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I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

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Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#41

Post by viandante »

I stopped using Ubuntu-like distros 1 year ago. As I was there, I also dropped the DE, now using a tiling windows. Doing things in a terminal most of the time. It feels right, fast and robust enough. If something is not packaged for linux (free or not, I don't care), then I don't use it. Simple as that. I so reduced the ammount of junky software of half probably and I only install things to play/learn with (haskel ghc, python libraries, postgres, and all I feel to play with).

Then I work on a company windows laptop. It is slow, takes ages to start up, it is full o crappy software some of it updated last time around the year 2001. GUIs that kill productivity as they are not scriptable, so say bye to automation. And the fun part is that this "paradigm" keeps going, so you find the same problems on SAP, data warehouse, etc. Instead of APIs, you have to log into every system you use, choose your option, download in a folder, change data format, copy in a power point slide... and half day is gone.

So, this "Ubuntu is ready because it just works and it is easy", meaning basically that you do all from GUIs, it just does not give the world anything new. If we keep chasing the same old paradigm, I wonder why we bother developing new software then.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#42

Post by icebraining »

freehunter wrote: post #24
icebraining wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux won't be ready until you can download a file from the Internet, run it, and install it just with a couple clicks (and not "you need to set the 'exectuable' flag!" error). We're talking about Ubuntu , not all Linux distributions. And in Ubuntu, that works fine: try downloading any .deb and double clicking it.

I'm using 11.10 at home, and when I download a file from the Internet as a .deb, it will install from the Ubuntu Software Center (but not if an update is running). If I download it as anything else (.sh, etc), it needs to have the flag set manually. Unfortunately, quite a few installers come as .sh for universal compatibility. Most recently, installing VMWare tools I ran into this. Granted most consumers won't be ins…

I think the question is whether one should treat different distros as just different "flavors" of the same OS, or different OSs. I mean, no one complains about Mac OSX because their software packages don't work in other BSD based OSs.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#43

Post by RexRollman »

Derbasti wrote: post #18

Some people (on this thread, too) seem to think that in order for Linux to be successful, it needs to become Windows. I think the exact opposite is true. Linux will never beat Windows at being Windows. But it may well be the superior operating system for many people. If you ask me, this is what Linux should strive for, and incidentally, what it probably is striving for. Hardware compatibility is pretty good already.…

I agree. Windows and Mac OS X don't have to fail for Linux to succeed.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#44

Post by jasonlotito »

freehunter wrote: post #2

I strongly disagree, and take exception to the fact that this "article" is 3 paragraphs long with zero information yet throws out the idea that Linux, even Ubuntu, is 1:1 competitive with Windows or OSX on the desktop. Contrary to the author, hardware is still a mess. Have a Lexmark wireless printer? Tough luck, there is no way to print to it from Linux. Have switchable graphics? Good luck there, too. Want your new l…

> Linux won't be ready until you can run a system update and install a new program at the same time.

Mac/Windows won't be ready until I can run programs and update them at the same time.

Mac/Windows won't be ready until I don't get calls from relatives asking about setting up their hardware/software/whateverware.

Argue all you want. The issue has nothing to do with anything you've mentioned. The issue is merely support: X is not ready until relative Y is available to support it.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#45

Post by wcchandler »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #8
orp wrote: post #3

I am unfortunately forced to disagree. I recently moved my home machine from Windows to Linux. After a little research, I picked Ubuntu 11.10 (with Unity). The installation went by pretty smoothly, everything seemed to work out of the box. The only manual configuration I had to do was to teach my Linux box to ping my Windows laptop. So far so good. Then, 2 weeks later, my disk went out of space. Turns out Ubuntu has…

>Turns out Ubuntu has a hidden log file that logs errors, with no sanity checks on size, and it hit 300+ GB. Uh, what is this hidden log?

I have a fairly vanilla install and quickly looking at my /etc/rsyslog.d/*.conf files shows 0 hidden files defined.

Similarly, /etc/logrotate.conf doesn't "hide" any files after rotating.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#47

Post by tjwebb »

DanBC wrote: post #14
freehunter wrote: post #2

I strongly disagree, and take exception to the fact that this "article" is 3 paragraphs long with zero information yet throws out the idea that Linux, even Ubuntu, is 1:1 competitive with Windows or OSX on the desktop. Contrary to the author, hardware is still a mess. Have a Lexmark wireless printer? Tough luck, there is no way to print to it from Linux. Have switchable graphics? Good luck there, too. Want your new l…

I'm not getting into a religious war but: I've had printer driver problems on OSX and on some Windows versions. The problem with printers is the evil practice of selling the machines at (or near) loss, and making money on ink / toner. Caveat Emptor applies. Windows users (used to? Still do?) have problems with installing software. They wouldn't use the add software wizard; the software would install things in weird p…

My definition of competitiveness does not imply equivalence. For example, Windows and OSX are expensive, while Ubuntu is free. A free market would suggest that it should be slightly inferior since it is free. Each OS has strengths and weaknesses. The point of this article is to illuminate the fact that Ubuntu can be seriously considered as an alternative to Windows/OSX for the average person.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#48

Post by tjwebb »

DanBC wrote: post #14
freehunter wrote: post #2

I strongly disagree, and take exception to the fact that this "article" is 3 paragraphs long with zero information yet throws out the idea that Linux, even Ubuntu, is 1:1 competitive with Windows or OSX on the desktop. Contrary to the author, hardware is still a mess. Have a Lexmark wireless printer? Tough luck, there is no way to print to it from Linux. Have switchable graphics? Good luck there, too. Want your new l…

I'm not getting into a religious war but: I've had printer driver problems on OSX and on some Windows versions. The problem with printers is the evil practice of selling the machines at (or near) loss, and making money on ink / toner. Caveat Emptor applies. Windows users (used to? Still do?) have problems with installing software. They wouldn't use the add software wizard; the software would install things in weird p…

I've also had printer issues, particularly with OSX. Printer idiosyncrasies still exist on all platforms, but I'm not about to call OSX unworthy because it doesn't work with a certain printer.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#49

Post by hetman »

Funny. On my netbook, Ubuntu used to feel like it was finally ready about one major version ago.

Today, 11.10 is so unusably slow it might actually make Windows Vista feel competitive. I thought it might be the outdated video card but then Unity 2D made no actual difference; any simple UI interaction still sucks CPU hard. Just for some icing on the cake, the Wi-Fi driver is now also causing random kernel panics on my hardware.

I heard someone exclaim somewhere OS X Lion was Apple's Vista moment. Well it looks to me like Ubuntu 11.x is Canonical's Vista moment. I'm holding out hope version 12 will be their Windows 7 moment, otherwise the long painful process of adapting to another distro will have to begin.

Re: I’m calling it: Ubuntu is finally ready for the world.

#50

Post by user2459 »

This is kind of a cheezy, non analytical and barely informational article, but I agree with the standpoint.

Ubuntu is easy. It's actually strikingly easy. From install through normal everyday usage the experience is painless(actually enjoyable) and fluid. For the vast majority of machines it will be self configuring and for the rest installing drivers ranges from just as easy as other systems to of course much harder but thats a vendor problem not an Ubuntu problem that really can only be addressed with Ubuntu gaining users.

Don't get distracted by comparing the other OS's feature by feature to Ubuntu. You're just going to waste your time and get unnecessarily hot headed. Ubuntu's greatest strength is still, and arguable always will be, that its FOSS. But it is also a dead simple, batteries included, no noise operating system that normal everyday users would find lovely to use.

What Ubuntu really needs now is community optimism and a bit of lighthearted activism. It needs installs. The more users and attention, the more interest and support. Ubuntu is definitely ready for prime time, we just have to put it in that timeslot.

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