Linked by David Adams on Mon 24th Aug 2009 09:21 UTC
A reader asks: Why is Linux still not as user friendly as the two other main OSes with all the people developing for Linux? Is it because it is mainly developed by geeks?
My initial feeling when reading this question was that it was kind of a throwaway, kind of a slam in disguise as a genuine question. But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I felt. There truly are a large amount of resources being dedicated to the development of Linux and its operating system halo (DEs, drivers, apps, etc). Some of these resources are from large companies (IBM, Red Hat, Novell). Why isn't Linux more user-friendly? Is this an inherent limitation with open source software?
Thread beginning with comment 380227
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2009-08-20
That, a million times that.
Hell, I picked up my friend's mac and I was daunted at first because even if I was using an interface with a few elements of similarity (kde 3 with the menubar on top) it still wasn't the same, and then when I started digging I stumbled through the mix of BSD and Apple utilities making up its userland. Then I got a mac for my laptop and whenever my brother (who has only used windows to any extent and could probably deal with the professional side of it even on winserver where I get lost in windows) looks at it "why do you keep complicating your life" - same reaction as he has with my linux "desktop" box.
Most of linux' userfriendliness for my completely computer dumb grandparents didn't come from it being unfamiliar, it came from the fact that they struggled to get used to Windows and that was already new to them - there's no such thing as a friendly computer to them. I doubt anything is inherently userfriendly - we jsut get used to it.
RE[2]: Hilarious - similar for me
by jabbotts on Mon 24th Aug 2009 18:24
in reply to "RE: Hilarious"
Member since:2007-09-06
I spent a while trying to figure out how to install downloaded software on an osX machine before double clicking the .img and copying the contained icon to the applications folder. It was too simple where I was expecting some kind of more complicated install wizard. Nothing but a slight speed bump the firs time though, once you get it.. your all set.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/25/13 0:45 UTC
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 23:59 UTC
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 22:33 UTC
Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Linked by Howard Fosdick on 05/24/13 21:41 UTC
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 14:44 UTC
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2008-05-26
Linux is user-friendly, but IT IS NOT WINDOWS.
Newbs automatically try to do things in Linux the same way they did in Windows, which of course doesn't work. Then they look online for a HOWTO, which might be outdated or written for Gentoo (or written for headless servers), and it involves use of the terminal.
Case in point: Samba. There's always people asking how to set up file sharing in Ubuntu. Even the Ubuntu documentation goes through opening up smb.conf and making manual edits, but in reality all that's needed is for you to right-click the folder you want to share, go to Properties, click the "Sharing" tab and fill in the details. Easy. But people seem to think it's hard to set up Samba even when you run Gnome.
Maybe it's because newbs get told that Linux is hard, so they don't bother trying the easy way? It's like when they ask "How do I set up my HP printer on Ubuntu" - they're expecting that it requires them to compile a driver from source code. They're not expecting it to be as easy as "Press the 'on' button and you're ready to print". I've even seen newbies download the HPLIP source code and ask how to install it, without even trying plug 'n' play!