Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 356 posts

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

#331

Post by special »

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.

Do you know Powershell? I admit it's not quite as good as the real thing but at least you can 'ls' on Windows.

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

#332

Post by special »

pippy wrote: post #81

For about last five years most linux flavours have been more usable than windows. Ubuntu and Debian have superb out of the box experiences, even more so given the disaster that was Windows 8. For example ElementaryOS is by far one of the best UI out there right now, and Gnome 3.1 finally pulled finger and created everything I'd been wanting in a desktop shell. But the real "year of the Linux desktop" will only ever h…

I'm so pleased to see people talking about elementary OS. It's a cool project. Some links for the lurkers:

http://elementaryos.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_(operating_system)

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

#333

Post by girvo »

keithpeter wrote: post #279
girvo wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I tried to convert my 25 year old brother as well, but he switched back to Windows after a month. Despite being the youngest, he hated learning a new system and preferred Windows. I've found this myself. My Grandfather loves Windows 8, my mother absolutely hates it. My Grandfather loves his new Android phone, my mum hates Android and refuses to use anything other than her iPhone. Younger people may be more "tech-sa…

Perhaps your sample of younger people are just short of time and have the applications they want working in the way they want? In defence of 'younger people' generally I hand my X60 Thinkpad running Debian Wheezy with the default Gnome 3 desktop around sometimes in class. It does not take them long to work out how to access Firefox and a maths video on YouTube after suggesting they press the windows key. They general…

My grandfather just concluded a NZD$40mm business deal while I was in NZ visiting him. If anyone's short of time, it's him! :)

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

#334

Post by calinet6 »

sillysaurus2 wrote: post #268
cstross wrote: post #246

Microsoft's desktop supremacy hasn't been down to "it's got a nice, easy to use interface" for at least 20 years. Rather, Microsoft is (or was, in the pre-post-PC world) everywhere because of (a) licensing stitch-ups with hardware vendors and (b) network externalities: get into Corporate IT departments with Office, then people will want (or need) to use the same OS at home, and then you can strong-arm hardware vendor…

The desktop is now irrelevant -- less than 10% of computing devices people use are desktops or laptops: it's all gone mobile frighteningly fast. It's ironic that you probably typed that with a desktop or laptop. Irrelevant? Hardly.

FYI -- don't always assume this. I frequently type posts of this length and detail on my Droid 4 (good keyboard).

Phones with keyboards are a dying breed, however -- that's more interesting.

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

#335

Post by 27182818284 »

sillysaurus2 wrote: post #268
cstross wrote: post #246

Microsoft's desktop supremacy hasn't been down to "it's got a nice, easy to use interface" for at least 20 years. Rather, Microsoft is (or was, in the pre-post-PC world) everywhere because of (a) licensing stitch-ups with hardware vendors and (b) network externalities: get into Corporate IT departments with Office, then people will want (or need) to use the same OS at home, and then you can strong-arm hardware vendor…

The desktop is now irrelevant -- less than 10% of computing devices people use are desktops or laptops: it's all gone mobile frighteningly fast. It's ironic that you probably typed that with a desktop or laptop. Irrelevant? Hardly.

There is data that indicates that even filling out longer pieces of text and forms is on the rise. places like Plenty of Fish has real data about who is willing to fill out forms with a mobile devices and the numbers were surprising (to me at least)

http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/the-web-is-dead...

Similarly after that article was published, I saw the analytics of a large university and could see the amount of mobile use increasing (thought not as dramatically as POF) with tasks as complex as filling out a college application.

In the end, I'm surprised, but yes, people fill out dating profiles, college applications, and even Hacker News comments from mobile devices more and more.

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

#336

Post by tripzilch »

lucb1e wrote: post #50

This thread is awesome. It always feels like I'm the only person on the planet using linux in school; school requires us to use Windows and teaches several other proprietary vendor lock-ins; and very, very few friends actually use Linux, even though most are programmers. Tomorrow I'm going to an open source event, mostly to show support for foss in general. Ironically the event will be in school: the very thing most…

Nearly all the exact sciences departments at my (Dutch) university used Linux, LaTeX, python, etc. all the time.

Weird that this is so different at HBO.

Also I know some people that teach computers at a highschool/MBO and they're really pushing Linux and open source. Although I do have the feeling they're probably more exception than the rule in this context... :)

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

#337

Post by AlexDanger »

eean wrote: post #308
AlexDanger wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vmware + linux + unity mode. Vmware Workstation has always been very seamless with things like copy/paste between the guest and host. Havent used Virtualbox for a few years but I'm sure thats ok too.

...what do you accomplish with all this? I was forced to use Windows at work once so I had a Linux Virtualbox to do specific tasks, but it's not at all an ideal setup. I'm not sure what the advantage is over just using Linux as your host OS.

All I'm saying is that if you have to use a winbox for work (because of corporate/it policy), then getting nix tools via WMVware and Unity Mode is quite a good experience.

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

#338

Post by Mikeb85 »

eropple wrote: post #210
Mikeb85 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do I, a user, care that it's difficult for Ubuntu to do something that Windows does? It's not Ubuntu that can't do it. It's the hardware manufacturer that refuses to do it. I personally choose to vote with my feet. I only buy computer hardware/software that works with Linux. If someone refuses to support Linux, they don't get my business. If everyone does this, eventually everyone will support Linux or go out o…

> It's not Ubuntu that can't do it. It's the hardware manufacturer that refuses to do it. Thanks for the explanation, but I've written (very simple) Linux device drivers before, I am aware. :) But my point was that you are making a distinction that simply does not matter to the end users that are under discussion. That a hardware manufacturer doesn't produce drivers for Linux doesn't change that, to a user, "Windows…

I think the average user understands better than you give them credit, since OSX, iOS, Android, and Windows RT/Phone have fragmented the device OS market... The computing scene is no longer a MS monopoly, but is fragmented between a bunch of incompatible OSes. Nowadays that means you buy peripherals that adhere to standards, or that don't. It's in the manufacturers' interests to create products based on standards, which of course will work with Linux...

When my wife sees that her iPhone is a pain to connect to the computer, to her car, can't mirror to our TV, etc..., yet her Android tablet does perfectly, she doesn't blame the computer, car and TV...

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

#339

Post by eean »

snambi wrote: post #312
eean wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> desktop is now irrelevant I disagree completely. Why don't you write all your books on an iPad? It's not the tool for the job. In my opinion 20 years from now, assuming we don't have cortical implants or similar, people are going to go to work and sit down in front of a monitor with a keyboard and a mouse. It won't be so different to how people worked 20 years ago. MSFT completely agrees with you. The see the Zeitg…

At some point in time desktop was a must-have to get any meaningful work done. Especially a windows desktop. whatever the work may be. today thats not the case. In fact, lot of work cannot be done with windows desktop anymore. We need windows only to access windows specific legacy software, that enterprises are still using, such as outlook, excel, powerpoint etc. It is the IT groups in large companies that is holding…

So you think the reason you don't walk into an office and see everyone using an on-screen keyboard on their iPad is because of legacy Windows software? We have Microsoft to thank as the last defender of the keyboard?

No.

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

#340

Post by donniezazen »

tsm wrote: post #300
cstross wrote: post #246

Microsoft's desktop supremacy hasn't been down to "it's got a nice, easy to use interface" for at least 20 years. Rather, Microsoft is (or was, in the pre-post-PC world) everywhere because of (a) licensing stitch-ups with hardware vendors and (b) network externalities: get into Corporate IT departments with Office, then people will want (or need) to use the same OS at home, and then you can strong-arm hardware vendor…

Android's prevalence isn't the victory for Linux that you say it is. Linux is much more about a culture of openness and freedom than it is about the specific kernel used. I—a diehard Linux fan—would be much happier to have a BSD flavor on my phone than the locked-down, carrier-controlled Linux-kernel-based operating system I currently use.

Linux kernel has been a huge success for many many years but GNU/Linux distributions are a mess.
Post reply on HN