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My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

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Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#211

Post by bengalister »

Linux becomes more and more usable for non-technical users and has done a lot usability-wise on desktops but let's face it there's still a long way to go.

If for instance you use Ubuntu (the most popular distro for desktop), it is still plagued by bugs(and even the Long Term Support version). Have a look also at the Linux Mint forums it seems better but many users complain about buggy Cinammon. Well all in all, the desktop environments suffer of more bugs than on Windows or Mac.

Here are the reasons that keep me switching for my home PC (Ubuntu is only installed on my spare PC that I use for testing) : - No decent Flash support. The hardware acceleration by the GPU has been disabled (no option to enable it) and when I watch videos on youtube CPU reaches 100%. There's still Chrome which has its own Flash player and it improves significantly with a CPU consumption of around 50% but still far from I got on Windows 7 between 10 and 20%... - Battery draining : again a hot topic and mostly related to bad integration with popular graphic cards and other hardware components (wifi cards) but most people complain of reduced usage on battery (50%) compared to Windows. - For Java developers who use Eclipse, SWT looks ugly and performs badly on Ubuntu (not tried on other distros). Swing based IDE like IntellijIDEA or Netbeans are better but they don't match their Windows counterpart. - Ubuntu or even kernel upgrades that tend to break things like for me a webcam support.

I wish these problems were solved because as a developer I still prefer Unix based OS. It is very subjective but what has changed for me recently is that now I really find Ubuntu to be more visually appealing than Windows 8 (and same for Gnome 3.10). The login screen, the dash, software center are really nice. Even the Nautilus file manager that I used to dislike now looks really nice (now it is named Files) The desktop experience is much more "consistent" than it used to be and Ubuntu with Unity/Gnome shell and Gnome have worked hard to make the desktop user friendly and sexy.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#212

Post by itsboring »

ilyanep wrote: post #122
hnriot wrote: post #87

I think this, and the rest of the comments have missed the point, It's not linux or windows really that's going on, but that "computing" for the masses has shrunk down to the browser and Office (or it's clones) - the operating system these days has become marginalized for most people. the File Open dialog is about as far as they interact with it, along with CTRL P and the dock. Linux is perfectly capable of this. I r…

Nope, and (to contradict your point a little bit) I pretty much refuse to do development tasks on Windows because it's the one remaining OS on which I find it impossible to be productive. Have you ever tried working in a Windows command line compared to a UNIX terminal? Yes, I can install cygwin, but I really feel like I shouldn't have to.

I tried using cygwin for a while too, but I finally gave up and tossed windows out the...uh...window. The cygwin folks have made a heroic effort, but it still feels like putting lipstick on a pig.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#213

Post by batuhanicoz »

skuunk1 wrote: post #8

The only real trouble with Linux is possible driver issues (caused by trying to shoehorn an OS onto hardware for which it wasn't initially designed). If more OEMs would put Linux onto laptops directly this wouldn't be a problem. It's still tough to find a good, decently priced laptop OEMed with Linux though. I can't get my hands on the Dell XPS with Ubuntu pre-installed in my current country of residence...

Can't you give back the Windows license and install Ubuntu yourself? In Turkey, companies are required by law to uninstall Windows once you buy the computer if you ask them to. They give you the money you paid for the license while buying the computer if you haven't activated your computer yet.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#214

Post by frigg »

eddiedunn wrote: post #174
frigg wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has mentions the UI. I know Ubuntu has come a long way but Windows' UI is much, much nicer. It may sound silly but I think it's a valid reason for some. The same reason why one would buy an iPhone over another less expensive (or non-apple) phone, you pay for looks (it may not be the only reason of course but it is part of it). People like nice-looking stuff, and older folks seem to care (or notice) less these…

Bullshit. That's just your own very subjective opinion of UI preferences. I personally really don't care at all for the ridiculous glassy look of Aero in Windows 7; it's ugly to me. I think the biggest problem with Linux is that many people plainly prefer what they're used to. Additionally, if you're a so called Windows "power user" you have vested more knowledge in the Windows ecosystem - specialized knowledge that…

>Bullshit. That's just your own very subjective opinion of UI preferences. >I personally [...]

You're rather rude there. I don't agree with what you said and I can say the same thing about your statement. I know plenty of people my age with Linux experience that don't use it as their primary OS precisely because of the UI. And no, they don't want to waste time on config files with a WM, they did that when they were 16-18. And BTW, I was talking about Windows 8, not 7.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#215

Post by maxst »

mkmkmmmmm wrote: post #119
cyborb wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what drives me craziest about programming in windows, the freak'n console is awful

That's what I never got about Windows and especially Windows devs. How can you get anything done with all that clicking and no unix tools?

I don't know, for me Far Manager for Windows seems way more useful than Midnight Manager for Linux.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#216

Post by itsboring »

chmike wrote: post #188

The only reason I keep a windows machine around is because of Word/Powerpoint. I can get ork done with these. Open/libreOffice are pale copies. I also played some games like TF2 or Age of Empire, but the former is now playable on Ubuntu. Steam is doing an impressive work. For programming, I prefer QtCreator to Visual Studio. I regret QtCreator can't be used with other languages like D, Go, Java. I don't think I'll ma…

QtCreator is great, I don't get enough chances to work with it (mostly doing C# in monodevelop).

VS has really annoyed me lately when I've had to hop into windows. Way too much "waiting for background task to complete" stuff going on.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#217

Post by itsboring »

jacknews wrote: post #66

"I was pretty much floored." Indeed, because old people are all idiots. Honestly, for the basic tasks, the major OS's are as easy as each other these days.

Wasn't meaning to imply that, he's not stupid in the least. What I was impressed with was the initiative, as many users are afraid to make a change like that on their own.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#218

Post by noir_lord »

ams6110 wrote: post #46
chimeracoder wrote: post #18

Linux Mint is actually a very easy and natural transition from Windows. A few years ago, I installed Linux on my parents' desktop (dual-boot)[0] and told them that they were "forbidden" to use any other computer for web browsing, document editing, etc. I told them that this would be more secure, and that's all it took to convince them. I figured that, this way, at least I could fix any of their computer problems remo…

The thing is Windows XP, with all its warts, will still run comfortably on a 6 or 8 year PC that was low-end when it was new. A few weeks ago, when my wife's old XP computer finally wouldn't boot anymore I got a new hard drive and tried to run Ubuntu on it. Couldn't even get through the installer without it freezing up. Lubuntu installed but wasn't stable. OpenBSD with KDE was pretty good, and I would have stayed wit…

If you need to try that again have a look at Mint XFCE, I run version 15 on a 1.4Ghz Celeron-M with 1.25Gb RAM and it is usable for surfing and writing (it's an old Thinkpad R50 and the keyboard on it is so much better than my i5/16Gb Vostro that I often use it for longer documentation).

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#219

Post by pix64 »

laumars wrote: post #202
frigg wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody has mentions the UI. I know Ubuntu has come a long way but Windows' UI is much, much nicer. It may sound silly but I think it's a valid reason for some. The same reason why one would buy an iPhone over another less expensive (or non-apple) phone, you pay for looks (it may not be the only reason of course but it is part of it). People like nice-looking stuff, and older folks seem to care (or notice) less these…

Please don't try and pass off your personal preferences as fact. Beauty is just a matter of preference. Personally I've never cared for Microsoft's design. XP always looked chunky and gaudy to me - I hated it. Aero looks unfinished compared to Compiz (but part of that might be down to the fact that Linux has been doing desktop compositing for years before Windows finally caught up). And Windows 8 just looks like Micr…

I think you're confusing aesthetics with usability/experience.

Re: My dad unexpectedly uses my Linux laptop to get real work done

#220

Post by bliker »

cyborb wrote: post #109
mataug wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mom 50+, No technical knowledge, uses ubuntu for email, youtube, and general browsing, and occasionally makes presentations. My colleagues at work, Programmers, aren't able to get out of Windows, even though they are just writing python. They would rather stick with the pain of having to use git in a crappy console, and suffer loads of pain when shell-ing into ec2 linux boxes, Than learn a new UI and file-system

That's what drives me craziest about programming in windows, the freak'n console is awful

shameless plug http://bliker.github.io/cmder/ Not really that bad
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