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solofx7 · May 23, 2007, 08:47 AM

what is so special about this?
why would i need it is i have OS X and windows?

Obi Wan's Ghost · May 23, 2007, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by solofx7

what is so special about this?

Nothing. Just lots of hype from people who don't like to pay for anything.

peeb · May 23, 2007, 10:03 AM

It's a version of Linux that is relatively easy to use. Unless you know why you want it, you probably don't.

C.A.T.S. CEO · 12:48 PM

Its a Linux distro thats trying to make linux easier to use and more easy on the eye

IBB (in before besson)

Wiskedjak · May 23, 2007, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by Obi Wan's Ghost

Nothing. Just lots of hype from people who don't like to pay for anything.

Which isn't altogether bad. For something that's free, Ubuntu/Linux is pretty good.

But, I would add that it's also for people who don't like to be locked into the restrictions placed upon us by the likes of Windows and MacOS.

peeb · May 23, 2007, 12:43 PM

You can download free bootable cds, and try it out - it's kind of fun, and I want to like it because of the whole free software thing, but honestly, OSX kicks it to the curb. It is good for reviving old hardware though.

Wiskedjak · May 23, 2007, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by peeb

You can download free bootable cds, and try it out - it's kind of fun, and I want to like it because of the whole free software thing, but honestly, OSX kicks it to the curb. It is good for reviving old hardware though.

Yup, for the average user, Ubuntu is not an adequate replacement for either Windows or MacOS. However, look at how far it's come. It's not inconceivable that Ubuntu/Linux could be ready for the mainstream user after a few more years of development.

As for reviving old hardware, that's what I really like about it.

besson3c · May 23, 2007, 03:41 PM

If you were interested in Unix system administration, Ubuntu might be a good step in too. You can do a lot of the same things in OS X/OS X Server, but if you decide to go this route, don't rely on the GUIs if you want to be employable in large environments with Unix infrastructures.

solofx7 · May 24, 2007, 11:10 AM

thanks for all of the responses.
i just wanted to know if i was missing something.
it does not appear that i am...
OS X rocks.

tavin64 · May 24, 2007, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

Yup, for the average user, Ubuntu is not an adequate replacement for either Windows or MacOS. However, look at how far it's come. It's not inconceivable that Ubuntu/Linux could be ready for the mainstream user after a few more years of development.

As for reviving old hardware, that's what I really like about it.

For the average user Ubuntu is actually a very adequate replacement for Windows and OSX. Have you tried Ubuntu lately? Its hardware detection is excellent and comes with pretty much all the things an average user might need. (Web Browser, mp3, office compatibility through openoffice) If you are just looking for an operating system to surf the web, type up school reports, maybe code some c++, java, html, and many other languages, and have some eye candy thrown in (beryl), then Ubuntu is a very good option.

Wiskedjak · May 24, 2007, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by tavin64

For the average user Ubuntu is actually a very adequate replacement for Windows and OSX. Have you tried Ubuntu lately?

It's possible I have a lower opinion of the "average user" than you do. When I think "average user", I think of my parents, who have a difficult time with Windows and MacOS.

peeb · May 24, 2007, 05:24 PM

It's functional in many ways, but not as sweet as OSX, plus, there is a lot of tweaking to set up media etc, and lack of reliable drivers for wireless still.

besson3c · May 24, 2007, 06:38 PM

The thing about Ubuntu is that nobody seemed to be talking about it a couple of years ago. If it continues on this pace, many of these problems should hopefully start to fade.

I'm very much for replacing Windows in government and education, I don't think it's a good use of my tax paying dollars funneling money into the Microsoft bank accounts.

peeb · May 24, 2007, 06:50 PM

Amen.

ghporter · May 24, 2007, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

The thing about Ubuntu is that nobody seemed to be talking about it a couple of years ago. If it continues on this pace, many of these problems should hopefully start to fade.

I'm very much for replacing Windows in government and education, I don't think it's a good use of my tax paying dollars funneling money into the Microsoft bank accounts.

Both government and collegiate customers often get REALLY, REALLY good deals from Microsoft. When you buy by the containerload (literally), you have some purchasing power. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a good reason to dump Windows on many, if not MOST PCs in the world. Let's start with privacy and security (ignoring viruses and spyware entirely), and move on to reliability and the potential for a problem to completely destroy one's data. There are a bunch of Linux distributions that could be contenders, but they lack two major cachets: they don't come installed on new computers, and they aren't easy to use to replace Windows. If ONE distro was available that would simply displace a Windows installation and preserve the user's data, giving the user a similar desktop and a familiar interface and user paradigm, it would make Bill very nervous. And "you can't stop the signal"... there is no way Microsoft could stop such a distribution from propagating. The problem is that there isn't such a Linux distribution out there. Sounds like a big entry on someone's to do list to me.

peeb · May 24, 2007, 07:54 PM

I think the problem is that Linux's ad budget is practically nothing.

besson3c · May 24, 2007, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Both government and collegiate customers often get REALLY, REALLY good deals from Microsoft. When you buy by the containerload (literally), you have some purchasing power. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a good reason to dump Windows on many, if not MOST PCs in the world. Let's start with privacy and security (ignoring viruses and spyware entirely), and move on to reliability and the potential for a problem to completely destroy one's data. There are a bunch of Linux distributions that could be contenders, but they lack two major cachets: they don't come installed on new computers, and they aren't easy to use to replace Windows. If ONE distro was available that would simply displace a Windows installation and preserve the user's data, giving the user a similar desktop and a familiar interface and user paradigm, it would make Bill very nervous. And "you can't stop the signal"... there is no way Microsoft could stop such a distribution from propagating. The problem is that there isn't such a Linux distribution out there. Sounds like a big entry on someone's to do list to me.

You can buy Dells with Linux preinstalled now, IIRC.

Maybe something that ought to happen is people certifying various stock PCs as working with a distro out-of-the-box? From what I can gather, providing you have no hardware detection issues and stuff, installing Ubuntu is actually very easy. However, I do agree with what you are saying basically.

The Windows migration thing is also an interesting idea. Linspire (initially called Lindows) attempted to mimic Windows, but it kind of sucked. Maybe the solution is a Linux equivalent of the Migration Assistant, like you were saying?

Hell, with Xen and WINE such a tool could even migrate Windows itself and/or Windows applications to your ext3 partition...

Some interesting thoughts here ghporter.

ghporter · May 25, 2007, 05:43 AM

I haven't seen anything about Linux on Dell's site (not that I've looked hard) in a long time. Maybe they still do that, but it was never "consumer" level computers-all aimed at businesses, and a lot of it on servers.

For you and me, installing Ubuntu or any other Linux distro is probably not a daunting task. But my sister would be floored by it. I'm thinking of making it EASY for my sister to put in a CD or DVD, click "replace Windows", and then just sit back. Maybe answer questions about whether she'd like to replace Explorer with KDE or Gnome, which browser to use (with illustrations, of course), and wait for wonderful results. The tools are there, as far as I know. It's putting them into a package that people like my sister can grab and use effectively that's missing.

Wiskedjak · 09:27 AM

Dell has just recently started offering Ubuntu on 3 consumer level computers; an XPS, a Dimension and an Inspiron laptop.

Dell Home & Home Office | Ubuntu

I'm not sure how you get to the Dell-Ubuntu pages by way of the Dell home page.
[EDIT] Found it. If you go to the Products tab and hover over the Desktops or Notebooks drop-downs, towards the bottom of each list is an option for "Open Source PCs".