What is Digg?83 Comments
- becominglumberg, on 10/12/2007, -9/+52You are right. Digg has become the place to beat your chest and say 'Hey, I use Linux!!!!!! Ubuntu FTW!!!!!!'
For the record, I'm currently posting on an XP machine (at work), though I run Ubuntu at home.
In an environment where you will be lauded for using broad 'MS sucks' statements, it is easy to forget that MS wasn't given their position on top of the hill. They fought for it (maybe not a fair fight, but I digress). Windows is a good product. Much like Linux, if the install is maintained properly, it will be very stable and quite usable. If you install and uninstall programs at a whim, change parts all the time, and basically run your computer like a formula 1 race car, it requires much more attention. In this category is where i put most hardcore gamers and most computer enthusiasts. Doing this will cause your OS to have problems, since you basically have asked it to sever and remake links over and over without ever missing a beat. That's a lot to ask.
To make a case for using MS products, you simply have to cite interoperability. OO.o has made much progress in getting their suite to mesh well with all systems, but right now you can't beat MS in how all of their products merge into one. Until Linux can catch up with it, I wouldn't advise my company to switch. Finally, MS makes products that are 'professional', in that they constantly aim to produce a product you can show a client. No snarky error messages, no cutesy names of programs. Just a product that speaks for itself.
Okay, no more devil's advocate. I'm going home to go apologize to my box at home for all that I have just written. - schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -12/+35I would LOVE to see a testimony about a Ubuntu Linux to Windows XP migration. It's impossible to do. Too much is being lost (not only Freedom).
- Aewheros, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19It's the other way around. It is the games and graphics drivers that aren't for LINUX. I'd say Linux in itself is better for gaming than Windows since it handles system resources better. Don't blame the OS, blame the game developers.
- brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16I witness a 10-20 fps improvement playing Unreal in Linux over Windows. Linux would be an awesome gaming platform if more games were made for it.
"2) Cracking the software and hoping you don't install a keylogger, serial number reporter, other malware in the process."
a keylogger, serial number reporter, or other malware that are written for windows and for the most part will scratch their heads not knowing what to do when they find out they live in Linux land. - coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Despite popular belief, Linux DOES have games! My Linux box gets daily use for gaming either in Legends, Nexuiz, Unreal, Tribes, or Postal 2 not to mention countless single-player games (some that i run in wine :P). You just have to look for them. Goto http://happypenguin.org and http://linux-gamers.net http://tuxgames.com just a few of the plethora of Linux gaming sites, or google "Linux games". If you must have your windows games, Play them on windows. Just don't forget about all the awesome native Linux games out there.
Also try Cedega. Even though it's the spawn of Satan, It still runs some Windows games better than stock wine. - nahteecirp, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18What's WINE stand for again kiddies? "WINE Is Not an Emulator".
- JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"When was that? I have rarely heard of that happening since Warty."
6.10. 6.06 LTS did not have that problem, though. - JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16My favorite newbie feature of Ubuntu was having to drop to a shell and edit xf86config by hand to change the driver to "vesa" just to get the install to even start. (PCI Express ATI X700 Pro)
Clearly even the most clueless of computer users will understand this! - fastlanect, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12WINE = Wine Is Not Emulation
But yes, some stuff just will not run under Wine, so I have a dual-boot. - Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14how original..another "I'm sick of something on Digg so instead of ignoring it, I open up the comments block and prove how bored I really am." user
- xdcdx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Then submit a bug report for it to be fixed rather than uselessly complaining here.
- fizgigtiznalkie, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12he's a python programmer, let's see a graphic designer make the switch.
don't get me wrong, i love ubuntu, i run it on a laptop i only use for internet access and for fun, but to play most games, photoshop, illustrator, visual studio, etc. i need windows. - jeandp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10When my friend, who is not a kid anymore, saw my Ubuntu running with Beryl, all he could say was wow and he immediately wanted it. I believe that there is a big portion of Windows users who can be converted based on the wow factor.
- becominglumberg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@jeandp-
But eye candy is not *the* convincing reason to switch. For the average user that had XP preinstalled, there is yet to be a compelling reason to switch. They can do office work, surf the web, read email, im, listen to music. Why would they switch? Both XP and Linux look good out of the box. - Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11@coredump
I'm a linux nut.
I also use windows.
Why? You named almost all the good games in linux. Tenfold that for games in windows, and most of those just don't work "quite right" in wine/cedega.
Face it, when you start naming old, outdated, and less-than-popular games, you accentuate the gaming weakness of linux. - arjie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Actually, I must admit, Unreal Tournament only ran on Safe Mode in my windows computer. Something about the sound card and stuff.
It ran perfectly on Red Hat 9, couple of months ago, so that's nice :) So in my case, it's exactly the opposite. - rolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@becominglumberg
I don't think installing/uninstalling programs all the time is driving the OS like an F1 race car. I do this all the time in Ubuntu and OS X without having problems, I expect it of a modern OS. Windows built its own problems by making the registry in the first place, so I wouldn't gloss over this. Also, maintenance on these Operating Systems are close to nil if used just as a Desktop.
Also, MS interoperates well with its own products, not so much with others. And this is not always a plus. One just has to look at IE/ActiveX and other instances to see where this tight integration is a complete downfall. It's harder to integrate with Linux, but with standards it possible and probably safer.
BTW, I am posting this at a WinXP terminal at school, with all the priviledges on the computer turned off to the point that no files can be saved, no PDFs can be opened, right-clicking does nothing. And still, IE is being pwned by a dozen extaneous toolbars:( - flag564, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14Tomorrows Post:
How to move from Windows to a two-story duplex in Indiana. - nahteecirp, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8It is intresting what he says:
"It's easier to switch kids if they think Ubuntu is Cool, as opposed to Good."
Ironically, adults seem to be the exact opposite usage-wise. They need to be told why Ubuntu is more useful than Windows. They don't care if its the latest and greatest thing. Except when buying a computer. Then it's whatever looks the coolest for the price. - Graeleight, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Linux is definitely improving. The first time I tried to switch, I had to abandon it because it didn't recognize my sound card. The second time I tried to switch, I had to abandon it because it didn't recognize my network card or my secondary hard drive. I tried switching recently (to Unbuntu) and I had to abandon it because it couldn't figure out how to use the 3d acceleration on my video card. But I was able to load World of Warcraft in all it's unplayable glory.
It's my favorite OS to attempt to install. - motang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Well I know quite a few graphic designers that use Mac OS X. But you are right about a graphic designers making a change, it all comes down to what you need to use on a computer and have the appropriate stuff installed for it weather it be XP Pro or Ubuntu 6.10. As for me I run Ubuntu 6.10 because I am programmer in training, and it just works for me.
- Novagenesis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@Javert
Ditto with windows.
People won't read the security warnings or bug reports. They just quietly let their system get wiped while they wait for an automatic update...
oh yeah...Ubuntu has them too.
You can't call install difficulties the death of linux. It just so happens if they ever have to reinstall windows, they have the same chance of having significant install issues.
I love seeing "yeah, the windows drivers of that particular sound card are just buggy..they plan to fix it someday...but it works perfect in linux!"
btw, I have a sound blaster where that is the case. - phr0ze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well that showed them... you wizard.
- krazygluon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6The graphic designer (being a power-user) faces 2 learning curves. They have the linux learning-curve like everyone, then they get to add in the PS/Illustrator -> Gimp/Inkscape curve. Graphic design CAN be done on linux; Gimp might not be everything photoshop is, but its easily 95% of it, and a crafty designer could make the switch over a couple of weekends if they were enthusiastic about it.
- molten, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5XGL/compiz is very alpha software, it will be very easy eventually I imagine, but for now that is not the focus (new users are not really meant to use it..)
- phr0ze, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Yeah, some devices have problems in Linux, Ubuntu even. As far as XGL/compiz, I would not say that is a feature Ubuntu is touting. You will find most software is really easy to install. I don't think it's fair to criticize linux or ubuntu for XGL/Compiz. I have played with products for windows that are supposed to give nice eye candy and I have run into a whole mess of problems with those too.
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually I plugged my external USB drive, (FAT32) into Ubuntu without thinking, it just worked, munted the drive and put a shortcut on the desktop. Then I thought, "hang about..." That shouldn't have worked.
- exsst, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Could be better, but good that some of these down points are highlighted so that ubuntu can really improve.
- thtroyer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Had you read farther, you would've seen that he did then switch to "Ubuntu".
BTW, (K)(X)Ubuntu are all the same distro, with a different frontend package (the Desktop Environment and some base apps -- Gedit vs Kate, OpenOffice vs KOffice, etc), and all of these environments can be installed to the same instance of Ubuntu through apt-get.
dugg down. ;) - lpcustom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Windows can be solid if you take the time to set it up correctly too. The major difference is that Windows is unsecure by default, whereas Linux is secure by default. Most idiots won't try Linux therefore its users are usually more literate. Coming are the days when Linux will be used by more clever idiots. Clever idiots know just enough to ***** something up. That is what's wrong with the Windows world right now. It's 95% clever idiots at least.
- klept, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I agree with the title. I did the same thing. Switched from Windows to Ubuntu. Linux does everything Windows does, and does it better, and it does a lot of things Windows cant. To understand your sense of freedom and independence, you just have to use Linux to understand.
The only disagreement I would have with the article is some of his comments about problems with Ubuntu. EG, I never had difficulty to cut and paste. But then I may be using a different version. - JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6One of the things I find is always omitted in WINE discussions is that you can't get most games with CD checks to detect the CD properly.
This leaves you with two alternatives (besides coding a solution yourself):
1) Buying Cedega and if your application isn't supported, hope you can eventually vote it into support.
2) Cracking the software and hoping you don't install a keylogger, serial number reporter, other malware in the process.
WINE is fantastic otherwise, though. (I say this without sarcasm.) - JavertHolmes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"Then submit a bug report for it to be fixed rather than uselessly complaining here."
People that are considering using Ubuntu won't be reading bug report forums when weighing their decision. I'm here to let some of them know that not everything will be lollipop trees and moonbeams if they dive headfirst into installing Ubuntu. - krazygluon, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7Free as in freedom, not as in beer...
- underthelinux, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This isn't bad, and he's not done a bad job. And i'm an ubuntu user as well.
But with things like the ubuntu user guide (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy) , why is this little article being dugg?
Also, things like wireless and printing don't necessarily work out of the box, on any linux system (in my experience).
This article (or whatever it is) is not quite thorough, that's my only complaint. Still getting dugg cause i like all things like this. - bh1nd3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Suse is pretty cool but I don't like YAST - the standard package manager that comes bundled with it. It is slow and a resource hog. I much prefer apt-get and it's GUI frontend- Synaptic Package Manager. But each to his own
- Canute, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2sudo apt-get install abiword
Works here :) - sephiroth965, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ubuntu roxorz! I always thought Linux was so difficult to use until my friend at school showed me how easy it is to install and use last week! It was so simple I decided to go for it and install on a partition this month! Plus the interface and GUI are so SEXY! I still can't decide If I'm gonna try out 6.10 though...
- sbrown123, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I'm like most computer users and don't play games on the computer. Hell, I would buy a Wii or XBox for games instead of using Windows. Windows games crash more often than not, come with absurd copy protections, and require graphics cards that cost as much as a game console. Moving to Ubuntu seems like a nice migration option to me rather than going to DRM riddled Vista, and Microsoft won't support XP forever.
- dgh1973, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@JavertHolmes
Unfortunately ATI hasn't done much in the way of porting their drivers to Linux.
Get your self a real video card (read: nvidia) and you are a point and click away from 3d graphics with Automatix.
It's great for making all your avi/wmv pr0n work to. - schnibitz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Contrarian here . . . I tried to switch to Ubuntu this weekend, had a lot of problems, and ended up switching back to Windows sadly. Ubuntu wouldn't recognize my wireless card. Of course Windows doesn't too, but at least I have drivers for Windows. I didn't have anything for Ubuntu. Evidently because it is a Broadcom Ubuntu doesn't work well with it. Guess there's still some rough edges they need to work out.
Also, after a coupla hours tweaking, I could not for the life of me get XGL/compiz working. If it was THAT easy of a distro to use, all that stuff would be activated automatically, or at least as easily configurable as a network card. Ubuntu has a long way to go IMHO. I'm kinda upset because I was really looking forward to switching. - Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Btw, I should probably source my "API's documented" statement:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/fileio/fs/createsymboliclink.asp
Here's an informative article on this too:
http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/2006/10/symbolic_links_.html - Canute, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Cl1mh4224rd,
All I'm saying is that things are done differently. If some person tries linux, knows it pretty well, but still chooses to go Windows cause it's simpler. That's his/her decision and I respect that. However don't come bashing Linux if you have just installed it.
Most people I know didn't like beer the first time they tried it, after you have taken some time to get used to it - then can you decide to love it or hate it. - lpcustom, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Or you could have just chosen the ***** "Safe Graphics Mode" at boot.
I think even a clueless user could figure that out. - praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3What else do I want?
"Freedom to tinker" - chieffy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"People that are considering using Ubuntu won't be reading bug report forums when weighing their decision. I'm here to let some of them know that not everything will be lollipop trees and moonbeams if they dive headfirst into installing Ubuntu."
Everything will be lollipop trees and moonbeams if you and people like you stop wasting your energy whinging and actually submit the bug reports. Bugs get fixed for Ubuntu quickly unlike with Windows. - dehora, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not that inaccurate. I started with Kubuntu and went in the end with Ubuntu, because of Adept.
- elfarto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Eye candy is not the main reason to switch you are right, unless you are M$ and have lotsa millons to spend in promoting the crap that Windows Vista, you will see how fast eye candy becomes the reason to switch for millions of sheeps.
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Many ordinary PC users buy a new PC is the curent one is a bit old and stops working, the entire high street PC sales system is predicated on this fact.
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Just for his information, Vista will indeed support symlinks. It's sad it took MS so long, but that's what it will do anyway. I'm not sure there'll be a slick UI for it, but it should be a minimal piece of work for a programmer to make one otherwise, with the API's documented.
He brought up junctions, which NTFS supports already in e.g. XP, but that's not quite the same thing and doesn't support files for one thing. -
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