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- shakeysugarpimp, on 12/30/2008, -9/+43Linux saved me when Windows abandoned me.
- ileftfark, on 12/31/2008, -8/+39Here's an actual email from a family friend I received today (I'm in my mid-20's, he's in his 60's):
"Igot myself one od the Aspire One netbooks, and couldn't be happier. It's just a terrific little toy tool. I've been going to Panera Bread, for the free wi-fi, and am jsut having FUN. Happy New Year to [name and name], and when I get back to PA, I owe you a Courvasier,or whatever. By the way, this uniy has the Linus, and everything works purrrfect....Best to both of you-"
Typos and other ***** aside, this guy is in his 60's, and knows ***** about computers. A week ago, he was using WebTV. WEB. TV. He's using Linux, which he finds easy and *fun*. 2009 will be his year. Enjoy your year. - inactive, on 12/30/2008, -11/+40Linux sucks. I can't defrag my hard drive.
- TrippleHead, on 12/31/2008, -11/+40Like a good little internet goer I at some point decided to install linux or at least try it out, in hopes it was even some of what it was made out to be by the internet. While pretty cool, it has a LOT of work to go before it's completely user friendly. I'm a pretty technical guy (not afraid to open the cmd prompt, or the computer case for that matter), and I had trouble getting just my graphics card installed. Diary of my linux trial:
5 minutes in: Finished looking at default applications "this is pretty slick, better get on the internet now"...."oh whats that my wireless card isn't supported...no biggie"
20 minutes later: "well that wasn't TOO difficult, i only had to patch my own drivers"
5 minutes later: "hmm internet looks the same on windows, time to try out those fancy linux effects" (this is ubuntu btw)
45 minutes later: "this is my 4th reboot from the terminal to reinstall the graphics drivers because these don't work"
10 minutes later: I have uninstalled linux and reinstalled windows. Oh cool, looks like my graphics card drivers are already automagically installed. - Bicep, on 12/30/2008, -2/+29That's a funny joke
- Batiu-Drami, on 12/31/2008, -1/+28Is this guy serious? Using Linux to power servers which power web applications is hardly the same as a wide adoption of Linux on the desktop. People are using Linux to power servers, which they have done for more than a decade. The continued support for XP by Microsoft has little to do with netbooks and more to do with the fact that noone bought Vista.
The only reasonable point he makes is that lower powered laptops, such as netbooks, can run better on less resource-intensive systems. Which includes Linux, as well as older versions of Windows. Hooray. - thelastknowngod, on 12/30/2008, -10/+34the year of the linux desktop is not something that you can see as its happening. it is something you will have to look back at.
great article. - roebeet, on 12/31/2008, -3/+26And Norton Anti-virus won't install, either. How can I live without that?
- Jeepinator, on 12/31/2008, -0/+21That's why I switched to Astley OS.
- inactive, on 12/29/2008, -14/+30 he's right ya know.
- inactive, on 12/31/2008, -2/+17FTA: "So what, you say you'll never use Linux on the desktop anyway? I hate to break this to you, but almost everyone already is running Linux-based applications on their desktops. Google and its applications run on Linux. Every time you do a Google search, read a Gmail, work on a Google document, you're using Linux. You prefer Yahoo? Guess what? Their servers and applications are built on Linux as well. Ever buy anything with PayPal? Yep, that runs on Linux too. So, if you spend a lot of your time on the Web, congratulations, you too are a Linux desktop user."
Ok, that is old and it doesn't count. Then we all use Windows because many websites are hosted on Windows servers, specially corporate websites. I'm a Linux user and even I know that that argument is irrelevant. - dhayes501, on 12/30/2008, -8/+22I've never agreed more with an article. I'm hopeful that my year will be in 2009. The last version of Fedora is really close, but it doesn't work perfectly with my multiple monitors yet, and the wireless card doesn't work right with WPA for whatever reason... I'm optimistic that with kde4.2 everything will be fixed and I'll be able to abandon windows for good! I'm still using Fedora 7 at work b/c I went through the trouble of configuring the Xorg.conf file and none of the newer distributions have worked out of the box yet. But I'm very optimistic about Fedora 11.
- trendymoniker, on 12/31/2008, -1/+15No no. I have it on the *highest* authority that 2009 will in fact be the year of the Linux Desktop.
- inactive, on 12/31/2008, -0/+12I predict 2009 will be the year of people writing articles about this being the year of the Linux desktop. Just like 2008, 2007, 2006......
- awhiteflame, on 12/31/2008, -6/+18If your display adapter is automagically recognised in Windows, you either have a freaking old chipset, or you're actually just using software rendering, in which case, X11 will default to that pretty well for nearly any adapter.
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 12/31/2008, -3/+15It's not just an irrelevant argument, it's... border-line retarded.
- FKnight, on 12/31/2008, -3/+14You know, every time I call someone on Digg a dumbass or a loser, the packets probably traverse at least a dozen Cisco routers.
Does that mean that this is the year of the Cisco desktop?
This article is stupid. Does the author even know what a "desktop" is? Does he even know when people say "Linux Desktop" that they mean "Linux, running as an OS, on the computer on my desktop, on top of which all my applications run?"
No. He's simply pulling ***** out of his ass, because talking about Linux gets website hits, and that's what he gets paid to do. - Trel, on 12/31/2008, -0/+11Actually, with the exception of those apps, since they're windows binaries, YES.
- BigManOnCampus, on 12/30/2008, -2/+13Yeah, it must really suck to use Linux on a FAT partition, good thing I never do.
- Thomasaka, on 12/31/2008, -1/+11Since when did Linux web servers equal "Linux desktop"?
- roebeet, on 12/31/2008, -2/+12Your year just hasn't come, yet (and maybe it never will). That's cool - just use whatever OS is best for you.
Signed, Linux fan. - saranagati, on 12/31/2008, -1/+11"How many people complain about switching from windows to mac?"
Most of the ones who try to install osx. Most people buy a computer with osx or windows already installed so everything works out of the box because the computer is just out of the box. I guarantee you that most people would have just as much trouble installing windows as they would linux if they had never used either one before. You can't really compare how easy it is to install linux vs how easy it is to run an operating system you've been running and installing for years. The fact that you got as far as you did at installing linux on some random machine in 90 minutes should speak for itself. If I gave you a random new computer and had you install xp on it you'd probably have some trouble. Especially if you had to install a wireless and video card who's drivers probably aren't on a windows xp disc which is a very common occurrence. - cquinnd, on 12/30/2008, -0/+9Well, actually you can.
- inactive, on 12/31/2008, -3/+12I know it was a joke, but "can't" = "don't really need to"
- EricZBA, on 12/31/2008, -0/+920XX is the year of the Linux Desktop!
- inactive, on 12/30/2008, -7/+14Never mind Dads (68) new netbook with Linux pre installed. He loves it.
- Orsenfelt, on 12/31/2008, -5/+12A Linux article that doesn't treat non users like idiots. Dugg.
- themusicalduck, on 12/31/2008, -11/+18People like you are kind of the reason why people aren't adopting to using Linux instead of Windows.
Linux is not really difficult, it's just very different to Windows. So while spending time on learning a brand new OS may have it's problems and be a little frustrating, you can't really expect much if you spend only 90 minutes before giving up..
When I first tried out linux I had to spend a few hours tinkering with xorg, installing different graphics drivers before things worked.. but I did my research, got it working, and now I'm in the know I could do it again in 5 minutes.
Linux seems to have a reputation of working 'out of the box' always, but this isn't the case with all users and that's pretty much the same with Windows.. You can't expect an OS to come with every driver for every device in existence. But I would say the Linux developers are working pretty hard at it and hardware companies are writing more and better drivers for it all the time. - inactive, on 12/31/2008, -3/+10FTA: "So what, you say you'll never use Linux on the desktop anyway? I hate to break this to you, but almost everyone already is running Linux-based applications on their desktops. Google and its applications run on Linux. Every time you do a Google search, read a Gmail, work on a Google document, you're using Linux."
That's some far-fetched ***** right here. If this sort of semantics is what you need to make "The Year of the Linux desktop" happen then you're in bad shape. - wshs, on 12/31/2008, -1/+8If we ignore the fact that the submitter wrote this, and that he's definitely getting a cut of the ad revenue, and that it's worded in such a way to get diggs, then no, he's not serious. But he is getting paid for the submission, so it makes it super cereal.
- inactive, on 12/31/2008, -0/+7I'm betting he's on a laptop judging by his comments. Laptops are a pain in the ass for any OS because no two are ever the same.
- lemur, on 12/31/2008, -1/+8So basically you dislike Gimp because you were trained on another program? I trained on Qwerty. I can't use Dvorak, but my incompetence in that matter does not affect how I feel about Dvorak.
Photoshop certainly does have more features than Gimp, but that doesn't make Gimp terrible. Both can be good, and Gimp actually has more features than the vast majority of imaging programs.
I can't recommend Photoshop to my friends because they don't need it and they don't want to pay the money to do some basic edits that Gimp can do for free. The people who a) want to pay for Photoshop and b) actually know how to take advantage of its features already have Photoshop and don't ask me how they can edit a photo.
The entire notion that all people everywhere should use Photoshop for imaging is absurd. - Renton, on 12/31/2008, -3/+10What year was that? Now, the restricted drivers manager pops up and you just check enable, then restart.
- pingveno, on 12/31/2008, -0/+7IIRC, Yahoo mainly uses FreeBSD. Open source Unix/Unix-like operating system? Yes. Linux? No.
- Cl1mh4224rd, on 12/31/2008, -7/+13> "[...] you can't really expect much if you spend only 90 minutes before giving up.
Whoa, what is this *****? Where do you draw the line? Two hours? Twelve hours? Three days? A month? - tattokris, on 12/31/2008, -2/+82007 was my year of Linux. One of my my new soldiers introduced me to it. I was amazed I had not heard of it before then. I never used to dislike Windows so much. I do, however, feel like I felt when I was a Mac user in the mid 90s though. Once there is better cross-platform support people will switch. Society is cheap .
- PHJames88, on 12/31/2008, -0/+6Let's put it this way: If all you need is what's in Photoshop Elements, Gimp is perfect, maybe lacking slightly, but not enough not to use it instead. If you actually DO need the extra features of 'full' Photoshop, you already know exactly why you do and already have Photoshop.
And GUI is irrelevant if you've never actually used Photoshop or if you're willing to learn and not ***** on it just because it isn't what you're used to. - UnterDenLinden, on 12/29/2008, -7/+13Well this is just great!!
- realnowhereman, on 12/31/2008, -0/+6http://bash.org/?152037
- JonForTheWin, on 12/30/2008, -4/+10Businesses don't want a GNU/Linux desktop. They want (and need) a GNU/Linux terminal server with SSDs (with easyco's MFT acceleration, that's what we're using). Install Ubuntu LTSP, change the bootsplash, and every aging Pentium 4 era PC in the office is now a suitable NX client for a server that for most office environments will provide a faster desktop than any PC.
Use rdesktop's seamless mode and a virtualized instance of win2k3 for ass-backwards compatibility and to speed up the migration and you're set. - TheSwashbuckler, on 12/31/2008, -7/+13What a joke!
If we've already had the year of the Linux desktop then there was no year of the Linux desktop.
(Just waiting for the Linux fanboys to digg me down) - FKnight, on 12/31/2008, -2/+8He's probably pissed off that the Enterprise in Star Trek XI has an extra flare on the warp nacelle pylon too.
- cheekymonk3y, on 12/31/2008, -3/+8As cliched as it is, 18th November 2008 was my "day" of the linux, and I've been enjoying every moment since.
I only ever log over to vista when I want to play some games now. - lendrick, on 12/31/2008, -2/+7Of course, no one year is going to be the "year of Linux on the desktop". We've all been seeing these predictions since the mid 90's, and they're pretty silly on the face of it, as if Linux is going to have some kind of breakout year where it suddenly shoots up to 25% market share. In all likelihood, people will keep making these silly predictions, other people will keep (rightly) laughing at them, and Linux will do what it's always done -- slowly improve and chip away, bit by bit, at Microsoft's market share. It may eventually reach 25% or more, but I don't expect that to be a result of any sudden, rapid gain. Humans are creatures of habit. Making a big change (like giving up one OS for another) isn't something that we tend to do lightly, so moving people over will take time. Heck, going from Gnome to KDE was a huge leap for me, and that's not even a different OS. :)
- ut2k4king, on 12/31/2008, -5/+10Note: Theoretically the internet should look the same across all OSes be it mobile, netbook, laptop, or desktop. So an operation system switch should NOT be what makes your internet look different.
ALSO: Unless you're using a VIA chipset from God-knows-when, you should have auto-installed drivers in ubuntu (and even the integrated VIA drivers may be supported now).
Ubuntu takes ~25-40 minutes to set up from a blank disk (depending on disc read speed and disk write speed) and after that you SHOULD have a fully networked, graphics capable desktop. It's become even easier to set up than Windows XP, actually. - lemur, on 12/31/2008, -7/+11Very good article... it makes all the valid points that nobody really cares about, which is why the argument still lasts to this day because of the holdouts who are too stubborn to take a more moderate stance on Linux. I remember last year telling one of my friends that Google runs on Linux, and he very strongly denied that was true.
Part of what makes Linux so appealing to users is that it helps relieve common frustrations with desktop computer systems. I went through years of this with my friends and family... never did I try to force them to use Linux, but they would come to me and say, "Oh I'm so fed up with Internet Explorer." Try Firefox. "Oh I hate AIM so much." Try Pidgin. "I need something to edit these photos." Try Gimp. Every time they would walk away satisfied, coming back to me saying, "You know, I just love Firefox. I really like Pidgin a lot. Gimp is great."
People actually don't need Linux to enjoy Free Software or get enthusiastic, but I'd basically prescribe Free Software to fix every little problem they had, and finally the last straw would be, "I'm sick of Windows." Then I'd say, "Look, here is Linux. What do you think?" They'd say, "Oh, it has Firefox! It has Pidgin! It has Thunderbird!" Then they'd start geeking out over Gnome, at which point they start talking about how they like Linux so much better than Windows.
I think it's fair to say that a lot of progress in the software world has shifted onto Linux. Rather than being an alternative to Windows, Linux simply became popular in its own rite for being a platform that was getting software people wanted/needed. It's certainly not a perfect platform, but it's progress. - yodacow, on 12/31/2008, -0/+4I will remember 2008 as my year of the linux desktop and the year I thrashed the windows OS. I wished I did it earlier but seriously, linux was just not ready.
- themusicalduck, on 12/31/2008, -1/+5You forgot the /s
- eruanno, on 12/31/2008, -0/+4hahahahahah LOL
- MWeather, on 12/31/2008, -4/+8Linux won the desktop wars, all it took was for the Desktop to move online.
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