On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 02:23:08PM -0000, Darksyde wrote: > > P.S. And this is more for the benefit of newer newbies than I, FYI. > Personal opinion, the whole "more difficult to use than Mac or Windows" thing > is sooo blown out of proportion. IMHO, so many new distro's prove that Linux > IS ready for the desktop, and there's certainly no lack of available > software, not to mention the price of said software. I can't imagine having > grown up with Linux and then switching to Windows or Mac; "I need a piece of > software but I don't have $100-300 in spare cash right now." "Should I call > Tech Support to find out why my screen goes blue every few weeks?" "Whaddya > mean I have a virus? My computer's set up to get all available updates!" > "This computer's only four years old. It came with XP but now I have to buy > a new version of Windows because the old one is no longer supported?" lol >
I'm going to play devil's advocate here, not to troll, though that's always fun of course, but just to make what I consider an 2 important points. One, I think that Linux users putting down Windows or Apple is reminiscent of a little dog barking at a big dog. I just don't see it serving a purpose anymore--the more restrained--if that's the proper word, we are, the better, especially, ironically, from an advocacy standpoint--telling someone, "What you use is BAD," implies they're foolish, and can quickly close their mind. Windows users will tell you (rightfully), that Windows has gotten far better with Blue screening and the like. Malware is often not an issue for those who are intelligent users, say, at the level, hopefully, of the average Linux user, interested enough in computers to follow techie type stuff. (They use Ubuntu in a VM to browse questionable sites.) :) As for having to buy a new version of Windows even though it's only 4 years old, how long is an Ubuntu version supported? Fedora, which is admittedly extremely aggressive in this, only supports it for 18 months. There are other Linux myths, so to speak, that I feel actually hurt advocacy--it's the old sales adage, promise less than you can deliver, deliver more than you promise. Install Linux, all your hardware will work. So, they install one. Hey, my wireless isn't working. Oh, that's the fault of the vendor for not opensourcing their specs. Errm, yeah, that's nice and all, but my wireless isn't working. This Linux is junk. Hopefully, my point is clear. We can't promise that everything will work perfectly, nor that programs will do everything your Windows/Mac programs will do, etc. Still, much of the original article mentiond by Roy, which I think I've snipped, is quite true. It has gotten much easier to use, works better with a great deal of hardware, etc. Ironically, a friend of mine decided to put Ubuntu on someone's laptop, because the owner of the laptop had lost the Dell driver disk, and he didn't feel like searching for the drivers for her--whereas Ubuntu worked out of the box for her. (Not to mention the malware---which was why it had to be reinstalled in the first place.) :) -- Scott Robbins PGP keyID EB3467D6 ( 1B48 077D 66F6 9DB0 FDC2 A409 FA54 EB34 67D6 ) gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys EB3467D6 ------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this list, please email [email protected] & you will be removed.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LINUX_Newbies/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
