cbc.ca — For many people, e-mail, web surfing, picture editing, listening to music, making spreadsheets and basic word processing are just about all they do with their computers. Today's Macs and Windows PCs are impressive machines indeed, but their power- and price- can be overkill for the average computer user. If looking for a new computer, try Linux.
Mar 24, 2007 View in Crawl 4
archiesteelMar 25, 2007
Right, like people are really going to believe that someone called "archiesteal" is the real one...Hey, kiddo, I've been using this nick for quite a long time, and I've had people pull the same unoriginal trick on me on other websites.The only thing you've demonstrated here is your own immaturity.
franco313Mar 25, 2007
where can i get a ubuntu distro with beryl and wine already installed know if someone can get that more people will switch
varzMar 25, 2007
Not to sound cynical but how many of these (Ubuntu switching) articles do we need?Every second article in the Linux/Unix section is 'How I switched to Ubuntu' or a slight variation.
prammyMar 25, 2007
@mntbikeracer1:"Why would any normal computer user want to switch to Linux? Cost? Doubtful, maybe some will be persuaded by this argument but seeing as many people use pirated Office copies etc."People do not switch to Linux for one major reason: Machines do not come preinstalled with it. A good majority of the people who use preinstalled Windows can do just as well with preinstalled Linux. They usually don't even buy from dell.com. They walk into a store like Best Buy and pick up a computer with the stuff that they need preinstalled. If a store like Best Buy (yuck), Circuit City, CompUSA had machines on display with Linux running and knowledgable staff to explain what it is, people will be interested. Remember, these same people will buy Vista upgrades for $300 and pay geeksquad to install it for $129 or whatever they are charging now. They don't game, they just use their machines to create documents, some spreadsheets, balance their checkbooks and thats it. If a company can bundle Linux with crossover office, preinstall Quicken etc with crossover office or even have an image cd that can be used to bring the machine back to factory config, then there will be more adoption of a Linux desktop. You could even say that the 2 biggest applications that need to be ported to Linux are a. Photoshop and b. Quicken.I have installed Linux for quite a lot of people. They are satisfied with it. It does what they want it to do.
archiesteelMar 25, 2007
"Personally, I think it's worth waiting a couple years until Ubuntu matures"Or install Feisty Fawn, which will automatically install your Nvidia/Ati drivers.As for sound cards, honestly, it's been a while since I've seen one that doesn't work. Can you name that mythical soundcard, or are you mindlessly repeating FUD without checking its veracity?
archiesteelMar 25, 2007
No it's not.
Closed AccountMar 26, 2007
"GIMP != Photoshop, sorry, but it doesn't even compare. OpenOffice !=Microsoft Office, while it compares better to MS Office than does GIMP to Photoshop, they are again not on the same level for business purposes,"Yes, they are not as good features wise - but they are close, and are also interchangeable with the programs you mentioned. Also, they are free, in both senses."and, their is no *real* support other than community support,"Yes, there is. You can pay to have "real" support. That's what you do with commercial software - support is part of the price. You can't expect someone on a phone 24/7 for free."which, for any technician that works supporting users that use these applications, is critical because there will come a time when something goes terribly wrong and needs to be fixed FAST, sorry, 9 times out of 10, the individual program support forums can't accomplish that. There is nothing like being able to get on the phone to support when needed, even if it is a rare occurance."Again, paid support is available, and it is better than the support with proprietary software. Heck, the commercial support can even change the software to meet your needs!"Again, Amarok/Banshee != iTunes."Again, iTunes != Libre."You mention fixing other things with WINE, well, sorry, but to the best of *MY* knowledge, WINE does not work on non-x86 platforms, which of course means that running a program in WINE is not a viable alternative.As an IT professional I use multiple architectures for different purposes. Anything that will only run on x86 and not the other architectures that we use does not make sense."How well does Windows, Photoshop, iTunes, etc work on those weird platforms you use? Obviously not at all, unless you are referring to PPC...
alabamawandererMay 6, 2007
Wow! Even if it's not true it is quite a nice idea.
demizuMay 21, 2007
Dugg. Not for me, definitely.
tmsbrdrsJan 2, 2009
Tried installing XP 2 years ago, had headaches, couldn't get things going so I decided to just live with it. I installed Ubuntu a month ago, the only headaches I've gotten involve proprietary software makers who can't get their acts together. Almost everything works faster and more smoothly on Ubuntu than ever on XP on the same machine. Add into the mix that just about everything I want to add I can find through synaptic manager ready to install including dependencies and it makes Ubuntu that much easier. Now, with that said there are some problems. The difference between Ubuntu and Windows when it comes to problems is that Windows doesn't acknowledge most of them while Ubuntu tries to fix them and find out more about them from day 1. Try that same wireless card with Ubuntu 8.10, betting it works now, just let Ubuntu update itself.
tmsbrdrsJan 2, 2009
Have you tried from a liveCD yet? It might work anyway. If nothing else, run Ubuntu 8.10 and let it set up a partition on its own, update it through a wired connection just to see. You never know for sure unless you try it out.