% of those who asked for Linux pre-installed on Dell workstations are linux fans who have no plans on buying Dell workstations with Linux pre-installed."
Absolutely, but you should ask yourself the reason why.
Dell has had an interesting relationship with Microsoft in the Past. The suspicion that you can by the same product *with* windows for cheaper, and Dell would loose there add-on market.
The reality is though with *any* Linux distribution installed. I would buy it and put *my* distribution o choice on becuase, my biggest problem with choosing dell for Linux is simply becuase I don't know whether it would work or not.
At the end of the day unless Microsoft is a *paid* add on for a dell machine not part of its price, that is simply enough to remove or replace why would I be *interesting* in subsidizing Microsoft?
Member since:2006-01-31
Member since:2006-07-01
Member since:2005-07-12
Member since:2007-03-05
Ubuntu 6.06 may be crap, but Ubu 6.10 is the first Linux flavour in SIX YEARS of dabbling, that I could get my head around for longer than one frustrating week(and then giving up..AGAIN)
I've not booted my XP drive in about a week - that says a lot (in fact my XP drive is phukt..I couldn't boot it even if I wanted to - and I'm NOT worried!)
Ubuntu is OKAY, says this Windoze user of 6 yrs.,
(and Mac user for 5 years, before the conversion to Windoze)
Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:
2006-04-21
Where has it gotten on the desktop?
Even if only 2% of people use it on the desktop, that represents 15 million out of 300 million computers. Hardly small fry.
Only place Linux is really going right now is into the data center, where companies hire people to make sense of everything for them.
On the contrary, I think the fact that Dell felt it necessary to do as much as they did (and the fact that Linux was number one on its list) shows that the best is yet to come on the desktop.
It's a real shame too, because so much about Linux is supperior, it's just too confusing for normal home users.
Windows can be plenty confusing, too. Those who don't have a guru to hand either must be very flustered with their systems, or limit themselves to email, web browsing and maybe games.
I really hope Ubuntu continues its popularity, and becomes what people base all Linux desktops from. It's already beginning - with Linspire and MEPIS - and it would be far easier for ISV's to support.
No thanks. This is the biggest problem with the "we need a Linux monoculture" theory: Just about every distro you choose to base this mythical "Linux for everyone" on is going to have its rabid fans, its ardent detractors, and the rest of us caught in the middle. Personally, I think Ubuntu is crap.