MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Seriousness Should I switch to Ubuntu, or stay with Windows XP?

ruskie · 05-07-2009, 07:11 AM

Disclaimer: I've been using GNU/Linux systems for the last 11 or so years...(had a computer at home for 14 years).

6 years of that was as a normal user the last 5 as a developer of Source Mage GNU/Linux.

I started with redhat something or other and through trial and error came to slackware and used that until 5 years ago when I switched to Source Mage. OSes I've used thus far:

dos 6.22, win 3.11, win95, win98, win2k, winxp, qnx, freebsd, os/2 warp4, openbsd, plan9, minix3, beos, redhat, debian, ubuntu, mandrake, fedora, slackware, caldera and probably others.

At one point in time I had most of these installed on the same machine multi-booting.

Now 6 years ago I got fed up with windows completely and removed it permanently from my systems. At the time I only had one main machine to use as a desktop so my mom(50+ now) used it as well. In those dark times I had to do tweaks to get the UI to work well but she had no problems using any of the software provided. Openoffice works, browsing works, image editing works... and so on. So after I got some older machines I put together a box for her. Initially I installed Source Mage on it and was back to tweaking it. Then one day I decided to give Ubuntu a try(this was roughly 14 months ago). I booted the installer thinking I'll have to install it like any other GNU/Linux system so I was amazed I had to do a LOT less to install it than with any Windows install to date. I rebooted after the install and things just worked. I had nothing to fix or tweak or anything else. It just worked out of the box.

A bit after that I managed to get an older laptop and as I don't like those much decided to make it my mom's main computer. Again went with the install of Ubuntu thinking ok this is laptop it'll probably need some work to get all the bits and surprise for me it again JUST worked.

Suffice it to say I was impressed at how easy it is to get working and keep maintained. I showed my mom how to process automatic updates(other than security which I have set to auto).

I didn't have to do anything to get it all working other than install and even that was so simple my mom could do it.

So yes GNU/Linux systems are a lot friendlier then they used to be. My only problem is that some are trying to force EVERYONE to give up all the mystic arcane stuff that GNU/Linux and other gurus enjoy. I don't mind a Human friendly distro but it's not for me. It's for my mom. Or for a friend of mine that hasn't really touched GNU/Linux.

Infact he installed it himself and when he told me(he was an avid windows user) that he did so and made it his _ONLY_ system I almost had a heart attack.

So no GNU/Linux is NOT hard NOT arcane NOT unfriendly.

It's hard, arcane and unfriendly only when something goes wrong and the same goes for windows. Most users aren't even skilled enough to do more than reinstall.

05-07-2009, 07:11 AM	#34
ruskie Shade Posts: 100 Karma: 546 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: U.LC.MW.Sol.Earth.EE.SI.LJ Device: Hanlin Jinke V3ext running OpenInkPot	Disclaimer: I've been using GNU/Linux systems for the last 11 or so years...(had a computer at home for 14 years). 6 years of that was as a normal user the last 5 as a developer of Source Mage GNU/Linux. I started with redhat something or other and through trial and error came to slackware and used that until 5 years ago when I switched to Source Mage. OSes I've used thus far: dos 6.22, win 3.11, win95, win98, win2k, winxp, qnx, freebsd, os/2 warp4, openbsd, plan9, minix3, beos, redhat, debian, ubuntu, mandrake, fedora, slackware, caldera and probably others. At one point in time I had most of these installed on the same machine multi-booting. Now 6 years ago I got fed up with windows completely and removed it permanently from my systems. At the time I only had one main machine to use as a desktop so my mom(50+ now) used it as well. In those dark times I had to do tweaks to get the UI to work well but she had no problems using any of the software provided. Openoffice works, browsing works, image editing works... and so on. So after I got some older machines I put together a box for her. Initially I installed Source Mage on it and was back to tweaking it. Then one day I decided to give Ubuntu a try(this was roughly 14 months ago). I booted the installer thinking I'll have to install it like any other GNU/Linux system so I was amazed I had to do a LOT less to install it than with any Windows install to date. I rebooted after the install and things just worked. I had nothing to fix or tweak or anything else. It just worked out of the box. A bit after that I managed to get an older laptop and as I don't like those much decided to make it my mom's main computer. Again went with the install of Ubuntu thinking ok this is laptop it'll probably need some work to get all the bits and surprise for me it again JUST worked. Suffice it to say I was impressed at how easy it is to get working and keep maintained. I showed my mom how to process automatic updates(other than security which I have set to auto). I didn't have to do anything to get it all working other than install and even that was so simple my mom could do it. So yes GNU/Linux systems are a lot friendlier then they used to be. My only problem is that some are trying to force EVERYONE to give up all the mystic arcane stuff that GNU/Linux and other gurus enjoy. I don't mind a Human friendly distro but it's not for me. It's for my mom. Or for a friend of mine that hasn't really touched GNU/Linux. Infact he installed it himself and when he told me(he was an avid windows user) that he did so and made it his _ONLY_ system I almost had a heart attack. So no GNU/Linux is NOT hard NOT arcane NOT unfriendly. It's hard, arcane and unfriendly only when something goes wrong and the same goes for windows. Most users aren't even skilled enough to do more than reinstall.