shamess

Those five things are the reason I refused to try any Linux distribution. I’m fairly sure there are still people who think it has no GUI.

assente

Myth# 1: Try on not outdated hardware.. latest mobo or graphics card. I had to use Intrepid Ibex to have a bootable Linux OS
Myth# 2: it doesn’t exist guis for grub, pppoe/networking, virtual cdrom drive, dpkg –confure -a,.. that works well an are fullfeatured “out of the box”.
Myth# 4: Ac3filter? 3d benchmarking? Flash editor? Winfax? PowerCinema?…
Myth# 5: true but mplayer is better.

Jeremy

5 is not a myth, at least when it comes to the iPod touch and iPhone. You can sync music on these devices, but the calendar/contacts/etc. syncing is mac/windows-only (WINE can’t do it, and neither can VMWare, because of how Apple violated the USB protocol).

Also you have a typo: “itnues”.

Toby

While i totally agree with the principle of this article the myths aren’t quite as clear cut as made out.
Linux is closer than ever before but its still not suited for the technophobe user.

Myth1: Wireless is a joke, GPU are also tricky
Myth2: Mostly true but often things are hidden away in the GUI when they CLI is right there,
Myth3: This is indeed correct and has improved greatly
Mtyh4: The big problem here is the windows world knows the names of windows applications for things, Who’s heard of gimp, open office or inded thunderbird. Its improving but in the latter cases because they’re windows compatible too,
Myth5: iTunes on Wine…
http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iAppId=1347 Bronze with a possible silver.

Merkidemis

I’m a software developer, and have been on computers for 20 years, and it still took me a week to get wireless working on my laptop under Linux. Don’t get me started on setting up a 3 monitor desktop with different sized screens.

bben

File system? in windows C: D: etc easily understood and east to type. in linux /dev/hda and /dev/sdb. not so easy to figure out and not easy to type.

File naming conventions. In windows name.xxx where the xxx tells both the OS and me what kind of file it is. In Linux, there is no naming convention. Yes, the OS knows what it is, but I don’t and with nearly a MILLION files on my computer I have a hard enough time searching with the lame windows search.

Easy to install? again maybe for geeks, the sentence “Burn an iso image.” means nothing to a non geek.

Its a great OS, for geeks. Still not ready for prime time. Maybe in a few more years.

And before you condemn me as a non believer, I would actually like to see linux as a viable competitor to MS. It does have some great features. However, easy to use (for the unwashed masses) isn’t one of them.

James

“Flash editor?”

So that’s a good point? If I’m using linux people can’t even ask me to make anything in the evil some call Flash/ActionScript?

Manuel R. Ciosici

You would be surprised to know that a few people asked me if Microsoft produces Ubuntu and if one can user a mouse in Ubuntu .

vexeuz

Linux fails to control hard drive usage on laptop properly and will eventually allow the HD to KILL itself. XP doesnt!

Nick

Dont get me wrong I like Ubuntu and have been running it for quite a while but it has its quirks. I’m running a single core AMD 64 processor and still have not been able to get java working. I tried installing a 32-bit version of Firefox and 32-bit version of java but java applets still don’t work, I’ve given up on it at this point.

I also recently bought a 19″ Samsung widescreen LCD monitor and can’t get it set up right, granted I havn’t played with it as much as I should and I know it’s just a matter of time but it’s a pain. Currently it’s displaying as a square image on the widescreen monitor leaving the black bars on either side of the image.

bobby

I tried Ubuntu several times, once out of curiousity, once because I ran out of Windows licenses at home… Mainly a Windows guy, I did not find #1, 2 or 3 a myth, never had a problem and I really enjoyed how easy it was to setup. But like Assente mentioned, new hardware threw me, as did setting up wireless. I spent a few hours looking for answers to setting up wireless on UB’s forums and nothing worked for 3 different adapters. Most of the references mentioned using the terminal but not the commands needed which left me with a paperweight.
Other than that, I think if there is a good intro course to Linux\UB for the general public as far as apps, I think it could be a viable “typical user” OS. Where mainstream people have Itunes, Office, Adobe as brand names that they can identify with. Ask someone what Xine or VLC is and they will shrug. Or even why the need for two apps just to run one(wine for Itunes for example).
It’s getting there, I am sure that one day I will jump back on the Linux bandwagon, maybe once wireless is less taxing on the grey matter!

Joe

Myth #6: “But a Mac user will probably never use one in his lifetime.”

Nary a day goes by that I don’t open up a terminal in OS X to mess with something. Mac users aren’t all simpletons that can’t handle using the BSD underneath the glossy OS…

I think the arrogance of most Linux users is what scares non-geeks away from learning more about it!

VT

Linux is a better OS!! :)

Mike

I agree 1000%. I got my 12 year old daughter an Asus EEPC preloaded with Ubuntu. She was up and running in less than five minutes having never even seen the Ubuntu GUI before. We set up a dual boot Ubuntu and XP on our desktop machine and even my wife who is some what computer phobic prefers the Ubuntu desktop to the XP version. We are only using XP now to run games and DreamWeaver.

Chris

I played with Ubuntu for a while. Then I decided to install FireFox 3. I got completely unstuck trying to install an app.

Why the hell can’t I download a binary and just run it?

josh

the busting of myths 2 and 3 contradict each other. Just the fact there are multiple installers and different packages have different installers and different installers have different programs is just about enough to make someone scream.

And as far as myth 5 goes, just because it can be done doesn’t mean anyone can do it. I would consider myself a power windows user and I playing with linux for a good month trying to get it to sync my iPod anywhere close to as well as iTunes does and Linux just couldn’t get the job done.

Linux does not have a place on the standard home computer, so stop trying.

wisdom

bben, it’s obvious you’ve never used Linux. You don’t browse drives by their device name any more than you would in Windows. You don’t need a damn file extension to tell you what a file is. It’s all in the bytecode and it’s already thumbnailed and associated for you before you even see it.

Toby, Wireless is not a joke. Broadcom wireless is a joke, almost anything else just works - Intel, Atheros, Prism, ralink…that’s pretty much all the players right there without any intervention.

Assente, applications for all of these exist. Startup Manager for Grub;There are dozens of PPPoE but I’m guessing like a lot of people you’re using PPPoE when your router is already taking care of it; For mounting an iso there are applications but I find nautilus and konqueror context menu options the best - all available at kde-look and gnome-look.

Talking about Winfax? Powercinema? If you can’t figure out the difference between brandnames and functionality then there’s no helping you.

Look guys, no one is asking you to try Linux. If you want to there are plenty of folks who will help you if you need it. This article was about debunking myths and not having you quote your own outdated preconceptions.

Reformed Ubuntu User

Unfortunately while reading this article and reflecting on my own Linux experience, it took me a total of 30 seconds to think why all of these “Busted” myths aren’t busted at all. Keep in mind I did my Ubuntu install about 4 months ago.

Myth #1 - It took me 3 weeks to get Ubuntu to boot. I had brand new equipment (intel quad core, 4 gig ram). Silly me, I was too dumb to know to edit some boot config file and add the “IRQPOLL” parameter. Good thing I spent a few hours on the newsgroups and found some obscure post from someone having a similar problem back in 2006.

Myth #2 - Yeah — try installing NVIDIA’s drivers or Adobe FLASH without using the console. That was a headache and I still never got Adobe Flash to work. Nobody needs that anyway, right? On Windows it was “Next-Next-Finish”.

Myth #3 - One click? You quote different flavors of Linux when it suits you. You started with Ubuntu, but it doesnt ship with either of the package managers you mention. I recall it working ok, but it was not 1 click in all cases.

Myth #4 - Linux does not lack applications. In fact, its filled with hundreds of applications I’ve never heard of, and each has free support when they don’t work if you consider the time you waste trolling newsgroups as “free”. Personally I value my time more.

It would take weeks to figure out which app would best suit my needs. Hopefully the people I work with choose the same apps. One thing to appreciate about Windows is the popularity of certain applications have created workplace standards. Justified or unjustified I know that I can pass a MS-Word file off to others and expect them to be able to use it. I’ve tried Open Office, and while it looks like it does what Office does, it can also corrupt your files so that Office doesn’t like them any more (real experience). That was the Windows version of OO that did that one to me.

Myth #5 - You can’t hardly do any of that with an Ubuntu installation “out-of-the-box”. You have to download an external tool pack (whose name I do not recall — happy hunting!) if you want to access those codecs (other than ogg maybe). Then the OS is no longer “pure” Open Source. For unknown reasons, other linux users will now look down upon you for having done this. If you ask for help with this there will always be the one flamer that says you are lame for wanting to use these non-free codecs and that you should use OGG instead.

“itunes works fine with wine for linux,” - so you are suggesting that the best solution here is to drop windows, load linux, then run a Windows emulation layer in order to listen to music? How is this going to make my life easier?

“… if you can’t get itunes to work you could always use itunes alternatives like Banshee, amaroK and Xine” - um yeah like they connect to the iTunes store to let me download more music. I think not.

My linux experiment was enough for me. However if you have plenty of time on your hands you can spend a few weeks trying to figure out if linux is right for you!

Gemet

Hi. I’m an IT student and wanted to get Fedora working on my laptop. It’s a joke to say the least in comparison to Windows. It’s sloooooowww. I wanted to use it as Desktop computer. It didn’t work at all. In addition Mozilla Firefox crashed, the system hangs all the time (X-windows) . And I only wanted to use it for browsing the net for the start. It’s not comfy I have to say. I’ve heard the problem is ergonomy - that’s also true, but what would you do if your browser went down and you ended up with nothing at the beginning of using the system. I got an error report 30kb long, I haven’t got time to deal with it for a week (see my predecessor opinion). I’m downloading openSUSE now, we’ll see.

wisdom

Come on. There’s nothing worse than a self proclaimed ‘Window Power User’ complaining because they can’t do something. Windows does not equal computers. You learned one way of doing things and that does not mean everything else is wrong. Windows was far from being the first operating system and I guarantee you it won’t be the last. What next…”I know everything about cars and I can tell you that motorbikes will never drive on roads!”?

Christian Sonne

#7 what a load of crap - have you ever even used linux? or are you just parroting falsehoods picked up over the years?

1) /dev/hda (and the likes) is *not* the equivalent to say C:\ on windows - C:\ is the mountpoint in windows, just like, say / is the mountpoint in linux or any other place can be the mountpoint - just like it can in windows (although not many people uses this feature in windows.) Any decent desktop distribution has a file-manager that takes care of those names for you in the first place…

2) linux has the exact same naming conventions as every other OS in the world - in fact, naming conventions has little if anything to do with the parent OS

3) you know you can buy linux on a CD/DVD from shops too? take ubuntu for example, instead of downloading and burning the ISO yourself, you can simply buy it as clearly stated on their page: http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/purchase - you can even request a free CD to be sent to you - how many options like that do you have for windows?

4) while we’re on the subject of installing, installing linux on a computer is actually usually far easier than installing windows - take a look at this article as an example: http://practical-tech.com/infrastructure/linux-is-easier-to-install-than-xp/

Kyle

For linux virgins I can recomend ubuntu wubi.
Easy instal as dual boot (You keep windows)
and take ubuntu for a test drive.

Mike

Myth #2 is true if you have non-standard hardware. Which due to the sheer number of Linux-capable hardware platforms out there, most people do.

Don’t kid yourself, if you run Linux as your primary operating system, there will be times when you need to use the command line. Whether it’s to install a new kernel module, to correct an apt-get dist-upgrade gone bad, or because some spiffy cool program you grabbed off Freshmeat doesn’t come with any kind of GUI installer … you *will* need to access the command line once in awhile.

Another case in point: laptops with a broadcom wireless chipset (*many* laptops) require you to either cut the firmware out of the Windows driver so you can use the b43 driver, or you’ll need to run ndiswrapper. Ndiswrapper is easy to install (and it can be done through the GUI), but you’ll find yourself dropping to the command line and cutting and pasting commands into the terminal if you happen to run Ubuntu (some issues with ssb and b43 getting in the way of the ndiswrapper module. Easy to fix, well documented, but requires command-line).

Did that last paragraph scare you? Well, sorry, but that’s what you have to do to get wireless working on an HP 2133 laptop running Ubuntu 8.04.

Is the command line a bad thing? Nope. People shouldn’t fear it. If you’re a Joe-average user, then for the most part you won’t need to touch it and when you do, you will usually be following somebody else’s instructions. Plus, you might learn something or two and go on to a lucrative career in Unix system administration. ;)

But don’t kid yourself. If you run Linux full-time, you *will* use the command line. And that’s a good thing.

Julio

iTunes does not work completely through Wine. This is a bummber especially for people who own iPods and iPhones all over. I’m sure the Wine team will eventually catch up… there seems to be advancements on this topic still under development.

Then again… I can’t blame Linux nor Wine for not being able to run iTunes. In fact, Apple is a Unix based operating system. They’re just not willing to compile a version of iTunes for general Linux distros. I won’t be surprised if this is something explicitly negated in their business plan for iTunes and other projects.

Ah well.. I’ve been using Ubuntu for a good while now.. I’ll just wait for the Wine guys to figure it out.

aaaaaaas

games?

Phill Kenoyer

I have Ubuntu, and now KDE installed on my Dad’s laptop.

1. No easy way to download photos from camera and print them.
2. Computer locks up in sleep mode.
3. Voodoo to get the wireless working (much easier in KDE now).

He is still using it, but it can still be easier.

elias

true: i formatted my hard disk with ubuntu

nevermore!!!

Rohitasch

GTKpod works perfectly with ipod.
F4L is a neat flash editor.
Dreamlinux is the easiest to install, with just one page to fill in all required feilds like user names, passwords and partitions. Dreamlinux plays all formats out-of-the-box.
For tapping in more system resources for the work you’re doing, you can always switch to a window/desktop manager with a lower footprint, like xfce. Fluxbox uses not more than 3 MB!!

jburd

@bben

File system? You *don’t* have to get into /dev/sda1 or /dev/sdb2 to use your disks. Ubuntu mounts (err, shows) your volumes (err, C: and D: drives) right on your Desktop as soon as they are connected. Most of the time you don’t even have to bother with partitions, because the default Ubuntu install takes care of that for you. Heck, my iPod connects and shows up on my Desktop right out of the box! Beat that.

You don’t have to first “Show My Computer on the Desktop” and then double-click “My Computer” and then double-click “C:”. It’s right there on your Desktop staring at your face. How’s that for a “file system”?

Oh, and about naming conventions. The lack of it is a *good thing* even though most files you will use on Linux can have extensions. The permissions model, the file signatures, the fact that your packages are security checked before they are installed on your computer, the fact that the system asks you for your password before allowing you to touch sensitive parts of the system, etc. are exactly the things missing on Windows that make Windows users double-click on “New Folder” icons with hidden .exe extensions to infect their *entire* system.

Searching for files? There’s a tool called “Tracker” on Ubuntu that lets you search within files as well and shows you *good* results in a split second. How’s that for built in “Live Search”?

Easy to install? “Burn an ISO image to disc.” If you don’t know what that is, ask your neighbor. He’s far more intelligent, I’d say. If he isn’t, ask Google lazybum! It takes me 25 minutes to manually finish a *complete* install of Ubuntu with codecs for all my videos, PDF viewers, office applications, good text editors, media players, flash player, sun java 6 runtimes, and all other goodies. How long does that take you on Windows? Don’t tell me you know about creating custom Windows discs and don’t know what “burn an ISO image” means.
Oh, and by the way, installing software on Ubuntu is as easy as choosing all the software you want installed from a list and clicking “Install.” “Uhhuh?” you say. “Beat that”, I say.

Linux is not Windows. It will never be. You, my friend, are trying to compare an orange with an apple–both are fruits. You just need to stop being lazy and get accustomed to it. The Linux and free software community works *very hard* (trust me on that) to make Linux easy for you. When you start using it, you will obviously see problems that perhaps were overlooked by many others. Report them back to the community. This is how free software evolves. Pulling away and hoping for the best is not the kind of response a hard working community expects from the user.

Mark

As someone who has used or uses Unix, DOS, Centos, Suse, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, OSX Tiger & Leopard, Windows 3.1/98(se)/2000/XP/Vista; I have made the following observations:

1) The average user doesn’t like command prompts. It means they have to remember details about commands and think about things in abstract terms.

2) The average user likes to intuit. They want things to be immediately obvious, in your face, no looking around hunting for things, just right there in front of them “do this”. The way I usually tell a power user from an average user: Desktop shortcuts. Unless they’re organized and few extras laying about, chances are you’re an average user.

3) K.I.S.S. Windows upto XP does this. Vista not so much. OSX a bit, not as well, and Linux is no where near there yet.

4) Things need to work. Ubuntu was the smoothest of all the linux distros I worked with, but even with it, at least once every couple days I’d run into something that wouldn’t immediately work and I’d have to troubleshoot. Firefox is the perfect example of how to do it right: Something doesn’t immediately work on the site: Notify the user and point them to exactly what they need to get it working. (ie: plugins)

5) Games. WINE is great, but games are never quite the same through it. Games are what really drive the home market. I’ll never upgrade my system unless it’s for a game or media software. Games aren’t developed for Linux because there’s too many versions taking up such a small portion of the market share. Which leads to my last point:

6) Support. There is none. Sure you can Google if you know about this sort of stuff, but so many “average users” call M$ or take their computer in and spend the money to get common issues solved. Linux doesn’t have that. Linux also doesn’t have good support for developers. MSDN is what made developing for Windows easy. Not that it was easier to develop for Windows (if anything it is harder) but because there is a single, controlled, detailed library of information available to developers. And if something major goes wrong with an app developed for M$ you can call in their specialists. (ie: .NET wasn’t supposed to be able to memory leak… it did of course, caused a server reboot every day due to lack of memory… they came in, diagnosed, hotfixed in under 90 days).

OS X, I don’t know how many people don’t know how to install a program properly. They unpack and mount the dmg file but never get around to properly installing the program. It’s also a pretty crappy interface, a lot of things to learn to recognize that are not intuitive or standardized.

Windows: The start button was genius. Yeah you can customize quick launches, etc, but the core of everything is in 1 button with clear labels for everything you want to access. The average user likes that simplicity. XP’s new bar and Vista’s expansion of that I’m seeing more and more “where is that” questions - but the 98se “classic style” on XP is where it’s at for the average user.

Linux: Yeah you can do some damn cool things, long term it has better potential than the current Windows architecture. But it’s just not intuitive. Even my buddy who is hardcore Linux has to menu search for things he only uses once in a while. Me, with XP, can find what I need in a fraction of the time, no matter how long it’s been since I’ve used it. Exceptions: msconfig, regedit, and manage from My Computer context menu.

Linux is also playing catch up to Windows and has nothing in the works (that I know of) anything like Midori. Once the ties with Multics have been broken… watch out.

JMJimmy

Apurva

I agree its a lot better than old days. But still when I installed Kubuntu and subsequently Ubuntu I ran into so many problems that I was irritated
- Firefox wont run on kubuntu unless I installed all dependencies. and there was some problem for the system to tell me one single click installation
- Moved on to ubuntu, now sound wont work
- webcam does not work
- external drive wont work
basic things which seamlessly work on windows

jburd

@Mark
“6) Support. There is none. Sure you can Google if you know about this sort of stuff, but so many “average users” call M$ or take their computer in and spend the money to get common issues solved. Linux doesn’t have that. Linux also doesn’t have good support for developers. MSDN is what made developing for Windows easy. Not that it was easier to develop for Windows (if anything it is harder) but because there is a single, controlled, detailed library of information available to developers. And if something major goes wrong with an app developed for M$ you can call in their specialists. (ie: .NET wasn’t supposed to be able to memory leak… it did of course, caused a server reboot every day due to lack of memory… they came in, diagnosed, hotfixed in under 90 days).”

What do you call a single distro channel full of 1500 users and developers and several million more on forums that help you with every question you ask? I’d say a “user support community.” Excuse me, but you are definitely kidding me when you say “Linux has no good support for developers.”

I’ve developed for *several* years on both Windows and Linux.

Linux makes development *piss* easy. Python, for example, comes preinstalled with Ubuntu and has introspection capabilities that let you extract documentation embedded right within the code. I don’t even need to be online to read documentation about a function nor do I have to order a XXX $ annual subscription to be able to obtain 9 Gigs of documentation when I’m searching for that one particular API function.

Ah, about the topic of online documentation. Ubuntu Linux comes with documentation packages for *most* if not all of the developer libraries that come with it. You just need to dig deeper, Luke. Also, use the source. What better way to write good code than learn from some or even better reuse some? By the way, Ubuntu has DevHelp if you prefer MSDN-style compiled searchable documentation in one window.

“Linux is playing catching up to Windows.”? Dude, you’ve got to be seriously kidding me now. Linux is *way* ahead of Windows in every department except, I’ll honestly admit, gaming. Perhaps, your buddy that still searches through the menu to use applications he uses once in a while hasn’t yet come across indexed search, google desktop search, or just plain gnome do.

“[Microsoft developers] came in, diagnosed, and Hotfixed in under 90 days.” Thanks! Linux developers and power users fix problems in minutes or even seconds in some cases. ;-)

For the usability part. I can view my *entire* Desktop in different languages (yes, that includes all the programs I use that have been translated by so many beautiful contributors around the globe). My entire family has switched to Linux because “it’s easier-to-use.” Of course, they need my help from time-to-time, just like they did when they used Windows. ;-)

Cheers!

jburd

@Apurva

Not all hardware vendors like to support Linux because quite a lot of them think “Linux has a very tiny marketshare.”

It’s like this. Linux wants to support all your hardware, but your hardware vendors refuse to reciprocate the same feelings.

Give your hardware vendor a tight hug and ask him for this one favor.
“Support Linux.”

Anyway, if you’re still stuck using Ubuntu, send me a message at yesudeep AT gmail DOT com and I’d be glad to help you out with your problems.

Knowltey

The lack of a file system is a good thing, just try making an .htaccess file the way it “should” be done in Windows, No, you have to go through tons of extra steps just to make it so it allows you to have the dot at the beginning.

dude

Tried WUBI on my Compaq Presario 3100… everything works great, didn’t mess up my XP Home installation (so far, fingers crossed), but I can’t for the life of me get my wireless working. Maybe it’s just not meant to be?

jburd

I have, on way too many occasions, got hard disks coming into my lab to recover data. Many times Windows has failed to read its own file system! Ntfs-3g on Linux, OTOH, has saved my friends and clients too many hours of headaches.

You know, according to the latest study, the total time required for a Windows system to be 0wn3d (owned) after going online is approximately 4 minutes. 4 minutes! And you’re still using Windows? Google this.

Where I work on developing software (even Windows software), we don’t trust Windows machines simply because they have proven unreliable time and again. We’re just tired of dealing with all the problems a developer faces on Windows. We’ve moved on to running Windows inside virtual machines simply because we can restore a virtual disk from a copy image of the entire installation in seconds without having to go through several reinstall and reboot cycles.

Heck, we even build executables and installers for Windows *on Linux*, just to ensure that we don’t pack viruses accidentally into generated executables that will be distributed.

I’ve been using Linux for about a decade now. When I started as a newbie, I faced many problems adjusting to a new environment just like you guys that are new to Linux do. I gave up a few times, but thankfully, I got myself up and running with Linux. Google helped a lot. Forums, IRC, mailing lists, groups, archives, etc. helped a ton too.

I was lazy once. Now I’m lazier, have a lot more patience (no matter how odd that sounds), and am more productive than ever before. I Google and I Linux. So should you. ;-)

Cheers!

tizan Moris

#27 Phil,

Have you tried “digikam” ?
Has the most fancy image denoising algorithm i’ve seen

Also google picasa is available on linux now but its slower than digikam but works nicely

jburd

@dude

Try joining the official Ubuntu IRC channel.

server: irc.ubuntu.com
channel: #ubuntu

Ask your questions there. That’s support right there.

Gemet

Anybody installed latest Fedora(”catching up with latest developments in Linux world and being a STABLE distro at the same time” - that’s just bullshit!)? I can’t belive no one cares about the fact how many it crashes and how slow it is some times.
People WAKE UP! Linux is don by so many people that no one has control over it, or it seems like it.
Anybody tried latest Fedora as Desktop? I think it’s awful. What elsecan you recommend, openSUSE or what??

spdorsey

All five of these reasons are not nearly as true as the write thinks they are.

daniel

5 linux realities:

5- Wine is not 100% perfect yet
4- Avisynth, MeGUI for linux
3- uTorrent for linux
2- Media Player Classic for linux with hardware acceleration of video decoding on modern graphics cards (i.e.,VC-1 and h264
1- Games Games Games

jeff

I just bought a new computer a few weeks ago and, because I have balls, I decided to buy a copy of Vista 64 bit. After the initial install, I spent about an hour trying to get my wireless card to work and maybe another half hour installing other drivers. Just yesterday, I installed Kubuntu - my first time using it - and, to my surprise, everything worked after the initial install, which was about half as long as Vistas. I admit, I spent about 20 min trying to get my graphics card (hd4850) to work, but for an OS I’ve never used before, I’d say that’s pretty good; and I never had to use the command line once. I found the codecs for mp3s, dvds, etc fairly quickly, again, without using the command line. In conclusion, the hardware support for Kubunu was better than Vistas and the installation was much faster. By the way, amarok is a lot better than iTunes.

McDeath_the_Mad

Well Myth #1 is not 100% true.

I installed XP on an Asus mini-PC. It took about 1.5 hours to install Windows and all updates (~100) and service packs (1). It also took 3 re-boots to complete the install.

I installed Ubuntu on the same box, it took 1.5 hours to install the OS and the updates (~125) and took 4 reboots.

Linux was much easier to install than I thought it would be, but was comperable to Windows.

My major beef with Linux is the stupid file permissions. I installed Nagios to monitor some devices on my network and I wanted to change the .wav file that played when there was an alert. Once I found the file that contained the line of text to change the .wav file (that was a chore in its self) I simply placed the .wav file into the same directory. But it wouldn’t work, because the permissions were wrong on the file. Oh silly me! Why didn’t I think I had to type chmod 666 filename.wav!

I read a great quote once and I still stand by it: “Linux is only free if your time is worthless…”

computer_realist

I am a developer and have been developing for Linux based embedded devices for over 5 years. For the average user who simply wants email, a browser, and to watch some videos, Linux is substantial, however I have a problem with some of the things mentioned in the list. Specifically #4 and #5… #5 has been debunked already…

For my desktop (home) computer though, there is no other choice than Max OS X, and here are the reasons:

1) Prosumer/High-End audio IO devices: I currently use a MOTU 828MK2. Where is Linux support for Firewire audio devices? Where are high-end audio applications, like Logic, Reaktor, ProTools? In general, there are very few professional applications which run on Linux.

2) Aperture: I take tons of photos. I have yet to find another photo management/editor that makes it less of a chore to manage large amounts of photos, and supports RAW.

3) Photoshop/Illustrator: These are part of my workflow (i.e., clients send me CS3 documents - I need to send clients CS3 documents). Can you claim that Gimp supports all the features of the CS3?

4) Quick and dirty video editing: Plug in your firewire camera, grab a few scenes, make a few cuts… you are ready to go.

ed

Hehe man I love fanboys.

I wouldn’t say I’m the most hardcore of computer users but I can run most OS’s and I dabble in several programming languages including C. Linux, specifically Ubuntu, is still a minefield for the average user. I invite you to install ubuntu on an average pc and not touch the command line. I have a fairly common netgear wireless adapter. I had to find, compile and install the right driver. Then it didn’t work because my particular RF chipset isn’t supported. Then my graphics card, again a fairly typical nVidida card, had basically the same problem. If I didn’t have any programming knowledge I’d have been lost and given up a long time before I did.

Face it linux will not be anywhere near mainstream for at least 10 years.

Davo

A lot of Linux criticism from a lot of people who admit they don’t know much about Linux. Hmmmm, do you think maybe the original article is, in fact, exactly right and these folks are laboring under these myths?

As my Magic 8-Ball says, “It’s most decidedly so.”

JimBob

I’ve been trying for two years to get Office 2007 to work even half-well on
all of my ubuntu distributions to no avail. To the poster of the article? Have
you successfully installed Office2K7?

Andrew

Ubuntu - I couldn’t set-up dialup without using the Linux Terminal. My Netgear wireless USB is still not working. I’ve done three upgrades and each time I needed to fix things using the Linux Terminal (I lost my swap space during the upgrade). I can’t throw out Windows until the upgrading, internet and hardware issues are resolved, because I need to go online in Windows to find out how to fix these problems in Linux. A non-enthusiast just would not bother.

Eric S.

And so the battle continues…

Let’s be honest with ourselves and accept the fact that none of the leading operating systems have nailed it. Choosing one or the other should really be based on matching the right tool with the right job. As a gamer, software developer and general enthusiast of all things technical I recognize and account for the strengths and weaknesses that each OS has. They all have a place in my home.

You won’t find me trying to play the latest games on a Linux installation simply due to the fact that Windows has overwhelming support and acceptance from game developers and graphics card vendors. You are kidding yourself if you think that Nvidia or ATI (AMD) have dedicated even a fraction of their time to development and QA towards a Linux driver as they have for a Windows driver. Same goes for the game developers. The only games I’d even consider trying trying to play on Linux would be of the Minesweeper variety.

Primarily being a Java developer, choosing a Ubuntu type Linux distro would be perfectly acceptable for every day work tasks. I can’t think of a single tool that I develop with (in terms of Java) that would not happily run on Linux. Eclipse IDE, NetBeans, etc. It’s all good. That being said, I also do some .NET development in Visual Studio. So for me, Windows becomes the natural OS of choice at work.

What if you have an extra PC or laptop lying around that you would like to use for simple tasks such as web browsing and checking email? Ubuntu like distros would be perfectly fine. Better yet, you wouldn’t have to pay for a new Windows license. Sounds good to me! Furthermore, I can and have slapped such an environment onto a bootable USB flash drive using Puppy Linux. That handy distro alone restored life to what I thought were useless and obsolete PCs in my house.

Want to run a server of some kind? Again, any OS can do the job, but I would strongly lean towards a Linux distribution minus the GUI nice-to-haves. Linux is known for its superior long term stability and security. I personally have had no issues with Windows Server doing the job either. Having worked for many start ups however, cost is an issue, and Linux is free!

So in a futile effort to squash the ongoing battle, take each OS for what it’s worth. Not a single OS is as bad or as good as you want to make it out to be. Be thankful you have a choice!

Josh

I would say two should not be busted, its true, in any linux OS odds are good you will run into a problem that is easily fixed with the command line. It may seem intimidating at first, but truthfully the “Copy and paste these three lines” is a lot easier than right click on properties, go to the administration tab, click the advanced button, go to the properties tab in the new window, right click on this, open that new window, click these three ratio boxes. etc etc”

Unlike OSX Which was built from the interface down, linux’s GUI is really just an interface for interacting with command based programs. Not everything is there, and quite a few things are easier to do on linux.

Its not a myth, its true, but its not terrible, the important thing is just because its a terminal shouldn’t make it scary, it really makes remote troubleshooting and repair a breeze.

HonorAmongThieves

Firstly, let me say that I’m sure that since this article hit Digg, all the Windows and Mac fanboys who decided to flame it are going to continue to do so for the next two to three days. To the rest of you, I just adopted Kubuntu about 2 hours ago, no lie. I’m running Firefox 3 perfectly. I don’t know where everything is but in the past two hours, I’m learned a hell of a lot. The key is being patient and realizing that this is NOT WINDOWS and it is NOT MAC. This is the part where you try something new. If you don’t feel like learning something new, stick with what you know, no one is going to judge you for it.
For those of us who are new to Linux or for people who are thinking about trying it out, don’t discourage them because you tried it for 2 days and hated it, let them try it for themselves. You wouldn’t tell people a movie sucked because you didn’t like the preview, would you?
And as for those of you who complain about how it doesn’t work with the latest and greatest hardware, you’re probably right. But think about this, Linux is open-source and hardware is proprietary, so what makes you think that a bunch of people who have to wait for new hardware, just like you and me, have some kind of clairvoyant ability to write code about hardware that they’ve never used? Not to mention that most of these people also have jobs and families that they have to take care of. They’re doing this because they believe that they’re making the world a better place for computer users. And as anyone who’s ever done volunteer work would tell you, it doesn’t pay. If you want a bunch of people who are going to pander to your every whim, stick with Microsoft and Apple. Their products do have merit, but don’t discount their hard work because you loaded Ubuntu and couldn’t find the Start button or IE. Like I said, this is something new. You should be excited, like a kid on Christmas, not all pissy that everything didn’t work perfectly right away.

And Gemet, I’m an IT student too, but the difference between us is that I’ve actually read about the history of Linux, I talked to people who’ve used it for years, and I’m not expecting everything to work 100% of the time right away. I know that I have to learn about bash and package managers and 100 other things Windows and Mac don’t have. And I’m okay with it.

Glenn

more like, how the hell do you get your wireless internet card to work…

Yonah

A pretty disgusting example of Lying Linux Self Indulgent Filth. These are all suspect, but I will focus on Number 2. You DO need to use the terminal for manual installs of software, or when trying to fix a problem. Case in point. The SDLMame INI file can’t be edited, the file isn’t owned by me. I MUST use the command CHOWN to be able to edit to file and fix the configuration problem. With Windows, ownership and permissions can be changed with mouse clicks.

james

my main concerns with linux is hardware - its awesome for people who can install it and have everything detected and working out of the box - if you have a laptop with hardware not generally supported by linux - good luck.

last time i installed ubuntu on my old compaq lappy i had one hell of a time finding a way to get wireless to work - it had a broadcom chipset (airforce or something like that) - it was not a fun experience getting that working…

also, hardware support is not there yet - i don’t care what anyone tries to say. installing a driver on windows is 1000 times easier than in linux - not to mention that there is still a huge lack of support by hardware vendors for linux (thats not a diss on linux, just a fact - if you go out and buy a new printer, or scanner or whatever - you know it will work with windows, you will find a driver, there will be updated drivers etc.) - with linux, you pretty much have to research an item to make sure it is supported or find out if the manufacturer supplies a driver before buying something…

until linux gets better (and easier) hardware support it will not be as widely used and accepted as windows or mac.

aaron552

My first experience with linux (Mandrake 9) scared me away from linux for 3 years after it formatted, instead of resizing, my NTFS windows partition (with no warning). 7 years later, and Ubuntu Hardy is the main OS on my laptop. The Broadcom wireless that was so hard to get working just 12 months ago works perfectly with 5 minutes of setup, the headphone socket that didn’t work properly now is flawlessly.
The hardware support in linux is simply amazing. As an example, I reinstalled both windows and linux last week. To get just the OS and drivers installed and updated in Windows took 2.5 hours and about 4 reboots. In Linux it took 30 minutes and 1 reboot.
A year ago my sister needed a PC for study but all I had was an old Pentium II 400MHz. I installed Ubuntu and set up a user account for her. She never asked me a single question about how to use it. One year later and she has a new PC with Windows. She regularly has to ask me how to change the screen resolution or desktop background… Which is easier to use for the average user? To me it seems Ubuntu’s gnome desktop wins

RD

Well, I’m a pretty experienced user - having been a software developer for the last 20 years. It may have it’s features, but Linux is a _long_ way from being as easy to use and work with as either Windows (even back to Windows 3.1 - and all the way through Vista now), or a Mac.

When a software developer (i.e., a very technical person) has a hard time figuring stuff out - it can’t be reasonable for a common human to use it without finding it absolutely impossible.

Some examples:

1) Try to setup Linux (any current flavor I’ve found has the same issues) on a Laptop/Notebook with a Broadcom Wireless card, and an Nvidia graphics processor. A “normal” person will become discouraged very quickly. (BTW, on Vista, and XP - it just “worked” out of the box.)

2) Try to configure dual-monitor display on any of the current crop of Linux solutions (then do it without having to install a bunch of ‘extra’ software through some cryptic naming scheme in any one of a half-dozen “packaging” tools)… What are the odds you’ll have directly edit xorg.conf? (Oh, and you’ll have to be ‘root’ for that!) Now set it up on Windows - oh, wait - I plugged it in and it works.

3) Now try to configure a port replicator/docking station for your laptop (oh, wait - you’ll have to install a bunch of new stuff to get that all configured as well). Doh!, when I dock in Windows - it works without doing anything.

You Linux bigots can sit there and whine and gripe about how all these “myths” about Linux being hard to install are “busted”, but you’re just kidding yourselves. Essentially what you’re saying is: “if you know what you are doing - like I do - you won’t have any problems.” But I’m pretty good at getting stuff figured out - and I actually have been able to get it running for most of my problems - but to call it “easy” is a farce. I could just see my wife (who is _not_ technical) trying to handle Linux vs. her WinXP system. She would just stop using the computer all together.

For the record, I have installed (and made work) the following Linux implementations in the last 2 months:

1) Ubuntu Hardy (last week)
2) Fedora Core 9 (this week)
3) OpenSUSE 11 (both the RC1 and the release patch)
4) Mandriva Spring 2008
5) A couple of ‘less mainstream’ versions - none of which were stable (crashed frequently - even after I got the bulk of things configured)

Problems I’ve had:

1) Broadcom Wireless - learned to us fwcutter - working now
2) Broadcom Wireless - learned to use NDISWrapper (had it working, but it was unstable)
3) NVIDIA Quadro 135NV video card (Fedora is giving me fits getting the Nvidia supplied driver, but the base driver seems to work for 1 monitor)
4) NVIDIA Q135… fails on Ubuntu Hardy for dual-monitor setup from my port replicator (it won’t display on the DVI port, but the VGA port works - and it keeps trying to turn on my laptop display)
5) Fedora keeps throwing “update manager” errors - complaining about a man-pages package (that I didn’t intentionally install) that is missing a dependency. (It doesn’t provide a suggestion as to how to resolve the error, but all updates fail, unless I search through the updates list to find a package that matches the named “man-pages-…” package - works for a ‘one-time’ thing, but gets really annoying after that.0
6) GRUB - displays a new (and successively more cryptic) boot option each time I install something (I’m assuming it’s building a new kernel, and the cryptography is a kernel version - but come on guys - “normal people” don’t need to see that crap!)
7) Try to find “themes” and “fonts” on some of the various “package” managers - it’s virtually impossible to decipher what you would be getting if you installed it.
8) Who came up with the applications menus for these window managers? They have some of the most bizarro organization schemes I’ve ever seen. And I haven’t seen any tool that let’s me reorganize them in a fashion I want. (Wait, don’ tell - just edit “sadjhfskfjsd.conf” file!)

The end result is that if a _competent_ computer user has a hard time figuring out your system for a fairly standard computer (modern even - 2.2Ghz Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, etc.), what are the odds that a “normal” person would even consider it? You can sit a proclaim that all the problems of the world are solved by Linux, but until you make it so ‘normal’ people can sit down and use it without having to search through a hundred forums and hack cryptic ‘conf’ files, it isn’t going to be a mainstream system. Apple will continue to accelerate their gains over Windows - but “Linux” will always be 3rd-best.

Zeke

Lets be real, the myths are busted, but this is irrelevant outside the tech adept circles.

Most folks expect the PC to be an appliance, not an errector set.

A solution is hardware based plug and boot.

Till we can walk into a major electronics shop and select from a variety of Linux pre-loaded PCs with names like HP, Toshiba, Sony - Linux is going nowhere in the mainstream.

… unless it no longer requires a preload.

Doc

1) No flash support out of the box — and by Flash, I mean ADOBE flash (something that works 100% of the time)

2)Installs that reliably don’t need the terminal… YDL really sucked on that one (enlightenment? give me a break!)

3)No DVD play out of the box… heaven help trying to download a movie codec, figuring out which version… what RPM, whats GZ or whatever…

4)Wow… my Nvidia 8800 GTS… forget about it… the screen would have fit on a 8000×6000 monitor, perhaps… otherwise the font was about six inches tall…

I have Yellow Dog loaded on my PS3 for my 61″ Samsung HDTV… but only because I have to…it still won’t play DVDs back, and I’m tired of trying. If WinXP could be loaded on the PS3, ya bet it would be!

Cheers,
Doc

billgates

I had absolutely no problem setting up a ubuntu gutsy/windows dual boot on an old amd pc with 512 memory. It is a little tricky finding all the right packages, but I have the system working better than windows– real adobe flash, full browser functionality to play video and sound, dvd/cd and multiple video format playback, LAMP, evolution synch-up with gmail and hotmail, and an eclipse development environment to a cvs repository. It does require some research and the ability to follow/interpret directions to complete the setup. The only issues I’ve had are that compiz and apple-style docking consume too much processing power on my machine, so I had to turn those features off. But all in all, linux has come a long way in the past 5 years, and ubuntu is the best distribution. I love the ease with which you can upgrade from one release to the next.

YoMamma

I run ubuntu on my laptop - its been fun setting it up, but have to admit there were challenges. I’ve worked in IT for a long time, and found it easy to get help when I needed it - but my mom couldn’t do this. Really like the CD version to let you test it out before installing it.

However, there are computer shops literally full of windwos computers being repaired because the average person can’t fix them - Windows is not perfect by any means.
For mom Windows is great. For me I like the bootup and shut down of Linux enough to make me fight through the hard parts. Not sure it is ready for everyone though.
My 2 cents.

ThomasR

Well, after reading this I have to say, Linux is not windows, so don’t expect it to be like windows. There are many reasons not to use one or the other.
As for support, there are Linux distributions that do have paid support.
It’s not the fault of Linux that ipods or whatever don’t sync well, it’s Apple’s choice not to program for all Operating systems. The only reason they work on Windows, is because Windows has the majority of the market share, Apple’s wouldn’t do nearly as well if they didn’t support Windows. As for me I buy my online music elsewhere, it’s not that hard, and i certainly know I’m not really missing anything.

Nowadays you can buy desktops/laptops with Linux preloaded, so all the installation hassles (not that’s difficult) is a non-issue. You can purchase Linux distributions that have all that’s necessary to play DVD’s or whatever. The choices are out there. What many seem to forget is that Linux is just the kernel, not the whole. So when people make comparisons it would be nice to actually know what distribution they are using, ’cause there is 100’s of choices.

If you’re buy a Mac, do you expect all Windows software to work on it? Didn’t think so. So why do people expect it on Linux?

If the user doesn’t bother to read instructions, then that’s their problem. Can’t blame it all on the operating system. Computers are by their very nature, complex, I assume the same people that took years to learn how to program their VCR’s (if at all) are the same that expect to have their computer’s know what they are thinking.

I think there is just a lot of fear of change. If you want to be locked into Microsoft or Apple products and have to continually lease their software, for the rest of your life,that’s fine with me, I just think my money can be better spent elsewhere, and I can always choose to support Linux in any number of ways, whether it be by donating money, helping other users, programming, documentation, graphics, etc. etc.

Well sorry for the rambling on, just had to get this off my chest.
Good day all!

billgates

Forgot to say, I also have IP telephone and ipod synch working on ubuntu without effort as well as file and printer sharing with the wife and kids windows PCs and it works more reliably than some of the wacky windows networking sharing experiences I\’ve had.

linux mythtified

“as you would do in a new vista installation”

that sounds like reason number 1 why I wouldn’t try installing Linux…I sure wouldn’t try installing Vista either.

Nothing against Linux…I run Vista Ultimate but it came pre-installed and I certainly wouldn’t have tried to install it myself. I’m not techie but I’ve been using computers from back around DOS 6.0 or maybe a bit before that; even worked on a few back in the mid-80s that didn’t even run DOS (Kaypro or K-Pro…something like that was one I faintly recall). I’ve met at least two people running Linux…one has a tough time…couldn’t run my jump drive in his machine after an hour of doing everything his Linux expert told him to do over the phone. No thx.

Shamil

Ok. All windows losers. Learn something about linux before you just dive in. I can’t stress this enough how much people don’t do this. If you don’t do some reading up and learning before you try linux, chances are you’ll get scared away because you found out it wasn’t windows and you couldn’t do very advanced things with it. It’s just like failing an exam you never studied for and wonder why you failed.

Whether anybody likes it or not. All of these linux myths have been busted. Clearly all the people who have had trouble with linux didn’t do enough rtfm or use google very well to find the solutions to the most common linux problems. And of course linux is not windows, why do windows users panic when c:\ is represented as /mnt/hda in linux? Who cares, you found your hard drive, access it and you’ll find your files. There’s a slew of things different in linux, but linux, osx and windows have a lot of obvious commonalities such as the desktop environments, especially applications.

Here’s the worst thing in the world. Windows users don’t want to learn how to use linux. Windows users are lazy. I’m not surprised if a windows user gets intrigued by linux, then turns away because his c:\ drive is called /mnt/hda. Windows users can’t deal with change. One lesson you see is that people have such a hard time using vista and it’s really not that much of a change over xp.

I do mean to be arrogant with this post because windows users are going to be left behind when new technologies come out in the future. I bet even when 3 versions of windows past vista in the future people will still be complaining how the new version of windows still isn’t xp. This is why a person who knows how to use linux is a power user and that why anybody who uses only windows is never going to be a power user, let alone a very smart user.

Reformed Ubuntu User

After my experiences with Linux every couple of years, once you set it up perfectly and only do those things, it is great. I would use it in a heartbeat as an appliance (something it shines at).

As far as general computing goes for the “average” home user, I would look elsewhere. Its a good hobbiest OS for the curious and power users, beyond that, I don’t see any reason why I would ever give this to my parents.

Mom’s had her Windows XP PC running for 5 years now without ever getting a virus or malware. I set it up for her and she has never had any problems, of course she does not push the limits of the machine. If my mother ever had to touch a command prompt she would shut the thing off an never use it.

Someone above said “give linux another 10 years and it will be ready for the desktop”, however I recall thinking this when I first started using slackware in college 10 years ago. At this rate I think its place in our world is well defined — great dedicated appliance, embedded OS or power users/hobbiest desktop. Beyond that Windows and Mac shouldnt be too concerned about market share.

Shamil

@67 Reformed Ubuntu User

Who cares about market share. Linux doesn’t require the use of console just as much as windows doesn’t require the use of it’s own console. As far as setting up linux perfectly to be an os for doing just a couple of things is one thing that linux is saught out for. Linux for mobile products like umpc’s and cell phones just as an example.

However, you don’t have to set it up perfectly. I guess compared to your moms computer it’s not set up perfectly since she has windows? Let me guess, she plays spider solitaire, uses a word processor, and occasionally does more on the web than check her email? Linux is perfectly suited to these tasks as well. And why not do those tasks for free instead of paying over $70 for it? I also didn’t say linux was only for power users. I said those who only use windows are never going to be power users. Linux is an os for everybody. Linux is great for the super system tweaker as well as those who just want to surf the net and use a word processor. So, i’d definitely get linux for the average home user. Linux also has much better safeguards in position to protect the user from utterly destroying their system compared to windows and osx. You want to do something administrative in linux? you got to put in the root password. If you want to do something administrative in windows or osx, chances are most users already have admin privileges so they can screw up their own system by tweaking stuff…changing stuff and not know what they’re doing at the same time.

And just because your mom’s computer hasn’t gotten any kind of malware (virus, trojan, adware, worm) yet. Doesn’t mean that it cant get them. Get a firewall and antivirus for it or you’ll feel pretty dumb in the future when she may get hacked or get malware.

Linux does not of course require 10 years from now to be ready for the desktop since it’s all good to go on the desktop as of 2 years ago. Linux has defined itself in mobile products as well as servers. Linux has also defined itself on the desktop for the average linux user. As well as in other countries where there’s netcafe’s, you can very well expect to see linux on many netcafe computers since linux is very ready for the desktop, and it keeps you from having to pay for multiple and expensive windows licenses. You can also bet that many companies use linux on a good deal of their computers for various uses because it’s just as usable and saves money. In the meantime yes apple and microsoft need not worry too much about market share, they’re still very dominant. The only thing linux has a real hard time with, is running windows games, linux’s windows compatibility layer is pretty good, but not that good.

Anyway 67 Reformed Ubuntu User. My how you are not a reformed ubuntu user. Even how this article dispells myths, people will still follow them. On and on people will continue to be dumb because it’s fun for them, even when they get proven with the evidence right in front of them. They just get angry for a bit and continue on with their skewed perspective of how something is not. If you were such a reformed ubuntu user. You wouldn’t have written the post the way you did.

Try kubuntu, you’ll find it more familiar than gnome ubuntu, since straight up ubuntu wasn’t straight forward enough for you. I don’t see how a straight up ubuntu install is difficult to use at all. Most users do one of two things with linux. They just start using it and don’t care what it is, and they’re just fine with it. The others start using it and know where the basic start menu like thing is, and the obvious minimize, close, and maximize buttons are, but they panic anyway because it’s not windows, even despite it being windows like enough for them to be able to use it in the first place. Well, there is a third thing that happens, a system tweaker starts dual booting with win and lin on the same drive, and then gets rid of win. Sells copy of win to somebody who needed it and make back 100$ on xp home (3 years ago when xp home was that much).

Bobby12

Umm…people aren’t afraid to use Linux. People don’t want to use Linux.

That’s why nobody except a handful of people use it. People can do what they need to do on the OS they have.

All that articles like this amount to is “Linux is playing catch up to Windows and Mac OS, and can do *most* things they can do *almost* as simply”.

YAY! That <1% Linux market share is going to explode!

linux developer

I have been developing linux (yes, developing it, *not* on it) for sometime now, and I avoid the GUI unless it is for firefox. I’ve Fedora setup on my laptop, wireless works out of the box (yes it does) and it has the atheros car. The only thing that is a pain is graphics, but I really don’t need it. But if you do, with some additional tinkering, you can get it working too. Here is the good news, you do *NOT* need the command line for that. You can install an RPM from the GUI. And use the GUI to get yum which will handle all dependencies and download the drivers. It is the same as with windows where hardware has not worked and you needed to install a driver.

I keep reading about chmod issues. Has anyone ever bothered to see the properties of a file in the browser windows. Admittedly if you do not own the file, the command line is the fastest way to change the ownership, but you can do it from the GUI as well.

Support. With microsoft, your only hope would be that you are important enough for them to fix your problem ASAP. (And 90 days is *not* fast). The beauty of Linux is that you can fix your problem yourself or pay someone to do it (I bet you did not think of that one right, its free, so I should get support free.) Remember, someone is investing their time to fix your problem. It is *not* free. Having said that, every bug reported is important, and has to be fixed asap is the policy for most open source projects. And they are tracked openly, so you know how close your problem is to a solution.

Time. You have to invest time in customizing your system. Nothing wrong about that. You do that for windows as well. If you are under the impression that windows does not require it, I would ask you to go back and try again.

Folks requiring specific applications, go back to your vendor and bug them to release a Linux version. It is not the prerogative of a Linux developer to get windows applications working on Linux.

And for those talking about hardware support. Linux supports the maximum hardware. It is graphics/wireless which had been a pain point. But with the vendors putting in persons to work on it, things are improving. And writing good drivers can be done by 1 person as well. No need for a team of 100s who write drivers which crash windows.

And the clincher, Windows always always crashes for me whenever I boot into it. I can never figure out why. Linux rarely does, and when it does, at least I can figure why it has. Why should I use windows then?

Stephen

Can anyone remember using a keyboard, black and white TV and a cassette tape(120min) for a hard drive. All these comparisons of difficulty and ease of use do not seem to matter much when you take in the word Freedom. I assume all of us are free to use what we please in our daily lives. Myself. I like them all, it’s a challenge when something doesn’t work and a feeling of satisfaction when I get it right. We all have our preferences, that’s as it should be. Wouldn’t we all be better served to work together for all concerned. Can anyone imagine what could be achieved. This is only my humble opinion.

Kevin W

I bought a brand new dell vostro 1500 laptop with integrated webcam and all the bells and whistles available. As soon as I got it I wiped XP off and installed Ubuntu Hardy Heron and never looked back. I have used Linux for a few years in the server environment but this is my first desktop attempt and I love it. I have a docking station at work and home, my camera worked straight away, my nvidia card works flawlessly straight away. I have VirtualBox setup running an XP guest for Outlook and Photoshop which uses bridged networking and allows me to share files between the OS’s easily.

Linux is an amazing operating system, and even though it MAY take some tinkering to get right, thats what computing is all about. Too many people these days just “plug it in” and if it doesnt work they complain and give up.

Sean

What a crock.
Myth 3 is NOT a myth. It’s true.

DO installers exist for Linux? Yes. Are they “one click” or “just like windows” and “easy to use?” HELL NO.

I use ubuntu, and downloading a linux application and double clicking it, more often than not, does NOT install it.

Get real and be honest. You have to know how to set crap like that up, it’s not something you can throw at your grandma and expect her to figure it out, or even your standard windows user. Linux still has a fairly large learning curve if you want to replace your current OS with it, and making up BS reasons why that’s not true is still BS.

Hooty

You don’t need VLC to play all the different types of media. Just use Linux Mint, it has all the codecs built in.

http://www.linuxmint.com

Kevin W

To Sean (#74) If you are using Ubuntu you RARELY need to Download a Linux application and double click it, try using Synaptic which in lots of cases kicks the shit out of any Windows installer.

#3 is definetly a myth, the point he is trying to make is that nobody has to COMPILE anything like we used to..

E.g try installing Apache,Mysql, PHP on windows, then try it using apt-get and report back which one is easier/faster.