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Old 05-08-2009, 02:54 PM   #76
Gideon
Wearer of Pants
Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.Gideon knows the square root of minus one.
 
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I don't think you need to be so combative. What Astra is saying is, on the face of it, true. Very few users can get away just making Ubuntu work. And don't be fooled by a live-cd as they often work better (and sometimes worse) than the real install.

Lots of hardware doesn't work 'by default' in Ubuntu, and a lot doesn't in XP either... but usually you can fix that pretty quickly in XP. Ubuntu might require you to do hunt down and then manually compile a driver yourself - for someone who isn't particularly tech savy this is a MUCH bigger burdon than "going to Canon's website." I had to do this to get my soundcard working.... I can absolutely edit the Windows registry and I found this monstrous. If you're one of those people whose wifi adapter isn't supported by default - it's REAL fun getting that to work. Nothing like trying to fix something without your internet working!

If you're using Ubuntu there is a very good chance you're going to be opening up gedit and having to tweak some things. Yes, it's a text file but it's also all jargon and technical. Some of it is obvous, most of it is not. Most people using Windows have never even had to see their registry. Because, despite what people complain about most the time if you add a piece of hardware to a Windows or Mac computer it WILL work (except very early in any given OS's lifespan, like when Vista first came out). You have a weird piece of hardware on Ubuntu and you can be in some real trouble. And sometimes not even WEIRD or rare hardware.

You may have the wonderful experience of not dealing with these things, but you're asking in general terms and she's responding in general terms. That is a VERY fair thing to say about Ubuntu - I've installed every version since 6 and I've had to move VERY far outside my comfort zone to make it work, every time. 9.04 was by far the best... but if I use Kubuntu the whole thing falls apart. And this is in no way uncommon.

Great if you're tech-savy enough to handle all this, I am and I still don't find it worthwhile (though attractive, but I don't mind paying for quality software), but most people are not.
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