Of course, I always say that there is no reason to use Linux and if they are happy with Windows and what is going on there, then don’t get worried about this Linux thing. If they really really desire to learn and expand there skills, you may even phone me when you have a problem. Otherwise please just GTFO. I don’t support Microsoft or Apple platforms or software. Sorry. It’s too difficult for me.

I’m finding it difficult at the moment as a geek with my tinkering urges to improve things and make things better for myself. I recently brought a netbook and found that there were some limitations to the video card that’s within which basically means that if I’m plugged into a monitor and hit the video out key, things WILL crash. So I wrote a script that takes the limitations into account. The script works great. Only, there doesn’t seem to be any documentation on what happens when the video out key is pressed. So I’m unable to use my own script as the action for this button. It also turns out that Ubuntu has a problem with acpid logging so I couldn’t even see the event generated for the button!

A couple of months ago, I hit my low point. You see, I normally have a terminal only option in my grub menu. And it turns out grub2 was in there with it’s non menu.lst configuration. Also, my init system no longer works in the way I’m well accustomed to. Rather than learn those two new ways of doing things I grumbled to myself and did NOTHING!

Sometimes it feels like Ubuntu has taken over. It’s on my computer but my computer isn’t quite going the way that I want it to so I start tinkering and before I know it, the sun has risen on a new day, I’m a hell of a lot smellier than when I started and quite often I’ve only gotten half way to the solution.

I have always remained fairly skeptical of Ubuntu. It seemed they were getting all the credit. Wow! Ubuntu now supports Kernel Mode Switching for my video card! And the kernel developers got none. It just seems now, when I’m getting more and more irritated with it and it’s locked down feeling, and people all over the net saying “oh it’s alright, it’ll be fixed in 10.04″ – when there will be new problems that won’t be fixed until some time in October but it’ll be alright because it’ll be fixed in the next cycle and no they won’t correct it for the version I’m using at the time because it’ll be fixed in the next version. If it’s not a problem in the next version it’s not a problem except that most of us are still running versions that are apparently completely out of date as there are bugs that are no longer being fixed.

*takes a big breath*. I guess, what I’m saying, to the group, is that you don’t need to be an Ubuntu fanboy to need help :/

1.- Ubuntu is easy to learn. My opinion is that it is way easier to learn than Windows. It is certain that not all graphic applications are well integrated into the Window Manager (i.e use of gvfs, etc). However, most people I know are also terrified of Windows, thinking that a wrong action could led to a virus infection, or a BSOD. Think of it. You buy a TV and it fails, you return it as defective. Your Windows system gets a BSOD, and you think to yourself what you’ve done wrong.

2.- You can get support from the community. I do work in the IT industry, and if you got OEM licenses for your Microsoft software, you are not entitled for any Microsoft support. People in the Linux community get any kind of support, including support for terminal-based commands. People should not be afraid of typing. In fact, after some practice they’ll realize how powerful it can be sometimes.

3.- You don’t need Microsoft Office. In fact, more than 90% of all Office users would never need anything more than MS Wordpad for their stuff. I’ve been an advanced Office user for years and although there are still things in OpenOffice.org that irritate me, my transition to OpenOffice has been painless.

4.- You don’t need iTunes. Well, I believe that having Linux recognize most multi-function printers, wifi cards, 3d graphic cards, data sync with major telephone and smartphone manufacturers, and new hardware present in netbooks and stuff like that is more important than having full multimedia support for the ipod/iphone, which, people outside the US tend not to be so dependant on them.

5.- You don’t need Adobe. If you mean by that that I do not need Photoshop, you can’t be more than right. When I was in college, I took several graphic design courses, where, among other things, I learnt advanced Photoshop. I can assure more than 99% of computer users than use Photoshop to remove red-eyes and stuff like that would be more productive using other software. And for most professionals, having Photoshop in Linux would not mean more than have it on Windows. OTOH, having good Flash, Air, and Acrobat support in Linux is in my opinion more important.

6.- Conclussion. Let’s not bother that much with the lack of certain applications in Linux. The same thing happens on the Macintosh platform, yet nobody cares. IMHO, Linux developers/distributors should focus now on improving the user experience by providing better hardware support and better desktop integration. Once that goal is accomplished, more and more casual computer users will switch, and as their numbers grow, a new market for software companies will emerge. And do not forget that most Windows users also have their own frustations with their OS (virus, malware, BSOD, boot up problems after official updates…)

And for the most part, people in forums have been helpful with their support. But occasionally, there is the ultimate know-it-all who questions your intelligence with the inability to understand how to do something. I was told Linux “just works”; was practically begged to “just give it a try”; and am struggling with new terminology and concepts, but am making an attempt. The last thing I want to hear is a bunch of techno jargon to explain a process I didn’t already understand…plain english PLEASE! Even worse are the comments from some smart ass that “this was discussed in another thread…use the search feature”…thanks for the help, buddy… Seems to me if you’re trying to recruit new users and expand the user base, a little “marketing” goes a long way; i.e. sincere efforts to help, instead of insults and cherished moments of technical superiority.

Eventually, I’ll figure it out and Linux will be as second nature as Windows already is. Until then, if the definition of a fanboy is “a person who is completely loyal to a game or company regardless of if they suck or not”, wouldn’t that definition more aptly describe a Windows user?

Tell me more about why a business user should not use Star Office or Open Office, because, besides Sun service that seems to have a good list of complaints, I am curious of features I may have overlooked.

Sometimes Sun mentality is probably too “government” and “corporate”, they “assume” that their IT users are at a certain level of knowledge, just like the IBM mainframe folks would, they may need better interfacing with small businesses, but on the other hands I doubt M$ is any cheaper than Sun on a service call, any feedback on that ?

I find Star Office and Open Office “outstanding” given a minimum of understanding of computers and OS’s. This for several reasons, such as “scalability”, if you look at the porting page gives an idea of where open office is going, and secondly because of compatibility between the free version and the licensed and under service contract version. Also I find “interesting” that Star Office can “even” read IBM 8″ Display Writer format, along with a zillion other.

I can access easily any RDBMS, vector graphic support is very very nice, I “could” use an excel compatibility mode in Calc if it was available, but I have rather keep the mathematic logic of Calc versus the non-standard math of Excel, and use Excel on windows in a VM when I need to use some special plug-in. I never write environment dependent formulas, even if this may mean reinventing the wheel sometimes, nor use macros, this helps me to switch products at any time.

I have used the same approach for decades and for anything, such as programming languages, database, spreadsheets, everything I write “has to be portable” by requirement, across products, across different processor architectures and across operating systems. Some of my ‘c’ and “SQL” code is so vanilla that runs pretty much anywhere, with rare and minor modifications. My spreadsheets written in Star Office and Open Office, generally function in excel and only rarely need minor modifications.

I can write a pocket-size book all together and print a clean pdf in days, without going insane to get indexes, tables of contents, footnotes, format and so on fixed along the way continuously. I don’t need to write Leonardo Codex Atlanticus, so in my case using Adobe high line press products would be a waste of time and money, nor I need to rewrite the same pages over and over again, as per the popular definition of insanity, and that’s why I dropped Word 2000, believe me, not without regrets, since I had been using it since the mid 80’s after I dropped Word Star, for the ones that don’t remember it, “yes” I used Word on DOS, and so did with Word Perfect and many other.

I think Star Office meets the requirement of general office product use at “any” level of government (not sure about the US, but lots of your folks “up there” run Solaris, so I doubt they use M$ Office).

I must admit some lack of later information on current M$ functionality, just because I lost interest, especially after reading hardware requirements of the latest windows OS and office, I have been thinking I would rather buy a used HP Itanium and a used IBM 6000, and still spend less, and be better off. in terms of security, stability, reliability and saved headaches.

I ended up out of the M$ circle, just because tired of reinstalling broken windows, losing text and data on spreadsheets and Word crashes, and tired of Word mainly being hijacked and hit by worms and viruses every other day, and most of all, non interested in the M$ agenda of DRM issues introduced with XP, that is even uglier than Apple for OS and applications. Users of Ipods and other gadgets may think differently, but I don’t have an interest in that segment, and if I want to listen to music, I can just hit youtube.

Changing subject, anybody tried IBM Symphony ? Any comments ? There is a free download on their site. This week I was busy with checking out DB2 Express on Linux (nice, by the way).

cheers to all
:)

In our office, people know that their work computer does not have problems with virus or malware infections, I honestly can’t remember hearing about one in the last couple of years, but it’s a different story at home. They buy a new computer and expect it to just work. They have crapware and demoware that expires after a few months which leaves them with no office software, no virus protection, and a gummed up mess in a very short period of time.

From what I’ve seen it’s also no cakewalk to tell people how to maintain and use a Windows box either.

http://www.montanalinux.org/ubuntu-fanboy-confessions-response.html