Earlier quoted context omitted.
Couldn't you say the same about Ubuntu? It's far more widely marketed to end users than any other distro.
No, Ubuntu is chosen by its wise users, not "marketed".
So wise.
Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
251–260 of 295 posts
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't Ubuntu insert amazon affiliate links into your search results while Mint doesn't, or was that removed? Or does Mint just do it as well?
That is and has always been a unity feature (or 'feature') - unity-lens-shopping. It's not even installed if you don't install unity, e.g. if you use xubuntu, kubuntu, lubuntu, etc.
Sure, but it's enough to make me avoid Ubuntu all together on principle.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
The last version I had any trouble with, by way of Windows, was 98 on a Tiny computer I had as a kid, mostly because of esoteric driver requirements. After that, it pretty much just worked. What do you think your average user is likely to do to it that would need them to go whistle for a sysadmin?
"help with windows", 2.5 Billion, with a "B", hits. Do not pretend 100% or even a large percentage of Windows users never need power user help at a minimum.
The most popular desktop operating system on earth returns 2.5 billion hits. So what? Large numbers without basis for comparison are meaningless. I can't think how you'd get that basis here. The only thing you can really say on that basis is that less than 100% of users had no problems.
#
I didn't pretend that people never needed help with Windows. I said I hadn't had any real problems with it since 98 and asked what he thought the average user needed a sysadmin for in Windows.
I can see how you'd come to the conclusion you seem to have, but I really don't appreciate being made out to be a liar. If you act on a similar assumption in a similar manner in the future then I'm going to ignore anything else you have to say.
What does seem relevant to me is that there's a dramatic difference between an operating system that even programmers get tired of trying to make do what they want and jump ship from and one that you can reasonably expect not run into significant problems with for years. If Windows were equally messed up as Linux I'd expect to run into the problems at around the same rate.
How long does it take you to run into trouble with Linux? I tried it just now, downloaded Mint and threw it in the old DVD drive - 15 minutes. Most of which were spent trying to work out how to change the primary monitor so I could get the taskbar onto the one I wanted. When I did manage to do so the graphics corrupted and the system froze irrecoverably.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't like Ubuntu dictating a desktop environment to you. So you fiddle with other things for a long time, at your own option. Then you pay Apple to dictate a desktop environment to you. Hmm...
I didn't leave the Linux world because I didn't like Ubuntu dictating a desktop environment to me. I left because OS X suits my needs better than any Linux distribution (except perhaps OpenSUSE) could.
Logical fallacy. You've built a strawman, based your argument off it, and then contradicted yourself.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't have to know how either works to recognise something is wrong with them. My mother, happily, is quite cautious and would go and find someone who understands the machine better. In the computer case, I'd likely be getting a phone call. The certificate errors are kind of a design failure. Users are so used to clicking through messages they don't really understand, and this is just one more. Even the most alar…
> Even the most alarming certificate errors are usually innocuous, in my experience - someone forgets to renew a certificate, or fails to get a new one for a domain change. That doesn't mean it's OK to ignore them, but we really need systems that don't cry wolf unless there's a really good chance that there's a wolf. How do you propose to algorithmically determine if a certificate not matching a domain change is inno…
Malicious intent can be algorithmically determined by checking for packets with the "evil" bit set to 1, as specified in RFC 3514 [1].
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
What you seem to be saying is that in order to use a personal computer, you should be an expert. I disagree, and I'm glad that most people disagree as well. User-friendliness is important regardless of what system it is, even Linux. Have you noticed that the most successful distributions of Linux are the ones that are most friendly to beginners? This elitism is destructive and serves only to make the "experts" smug a…
I had a taste of those elitist attitudes a few years ago when I was looking up how to add a user on an Ubuntu server and the top result for a search on "ubuntu add user" was this page: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/add-a-user-on-ubuntu-s... Ubuntu has two commands for this, useradd and adduser, where adduser is the easier one for newbies, while useradd is more flexible but has a lot of ways you can get it wro…
That article is infuriating.
I searched for an alternative. The second Google result for 'add user ubuntu' is: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AddUsersHowto
There are problems:
* The article has a pants title - no novice in their right mind is going to click the link over the first result with the better title
* It begins with a tag saying it's out of date
* It's marked as immutable so those who care can't make it better.
What can we do to make these terrible articles go away?
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
"help with windows", 2.5 Billion, with a "B", hits. Do not pretend 100% or even a large percentage of Windows users never need power user help at a minimum.
The most popular desktop operating system on earth returns 2.5 billion hits. So what? Large numbers without basis for comparison are meaningless. I can't think how you'd get that basis here. The only thing you can really say on that basis is that less than 100% of users had no problems. # I didn't pretend that people never needed help with Windows. I said I hadn't had any real problems with it since 98 and asked what…
You clearly aren't the "computer whiz" in your family, who has to field all the "can you help me? Microsoft isn't working. I think I've been hacked, do you think it's a virus? Why is my computer so slow? Why is fixing it taking so long?" issues.
As for your ubuntu issues - you booted off a liveCD. Good for you. Now, how many liveCDs have you seen of Windows? How widespread are they?
Anyway, the same problems apply in setting up the system regardless of Windows or *nix - you need a power user to get you through the humps. Good luck installing XP as a normal user when you run into the ever-present problem of no appropriate network drivers. Basically you're comparing apples and oranges.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#258Warning: according to the known issues in the release log [0]: * Skype won't start (without a fix [1]) * Google Chrome won't install (without a fix [2]) [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RaringRingtail/ReleaseNotes [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/+bug/1155327 [2] https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=226002#c...
This is why I don't use Ubuntu anymore. Every single release they roll out has serious issues interrupting a normal user's workflow.
Ubuntu, if you're reading this: please consider testing your releases more thoroughly.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#259Warning: according to the known issues in the release log [0]: * Skype won't start (without a fix [1]) * Google Chrome won't install (without a fix [2]) [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RaringRingtail/ReleaseNotes [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/+bug/1155327 [2] https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=226002#c...
"Actually, having a workaround by definition lessens the severity, as if someone wants to still run Skype, they can." I don't think everyone is on the same page about Ubuntu being a consumer distro and not a hacker's only distro... I have definitely noticed a decrease in the stability of Ubuntu releases over the years and it's attitudes like this that seem to be in part responsible for it. EDIT: Oh I kept reading, th…
So, a "hacker's distro" should have bugs in it? No thanks, I'll take functional software.
Re: Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Released
#260Warning: according to the known issues in the release log [0]: * Skype won't start (without a fix [1]) * Google Chrome won't install (without a fix [2]) [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RaringRingtail/ReleaseNotes [1] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/skype/+bug/1155327 [2] https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=226002#c...
Maybe Canonical is releasing bugs on purpose to compete with Microsoft.