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622 Comments
- frontporsche, on 09/11/2008, -10/+237If someone has a working computer, or they're already used to an OS that does what they need, why should they switch?
- xtothepowerofx, on 09/11/2008, -7/+204i just started using ubuntu last week on an old dell laptop i had kickin around... i'm personally having lots of fun with it. what the average geek forgets is how little computer knowledge the "average" user has. most people have never used a dos command.. or even the windows command line for that matter. most people i know (and probably 75-80% of computer users) probably wouldn't even be able to change the boot device order. i decided to install it because i wanted a challenge and something that would enhance my computer skills.... most people don't want using their computer to be "work"
/now i finally get all the "sudo.... " joke/comments on digg :) - tkcom, on 09/11/2008, -11/+183One word answer: Games
- VinnieDaMac, on 09/11/2008, -1/+102Ubuntu is a terrible game.
- paranoiabacon, on 09/11/2008, -18/+78I absolutely agree. Problem is, (probably due to somehow ***** something up due to my limited technical expertise) I had more problems with Ubuntu than I do with Vista. Combine that with the lack of commercial support, I'm perfectly fine sticking with Vista. It's done me fine.
- merripen, on 09/11/2008, -7/+62Ubuntu isn't number one because it doesn't support everything everyone wants to do.
Windows sucks all ass, but there's nothing that is unavailable for it. I really think it's that simple. - Freebsdguy, on 09/11/2008, -35/+88lightweight? LOL
Ubuntu is the Vista of the Linux/Unix world. - wrek, on 09/11/2008, -12/+64You know, I think it has a lot to do with marketing. Ubuntu isn't marketed widely yet. When you start seeing the PC guy, Mac guy and the Ubuntu guy on TV, then you'll see marketshare increase. People need familiarity. The big reason I still have a windows machine on stand-by (literally) is because there are still some programs that will not run on my Ubuntu machine. Most will, but some just refuse to play nice.
The WINE people work very hard to ensure that anything that runs on Windows can be run in Linux. World of Warcraft for example plays perfectly if not better on my Ubuntu machine than on my windows machine. It's faster and smoother (with the exact same specs). I think this might be due to the increased Windows memory overhead.
Anyway. Ubuntu is quickly becoming "THE" Linux distro of choice, especially for new converts.
Nice article, dugg it. - PoopOnPaul, on 09/11/2008, -0/+50"most people i know (and probably 75-80% of computer users) probably wouldn't even be able to change the boot device order."
Dude, you have severely overestimated the percentage of people that would. - shifty2, on 09/11/2008, -3/+52sudo make me a sandwich
- fyngyrz, on 09/11/2008, -6/+50Why is Ubuntu not #1?
Well, let's see. Got Photoshop? No. Cubase? No. Aperture? No. Autocad? No. Office? No. Garage Band? No. WinImages? No. No. Flying Haggis? No. Omni Outliner? No. Quicken? No. OmniWeb? No. Morph? No. No. Comic Life? No. Lightroom? No. Spore? No. Paintshop? No. Corel? No. Parallels? No. J2K? No.
Now, let's look at it the other way around.
For OS/X and/or Windows users:
Got Gimp? Yes. MySQL? Yes. PosgreSQL? Yes. CLI? Yes. Ping? Yes. Python? Yes. Perl? Yes. Mame? Yes. Stellarium? Yes. Midnight Commander? Yes. Adium? Yes. Freemind? Yes. Audacity? Yes. Emu48? Yes. OpenOffice? Yes. Apache? Yes. Firefox? Yes. Thunderbird? Yes.
...the point I'm making here is that almost everything useful to an end user, and a whole lot more, that you might find under Ubuntu is available to PC users, and darned near *everything* "linux-y" is available to Mac users (because the Mac is also *nix based, just for starters.) On the other hand, there's a *huge* number of commercial and other applications that are native to Windows or OS/X (or both) that you can't get for linux, Ubuntu or otherwise.
This is a hill linux has never been able to climb. You know why this is? It isn't because there aren't enough linux machines or linux users; not at all. The main problem is the GPL is decidedly incompatible with the "make money from IP" concept. Commercial software *doesn't* want to be free. Consequently, commercial software makers don't want linux unless, and this is a very BIG unless, they have a service based model (which basically means their software is either too complicated to be used easily, or else that it is buggy and needs fixing, NEITHER of which is a hallmark of an application your average end user wants anything to do with.)
Yet the other way around, free software *does* want to be free, and so most of it is made to run on the most common platform - Windows. As for OS/X, most of the time, there's no extra work to be done as comoared to linux to get something to run -- just "make" or use fink and you're done. This is entirely aside from the Mac's ability to run *both* Windows and Linux in windows on the OS/X desktop.
Is it about what you can do from the command line? No. Because the vast majority of users don't want to see the command line. They run applications, and the OS is simply a means to get to those apps and manage the data from those apps, and quietly support their resource demands without getting in the way insofar as that is possible. In the end, the OS is only important in that the user wants to run something; the question is, can they run it?
Under linux, the answer is often an unqualified no, and is going to remain that way.
Under OS/X, it is certain to be yes (especially keeping in mind that OS/X can run windows *and* linux apps on its own desktop, working within the local filesystem, using Parallels.)
Under Windows, it is almost certain to be yes. There's no substitute for being the 900 lb gorilla in the room.
There's no way around it, short of abandoning the infectious GPL: Linux will always be third -- well, unless more commercial OS's manage to find a place in the market, then it could drop to fourth, etc.
And yes, I have linux on my desktop, and have since 1994. As well as OS/X and Windows. I work with all three operating systems each and every day. Here's my desk:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fyngyrz/2294336959/ - thelizardreborn, on 09/11/2008, -4/+45But its still lightweight compared to either Windows or OSX.
- huskerdude, on 09/11/2008, -1/+41It's pretty simple. Because 99.99999% of people on the planet have never even heard of it. Expecting something that has no marketing and no name recognition to become successful is painfully naive,
- wispygalaxy, on 09/11/2008, -9/+43Average computer users are scared to try something new on their computers. My dad, who uses the computer to check stock numbers, type reports, and play Minesweeper, is afraid to install Firefox because it did not come with the computer. (Don't worry, he's warming up to the idea!) Make people understand that they don't need to know any programming languages to install Ubuntu. Also, assure them that it's easy to install applications in Ubuntu.
I used to think that GNU/Linux was all about command lines, had only math applications on it, and looked like DOS. When I heard about Ubuntu, I realized that I was wrong. It's very important that the appearance of Ubuntu is appealing. Make it foolproof to use Compiz Fusion. As a girl, I do enjoy playing around with themes. (I use KDE with Debian, and I love how I can customize the colors! :D ) Have updated links to user-created themes under 'system -> preferences -> appearance' in the theme category. While I am on the Ubuntu Forums, I constantly see questions about how to change themes, so it should be made clear how to use them.
People tend to go with brands that are marketed a lot. Ubuntu should be mentioned more on TV and in magazines. I only hear about Linux online, and it's very rare that you hear about it outside the Internet. Many misconceptions about Ubuntu will be cleared up this way, hopefully.
The Live CD is a great way to help people become acquainted with Ubuntu. I have one friend who had XP and was reluctant to switch to Vista. He had an old laptop his dad gave him, and he had no money to buy a new one. I suggested to him that he try out the Ubuntu Live CD. Now, he is happy I told him about it. He has no hardware problems. All he does is browse the web, watch YouTube videos, and type his homework on OpenOffice.
If you are still unsure about trying Ubuntu or GNU/Linux in general, there are plenty of inexpensive laptops that have various distros pre-installed on them. The ASUS Eee PC is a good example. It has word processing and a web browser. I will be getting one of these laptops soon, so why don't you check it out? :) - diadem2, on 09/11/2008, -5/+38Games, as above.
Full .net support.
Extensive easy to understand documentation
Standards compliance with popular existing systems. No requirement to retrain entire staff. Brand name recognition.
Support for widely used DRMs such as Netflix, Spore, ITunes, etc
Plug and play driver support for almost every major appliance - bbqsalad, on 09/11/2008, -5/+36Lack of supported software and games (yeah wine, but cmon now)
Tough to get networking working especially wifi on some cards
No real advertising for it
Lack of hardware support
It will probably never be the number 1 OS until they fix these things. - eekfuh, on 09/11/2008, -1/+31As a daily user of ubuntu on my developer machine, it's easy to see why.
Multiple monitor support is terrible.
Bluetooth support (A2DP) terrible
I can't have rhythmbox open and be able to play any audio (all flash audio dies) from the browser (rhythmbox takes over the audio source).
Middle mouse click didn't work off the start.
Lots of little things that make it a pain in the ass to use for most people. - wallclimber, on 09/11/2008, -7/+34Why should Ubuntu EVER be the number one OS? Here's my problem with this type of thinking. The world is apparently SO used to having an overly dominant software company that they can't imagine a software world without a monopoly.
There are so many really nice distros available these days that plain Ubuntu is only one part of the whole Linux pie.
If this were a horse race, the combined GNU/Linux distros would be the energetic, scrappy little horse that's swiftly closing the gap behind the fat, lumbering, has-been nag in front that got a head start and is now hogging the whole track. To get around the problem, the community just builds a whole new track and soon the scrappy little horse races off in new directions...leaving the old nag behind, still plodding along in the same big circle.
(hey, at least it isn't a car analogy, right? :)
Anyway, a level playing field would be a MUCH better situation. - spocksbrain, on 09/11/2008, -3/+30One of the great things about Ubuntu is also its downfall. Price. Many people believe (and often rightly so) that you have to pay for quality. Ubuntu is free, therefore it must be rubbish, or so goes the thought process.
- rectagon, on 09/11/2008, -4/+30I install Ubuntu (or similar linux OS) every couple months on old machines... and then give them away. I then go back 2 months later and install Windows when they can't get their printer to work... or an old CD game... or want the latest Windows app.... Happens EVERY time! I try... but Windows just plain works with too much stuff. Oh, and hey, the crack about always being infected in no longer true. Period.
- MaxMWood, on 09/11/2008, -21/+46Because its made of wank.
- stormgren, on 09/11/2008, -1/+24make: *** No rule to make target 'me'. Stop.
- dukeochutney, on 09/11/2008, -2/+25no but neither can you after 3 installs :P
- damonic, on 09/11/2008, -7/+30Ummm. How about Microsoft Office, driver support, ease of installing apps? Not to mention people just don't want to learn new things. They are comfortable (ie. complacent) with what they know.
- neasteflorin, on 09/11/2008, -6/+28Sorry for the quite awkward description, my cat pressed the enter button before I could edit it properly! Hehe!
- CowboyPerfect, on 09/11/2008, -23/+44Look, ubuntu will never be number one. Please get over it.
- ixid, on 09/11/2008, -2/+23I'm happier with XP: games 'n stuff run on XP with no faff; it's also easier to find the tools to do things like overclock the USB or make maps for games etc. The sudo stuff also drove me up the wall, if I am logged in as the goddamn administrator then let me administrate. If there's some way around that great, I didn't find it in the brief time I spent looking, it's just an OS, I don't want to notice it, I just want it to work.
I was a DOS user back in the way, I wouldn't want to use an OS in that way if I can avoid it. - ElectroOverlord, on 09/11/2008, -3/+23Thread Over!
- oblique63, on 09/11/2008, -0/+20@unreg: thank you for inspiring me to alias sudo as 'bitch'!
- etruscan, on 09/11/2008, -5/+24There was recently a similar thread over at /. and I made the same point as you. If my mom, who is 70+ and has more computer knowledge than most people 50+ - if she can't figure it out, it's not good enough for the mainstream. In the case of Ubuntu... it took me a long time to get the hang of even installing applications. That's pretty basic, but when you start mixing in repositories and *****, it becomes obtuse. Look at this:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installingsoftwar ...
...and that's basic stuff. We're not even touching command line yet. We're not even getting in to compiling ***** from source. For geeks and those who are fairly tech adept, Ubuntu might be a great choice. For productivities sake - give me Windows (or better yet, if you're not a gamer, give me OSX) any day. - apothekari, on 09/11/2008, -3/+21Total Linux NOOB here finally figgered out that a "display" problem was keeping wubi install from working correctly.
2 DAYS AGO.
I am SO impressed with the ease of use of Ubuntu and feel that all you have to do is switch someone to it that is a "email" casual user like 90% of my family and bam they'll NEVER go back to MS.
My 80 year old mother is getting a computer for the first time today and I'm installing Ubuntu on it for her.
Wish me luck! - nogami, on 09/11/2008, -3/+20I use Ubuntu for my server at work, and while a lot of the configuration IS visible through the GUI, developers need to think of it this way:
Pretend the command line doesn't exist. Not for recompiling the kernel, not for tweaking config files, not for listing the contents of a directory. Nothing. At all. Ever.
Only when they fully accomplish that goal will their environment be a real match for Windows or OS-X. Because as comfortable as pros are with the command prompt, as soon as a novice has to use it, they're in for a world of frustration.
And as for mass adoption, they also need to get more software developers behind them because as great as open-source software is, I still need a full MS Office suite (not Open Office), and I still need full Photoshop. And running windows emulators isn't going to cut it.
N. - Clbull, on 09/11/2008, -2/+19Heres my opinion on why Ubuntu isn't the #1 operating system.
1) It doesn't run the programs you want it to. You can get alternatives but seriously, Microsoft Word vs Openoffice, and sure, you got Wine, Cedega, PlayOnLinux, Crossover and other things like that but seriously, it will only run some Windows programs pretty well whilst many others will be plagued with issues or won't even work at all. This especially goes for some computer games.
2) Lack of simplicity. Sure Ubuntu can allow you to install programs through the SPM but what if its not available through that. You then have to find binaries and run them from source which unless you done it before, can be a bit confusing.
3) Sometimes not an option when buying a new PC. Many people would buy a PC package which would usually just include the latest Windows OS and some software. - cowboy77061, on 09/11/2008, -2/+19'cause no one likes an orange colored theme.
- wrek, on 09/11/2008, -1/+18Good luck! :) You're doing her a HUGE favor. She won't have to worry about viruses or stability at all.
- targatop, on 09/11/2008, -4/+20No Photoshop CS3. Gimp is just so - so. And OpenOffice isn't completely compatible with MS Office - especially with macros and many of the more advanced spreadsheets.
Oh, and it doesn't work with my iPhone.
But otherwise, I love Linux. - sfury, on 09/11/2008, -0/+16Been using Ubuntu for a year now and love it. No wait, actually I used Ubuntu for a week only - liked it a lot, and then decided to try also a Kubuntu Live CD and never looked back. :)
Now I use Windows just for games and even in those couple of hours a week I already feel homesick. Really. - apothekari, on 09/11/2008, -7/+23Dugg you up for simple truth.
BUT If you do it for them and they use it a few days they'll never go back to paying for an OS. - drjones78, on 09/11/2008, -3/+19Its not number one because there simply isnt anything remarkable about it, that makes it any different/better than any other GNOME based linux distro's that have been around for ages.
And outside of the geeks, and people who use their computers as a hobby, there's not a whole lot of appeal for linux, whether its Ubuntu or something else. - duckyinc, on 09/11/2008, -10/+25Because not everyone feels using command line is an advantange.
- inactive, on 09/11/2008, -7/+21Things just aren't as easy as they are on Windows. I want to so bad, but there are just a few things that block me from it.
The main one being my ipod. It just isn't as easy to plug in and get all my podcasts and music as it is in Windows. Which is a huge thing for me. After a long day I just wanna come home and plug it in and go chill. - bitterbug, on 09/11/2008, -0/+14Bwa ha ha. We can make a whole new distro!
Chauvinistix! - spankaccount, on 09/11/2008, -4/+18Can you run Spore on it?
- benologist, on 09/11/2008, -3/+17What the average geek forgets is most people don't care. They'll upgrade their operating system when they buy another computer and not a moment before and the only thing they're looking for is a faster version of what they they're already used to.
Apple is the only company who can sell "not Windows" and it's taken them a long time to figure out how to do it well, and the answer wasn't the operating system it was getting iPods and iTunes everywhere and building from that.
If Ubuntu wants more users they should make the default installation look like and feel a lot like Windows. The average person does not want to install or buy a whole new operating system and have to relearn how to use their computer. It doesn't matter that it's easy and intuitive because it's different and their needs haven't changed. - inactive, on 09/11/2008, -5/+18Microsoft Office, Quark, Adobe Suite, and the latest Games.
- theplop, on 09/11/2008, -0/+13Sure can.
I was wondering this last night, so i clicked on it. Came right up. - jrattner1, on 09/11/2008, -6/+19BECAUSE IT DOESN'T SUPPORT ITUNES RELIABLY
- cheeseplease, on 09/11/2008, -0/+13Man that's pretty sweet. I'm gonna alias my ass off until I can type stuff like:
bitch unpack this ***** in my home folder - theaceoffire, on 09/11/2008, -0/+12"Ubuntu isn't marketed widely yet."
*Exactly*. 80% of the US doesn't know what an OS is, much less that they have an option. - CosmosCR, on 09/11/2008, -4/+16Every article written about linux fails to understand that people use computers to play games.
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