"Recently a blog post entitled 'Why Desktop Linux is its own worst enemy' has come across my feed-radar a few times. It's yet another in the long line of 'Linux ain't ready yet' jeremiads and it doesn't really say anything new yet it got on my nerves. Why?" Ryan Cartwright at Freesoftware Magazine is on fine form with this wonderfully splenetic broadside. Read the full tirade at FSM.
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Member since:2006-01-23
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Not true. The original blog post I responded to rattled on about mp3 playback "not working out of the box", I pointed out that there are plenty of GNU/Linux distributions whee it does. Some others deliberately do not include it for reasons of freedom. If you disagree with the stance of the latter the former is available at no charge.
The thing I don't like to see is that rather than educate (and thus assist) the end-users we hear that we should make the interfaces more dummy-proof. It's like people want Star Trek-like computers and they forget the problems Picard had getting a cup of hot tea.
Sorry if some people didn't get the cultural reference there.
cheers
Crimperman
If everything worked perfectly on Star Trek, each series would have lasted only one season. "If you keep going like that, you're going to overload the thing." type of statements were necessary to see how long people would watch. If it was boring who would care?
It's true that, because of licensing and legal issues, Canonical/Ubuntu has withheld certain pieces as shipped. Free software has limitations.
However, a non-technical user doesn't care. They want it to work and they don't want to stare down 12 boxes (or downloads) which all say Linux, attempting to understand the differences.
Linux is good, but there has to be a clear leader in usability to get it past the corporate setting.
Member since:2005-07-28
But there kind of is - to the consternation of many perhaps, that seems to be Ubuntu. I really have a difficult time anymore accepting that distribution confusion is a major factor in anything other than how to archive/distribute commercial software.
Prospective newcomers to Linux are most likely going to use Ubuntu if they don't want to read about different distributions and if they read, then the choices open up to what, 4 or 5 total? (Mandriva, SuSE, maybe Fedora? Even though Debian is a breeze to install, no one's going to because the same stupid ideas about it from like 1998 - OMG FOR GEEKS ONLY - persist until today.)
There have been several comments and articles lately commenting on (or bemoaning the fact) that increasingly people equate Linux and Ubuntu. I've argued before that this is not a bad thing.
I have a hard time seeing this as a major issue anymore. Whether it's a good thing or bad, or whether people like it or not, Ubuntu is going to be what people probably try if they really can't decide or don't want to.
I argue that users of all distributions ought to be down with this, install Ubuntu in a VM (if they don't run it) if they're going to be offering support and then in 3 to 6 months, have a conversation with the user in question about what they like or don't like about Ubuntu, and if they're unhappy, discuss alternative distributions with them (translate this to "evangelize your own distribution!" if you're that type of person.)
Member since:2006-11-09
If everything worked perfectly on Star Trek, each series would have lasted only one season. "If you keep going like that, you're going to overload the thing." type of statements were necessary to see how long people would watch. If it was boring who would care?
I seriously doubt that particular storyline was written for that purpose. Aside from that the point is that people seem to want computers to do everything for them but then forget that a computer will not be able to read their mind and so when asked for "tea" it will respond with a request for less ambiguity.
Member since:
2006-11-09
Actually if it generates discussion (as it has here and in other places) then it does help somewhat.
I can forgive the volunteers for not being able to do certain things, but in the end, it has to work. Apparently, the author doesn't see that.
Not true. The original blog post I responded to rattled on about mp3 playback "not working out of the box", I pointed out that there are plenty of GNU/Linux distributions whee it does. Some others deliberately do not include it for reasons of freedom. If you disagree with the stance of the latter the former is available at no charge.
The thing I don't like to see is that rather than educate (and thus assist) the end-users we hear that we should make the interfaces more dummy-proof. It's like people want Star Trek-like computers and they forget the problems Picard had getting a cup of hot tea.
Sorry if some people didn't get the cultural reference there.
cheers
Crimperman