What can Windows do that Linux can't? [Archive] - Page 3

Daerik

October 17th, 2008, 04:04 AM

http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1521

217 Million online gamers worldwide. That doesn't include stand alone or console gamers. There are 305 million people in the U.S. So world wide there are as many online gamers as 2/3 of the entire population of the U.S.

“With one in four Internet users visiting a gaming site, playing games online is extremely popular. The fact that these websites are pulling in over a quarter of the total worldwide Internet population shows what a global phenomenon gaming has become.”

WoW alone hit over 10 million current active subscriptions in 2008. That means that roughly 4.6 pct are actively playing WoW. Thats only a single title and only the people with current active subscriptions.

Obviously puzzle games will be the most popular. But still, those numbers don't look trivial to me. Especially since this is only concerning online games.

“Well, if you won't take action... “

Umm, did I say that? I don't think that I even implied it. I do use Wine whenever possible. For some games it works great. I tried Cedega but I saw no real advantage over Wine. Maybe if they can get Age of Conan to work, I'll consider it more. I feel that Linux is far superior to Windows and use use it as much as I can. I'm also learning how to program because I want to develop for Linux.

I play the games I want to play, because those are the ones that I want to play. I'll do what I have to do to make them playable. I am more concerned with playing the games I enjoy because I enjoy them, rather than trying to boycott companies that don't develop for Linux. If it means I have to shell out a few dollars to keep a copy of Windows around, then so be it. Actually, the only reason I run Sidux on my desktop rather than Ubuntu is that I couldn't get my gaming keyboard to work in Ubuntu. Link (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=385426&highlight=zboard)

It would be nice if game developers actually had the authority to determine what platforms they develop for, but in these types of organizations they don't. Not to mention that a lot of game development is funded by organizations like Microsoft. So not gonna see a lot of enthusiasm for Linux there. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality.

ivanhoe75

October 17th, 2008, 06:12 AM

Windows is simple, you click and obtain result, under Linux you must cast spells in console on any step. Under win I plug my sinthesizer and it works, under linux its still a problem

Bucky Ball

October 17th, 2008, 06:14 AM

Run Sibelius 5. :)

cardinals_fan

October 17th, 2008, 08:00 PM

Windows is simple, you click and obtain result, under Linux you must cast spells in console on any step. Under win I plug my sinthesizer and it works, under linux its still a problem
I never knew I was a wizard with spell-casting skills. Thanks for letting me know!

*waves wand, chants, and holds toad under the light of a full moon*

aysiu

October 17th, 2008, 08:06 PM

If Windows were that simple, I don't think we'd have tech support departments in schools, corporations, and organizations. The Windows computers would be set up and run themselves, and the "tech department" would just be sitting around twittling their thumbs. Such is not the case in any organization, I assure you. I don't even officially work in the tech department (I'm in the receptionist in my school's admission office) but I still get Windows users asking me every day for help with some problem or other they're having.

If Windows is simple to you, may I suggest you might have become a Windows expert?

Sephoroth

October 17th, 2008, 10:03 PM

I never knew I was a wizard with spell-casting skills. Thanks for letting me know!

*waves wand, chants, and holds toad under the light of a full moon*

You must increase your spirit stats before using that spell.

cardinals_fan

October 17th, 2008, 10:21 PM

You must increase your spirit stats before using that spell.
Yes, I see that now. I'll have to stick with the 'newt and cantaloupe' spell for the moment.

LaRoza

October 17th, 2008, 11:32 PM

Windows is simple, you click and obtain result, under Linux you must cast spells in console on any step. Under win I plug my sinthesizer and it works, under linux its still a problem

In Linux, I plug in my monitor, printer and webcam and it all works.

My webcam still isn't working consistantly under Windows, despite having the correct software and all the updates.

Don't judge entire systems from one experience. I personally never experienced video or any hardware problems on my computers with Linux, but that doesn't mean other don't.

http://www.sourcemage.org/

cardinals_fan

October 17th, 2008, 11:42 PM

http://www.sourcemage.org/
I'm not l33t enough for sourcemage. Lunar left me with a badly damaged ego when I tried it last year.

detroit/zero

October 19th, 2008, 01:45 PM

I just been wondering what other users have found that windows is able to do that linux (more specifically ubuntu) cant do...
For four or five months now, it's able to read and write to external USB2.0 hard disks and flash drives at reasonable (i.e., above 3 or 4 MB/s) speeds.

emshains

October 19th, 2008, 04:34 PM

It does go both ways, though, of course. All the software I need in Ubuntu is available in the repositories. If, however, you need to compile a lot of stuff from source, you lose a lot of the relative efficiency you could get in Windows through a double-click, next, next, next, finish scenario. Not everything is more efficient in any one OS over another.

I love to run configure, make and then make install, I think its easier than the click click done stuff! Take it like this, a gui may always be slow, but the cmd-line (at least for me) never lags, so running 3 commands is faster than clicking 5 buttons all the time, and you have more control, so if you screw up you won't have to start over again from the first point, like you have with the click-click scenario.

aysiu

October 19th, 2008, 05:00 PM

I love to run configure, make and then make install, I think its easier than the click click done stuff! Take it like this, a gui may always be slow, but the cmd-line (at least for me) never lags, so running 3 commands is faster than clicking 5 buttons all the time, and you have more control, so if you screw up you won't have to start over again from the first point, like you have with the click-click scenario.
Don't you think that should be a choice, though?

There is certain software that does not come as a .deb or .rpm package and that you must compile from source in order to install.

If you have fun compiling from source or think it's more efficient, then good for you. But if people don't want to compile from source, they shouldn't have to.

Personally, I stay away from programs that need to be compiled from source. But whenever I have tried to compile from source just out of curiosity (just to see if I could do it), I have never been successful, and I've been using Ubuntu for 3.5 years now.

You want to compile from source? Fine. Do it. But don't force everyone else to follow suit and track down all the dependencies one by one and wait for things to build. Maybe you should be using Gentoo. Then you can emerge for hours and hours while the rest of us apt-get or Synaptic packages within minutes instead.

georgegerm

October 19th, 2008, 05:46 PM

idem
indeed people who compile and the programmers (may lord ubu bless them), have their way
for people like me i want freedom from windows or mac and want it easy
there are enough distros out there that allow you to compile till kingdom of ubu comes
yet as stated its a matter of choice and ubu is reaching the masses because it is simply NOT because its hard to install etc. etc.
yet you can get the sources and play with them with ubu as much as you want
thus it has the best of both worlds
it is not in my opinion wise to make Linux distros only hard for those without knowledge,,
the contrary is the fact get to the masses by making it simply easy, and useful
this is ubu already for the masses and i hope it stays that way
ps. it also makes learn other ways besides being a windows robot were all is done
ubu still requires interest in learning:guitar: and that yet again is a positive aspect not to speak a social one as many get involved HELPING others with little knowledge
praise lord ubuntu and make it better for all:guitar:

cardinals_fan

October 19th, 2008, 06:33 PM

Don't you think that should be a choice, though?

There is certain software that does not come as a .deb or .rpm package and that you must compile from source in order to install.

If you have fun compiling from source or think it's more efficient, then good for you. But if people don't want to compile from source, they shouldn't have to.

Personally, I stay away from programs that need to be compiled from source. But whenever I have tried to compile from source just out of curiosity (just to see if I could do it), I have never been successful, and I've been using Ubuntu for 3.5 years now.

You want to compile from source? Fine. Do it. But don't force everyone else to follow suit and track down all the dependencies one by one and wait for things to build. Maybe you should be using Gentoo. Then you can emerge for hours and hours while the rest of us apt-get or Synaptic packages within minutes instead.
Emshains never said that there should be no more packages and that everyone should compile everything from source. His/her point was only that compiling is preferable for him/her to a wizard-style installer.

aysiu

October 19th, 2008, 07:04 PM

Emshains never said that there should be no more packages and that everyone should compile everything from source. His/her point was only that compiling is preferable for him/her to a wizard-style installer.
Read the context of the post. It was a response to my earlier post. In that context, the implication seems to be that as long as people can compile from source, packages are not necessary. It was implicit in the context if not explicit in the statement. Otherwise, there would be no need for Emshains to quote me - the post would have just stood alone.

etdsbastar

October 19th, 2008, 07:52 PM

I don't think that Linux can't do what Windows can?

In my opinion Linux can do everything what Windows can do. Of course, the process might be different.

One more thing, Linux can do much more things as compared to Windows.

...

georgegerm

October 19th, 2008, 11:35 PM

well i have to say linux has not proven it can run top of the line games as they are made for windows,
and really theres no comparison to lets say call of duty, crisis etc. , to any linux game as an example...
wine is getting there but not quite mature enough yet i think..
but i am a newbie so i may be wrong
so games remain an issue but it is due to greed, and being pressed to work under windows that makes this happen
the linux community with all its great people sure in my opinion have the edge on everything else

themadhatter

October 20th, 2008, 02:06 AM

I just been wondering what other users have found that windows is able to do that linux (more specifically ubuntu) cant do...

so far the only thing i have found that i cant do anymore is gaming and a few online videos dont work sometimes

also, add anything to the list that makes one better or worse than the other, such as linux being practically virus free

Blue Screen of Death?

Seriously though, never any problems with Videos (I use Videolan). Games might be an issue, but I'm not a gamer.

Overall my linux experience has been way better than my Windows experience. We have computers running Linux, Windows XP, and Mac OSX in our house. The Linux and Mac OSX computers run problem free (except for the upgrade to 8.10 on one machine, and I suspect that something I did was the problem). The Windows computers are a pain in the ***.

If you are doing an install Linux has far better driver support than Windows XP or Vista. OSX of course has very limited driver support, but it's only meant to be run on a limited set of hardware, and on that hardware it's rock solid.

Both OSX and Linux is a lot more stable than Windows, you can leave a machine running for months with no problems.

I think that with more machines coming with Linux pre-installed (especially netbooks) we'll see a growth in Linux market share over the next couple of years, at the expense of Windows. Of course if Microsoft works hard, they could make Windows 7 into a must have, but I doubt that they will manage this, not because they don't have people with the skills to do it, but because the management at Microsoft doesn't have the experience at designing products that people want to use. This is something that they've just never been good at, their monopoly position insulated them from the need to consider customer satisfaction as something that mattered.

georgegerm

October 20th, 2008, 04:51 PM

Blue Screen of Death?

Seriously though, never any problems with Videos (I use Videolan). Games might be an issue, but I'm not a gamer.

Overall my linux experience has been way better than my Windows experience. We have computers running Linux, Windows XP, and Mac OSX in our house. The Linux and Mac OSX computers run problem free (except for the upgrade to 8.10 on one machine, and I suspect that something I did was the problem). The Windows computers are a pain in the ***.

If you are doing an install Linux has far better driver support than Windows XP or Vista. OSX of course has very limited driver support, but it's only meant to be run on a limited set of hardware, and on that hardware it's rock solid.

Both OSX and Linux is a lot more stable than Windows, you can leave a machine running for months with no problems.

I think that with more machines coming with Linux pre-installed (especially netbooks) we'll see a growth in Linux market share over the next couple of years, at the expense of Windows. Of course if Microsoft works hard, they could make Windows 7 into a must have, but I doubt that they will manage this, not because they don't have people with the skills to do it, but because the management at Microsoft doesn't have the experience at designing products that people want to use. This is something that they've just never been good at, their monopoly position insulated them from the need to consider customer satisfaction as something that mattered.

without a wink i agree with you windows has lost touch of the need of the masses and the price they will pay for whatever they decide is needed on your compu
i do not think windows will self destruct and i wish them luck but i am happy with my xp for games (linux minus) and everything is the way i decide it should be at a cost of my time but not of money for things i will never use
ubuntu is in my opinion the best i repeat the best of both linux ways easy for a newbie like me ( i also love linux mint, but its a ubu child) and you can compile develop contribute not to mention the best community ever
thats what linux has over windows all but games:guitar:

wulfhound

October 20th, 2008, 08:16 PM

ujodarko

October 20th, 2008, 08:23 PM

georgegerm

October 20th, 2008, 11:06 PM

Microsoft Office/Outlook.

Lots of games.

The myriad of codecs that just seem to work better on windows, along with the endless options for video/audio processing.

It's more of "what is tailored for windows" and not what linux "can't do" because in reality, Linux seems to me to be much more powerful and capable - it's just that the software is lacking due to no $$$ going to linux.

as i said i am a newbie and a ubu fan...
but he has a point there a simply good video conversion programm seems to lacking in linux, or i am wrong =??
i saw an article once were there was a complicated way to do one tipe of conversion an theres is one progy which was not very good at least it did not work for me
ill put that one ( simple video conversion as for example SUPER (free but must block it with firewall or it will call home) under windows) on my wish list to lord ubu for Xmas
and to me thunderbird works and does all i need i need not use outlook
and of course open office is great no need for windows there either

CrazyArcher

October 21st, 2008, 12:30 AM

Today I found what makes Windows more powerful, in a way: Daemon Tools. Yeah right, you can mount iso images in Linux too, but it doesn't always work perfectly and surely isn't easier.

bluelightav

October 21st, 2008, 02:28 AM

dracule

October 21st, 2008, 02:47 AM

geezerone

October 21st, 2008, 11:35 PM

Gaming, as mentioned (sometimes in a heated way) would cause me to use a Windows partition. By gaming I mean not just FPS but stragegy gaming written for Windows and didn't work in Ubuntu (Wine). A lot of other functionality is closer than ever just under different guises.

I like the control one has on a Linux box and knowing exactly what processes are running and being able to kill in a few seconds any given process unlike > end task (waits...) end task (waits...)....etc...(eventually) Send error report to M$? (arghhh) ;)

They both have advantages and disadvantages but not to diversify too much, it is a new learning (and unlearning) when adopting Linux. I only yesterday was asked by a Windows savvy(ish) user "...can you do everything just like in Windows..?"

lavinog

October 21st, 2008, 11:43 PM

I used to think that windows had better power management, but recently I have been helping two different neighbors that both have vista laptops (different manufacturers) and the batteries cannot hold a charge for more than 30 mins...most likely due to them using the start menu shutdown button that only puts the computer to sleep instead of shutting it down thus degrading the battery by keeping it in a discharged state for an extended period of time.

I don't know if that is the vista default or oem thing, but I think for the average (non-tech) user that is a terrible design. A red button usually means turn off...not sleep.

As for my linux boxes, I cannot get sleep mode to work yet. Hibernate works on my desktop, but will hibernate when I am using it??? There has been significant improvements in power management with hardy on my laptop so I imagine that Ibex will really work better. The fast boot time makes up for the lack of sleep.

etdsbastar

October 22nd, 2008, 03:23 PM

As per my opinion, laptops hold much of power used with linux distros...

Whats your opinion...

jon555

October 22nd, 2008, 11:33 PM

viruses, windows can read microsoft LIT eBooks, Can access py phones internal memory, understands my old analog tv card and video card. Yea and games. And it have wonderful bluescreens with soundeffects trrrrrrrr.

tiggsy

October 23rd, 2008, 01:01 PM

Seesmic for instance. Every time i go there because someone has tinyurl'd the link, ff crashes. its annoying

Arabiest

October 23rd, 2008, 01:40 PM

Roasted

October 23rd, 2008, 03:30 PM

Just to throw out a nasty curve ball since I'm in a bitter mood:

Windows can boot on my ASUS P5QL motherboard.
Ubuntu Intrepid can't.

coderand

October 23rd, 2008, 03:52 PM

Can't stream LOST on ABC.com! Unable to use Ebay's Turbo Lister. (I've tried using jAOLT, but haven't been able get it to work correctly yet.) So far those are the only two things I wish I could do in Ubuntu.

higashi

October 23rd, 2008, 08:13 PM

Bluescreen Of Death. :]

Hallvor

October 24th, 2008, 12:46 PM

For me it is important that Skype works on Ubuntu. If one works in migrating in office environments it is not a question whether one likes Skype or not or whether it is "evil". It is a simple question that in India for example where I work Tally (accounting) and Skpe keeps people from migrating.

I use Skype all the time, and haven`t had any problems with it. In fact I installed it from the repos. But then I don`t use Ubuntu.

Roasted

October 24th, 2008, 01:00 PM

Well in simple form, Linux Ubuntu till date:

1- is not 99% GUI.
2- Not all H/W cant are PNP.
3- Relies heavily on commands (troublesome).
4- H/W manufacturers not considering Linux what so ever expect for small light wight small sized screen...(kids PC).
5- Depends on individual efforts of users...which is not the case with windows-XP.
6- S?W developers not considering Linux for their products.

Those reasons you listed may be the exact reason some people like Linux.

Quick note - about my above post, a newly patched version of Intrepid was released that fixed my issue, so now I'm happily working on Intrepid Beta.

Back to subject - When I do a fresh install, I have one long command I keep saved. It has everything included in it I need. k3b? Got it. Amarok? Yep. Google earth? Yep. Hmm... Thunderbird? Yep. It literally takes me less than 5 minutes to install 30ish applications. How is this possible? Command line. Love it!

It seems like Intrepid is picking up more and more hardware. As I said, suddenly my motherboard issue was patched and bam... I can get on. Also my onboard ethernet on my motherboard works (ASUS P5QL) now, whereas in Hardy it didn't. Again, another +1 for Linux.

Oh, software? Yeah... software is a little sketchy. But look on the bright side. Adobe officially supports Ubuntu in Flash 10. That's a pretty darn good start!

malleus74

October 24th, 2008, 11:38 PM

For me it's probably finding the correct software than it not existing. So far my problem children are:

1. Family Tree Maker
--gramps isn't user-friendly enough, and I'd have to start over typing everyone in.

2. Video/Audio instant messaging
--looking for gnome versions that work with yahoo, especially

3. Nero
--like software that's 'easy' to use and free. K3B is close... no cigar. I've heard bad things about Nero for Linux... secondhand, though.

4. Entropia Universe
--wine sucks so far with this game

5. RipIt4Me /FixVTS, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink
--wine 'will' run this, but a native version should be faster / better. k9copy doesn't seem to work with everything this setup will. And I still have to burn the afterwards with k3b. An all-in-one ripper /shrink program that will burn directly to DVD would be AWESOME for me.

6. Mame32 /Emulators in general
--no frontend comes close that I've found. plus the setup is MUCH harder than the windows version. I think MythGame is a good start, if it had a fleshed out version (I have very limited experience with MythGame so far, so forgive me if I'm wrong about it.)

If I had an up-to-date, easy to set up ripper/shrink program that burned to dvd, and could get mame and Entropia Universe to work this second, I'd delete the Vista partition seconds later.

BigRedButton

October 26th, 2008, 04:43 PM

Forgive me if I'm being redundant, I haven't read the last 10 pages or so, but I have to say something about the whole gaming argument. I'm 16. Most of my friends (granted, they're like me) are serious gamers. about half of the people I know play PC games on a regular basis (and by games I mean things other than solitaire, etc. that come preinstalled) and maybe 1/8 are seroious gamers. This doesn't speak for the entire population, but as the saying goes, "the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow." If 1/8 of the high school population is avoiding linux for gaming reasons, they will be used to Windows when they move out. If a person grew up using Windows, they will probably continue using it because it's what they know. I know not many *people* are gamers, but many *kids* are. If getting games to work under Linux were as easy as under Windows, I could easily see the Linux-using population double (at least).

jmate24

October 26th, 2008, 04:49 PM

Linux is Different! Not Difficult! Has anyone heard of: "Ask and Ye Shall Recieve"?

Tylazene

October 26th, 2008, 05:21 PM

I've never been able to record streamed music with ANY program on several installs of Ubuntu on two different PC. I don't even want to think of how many hours I wasted trying.

Ubuntu= Some assembly required.

d_skillz

October 26th, 2008, 05:49 PM

This sums it up:
Gaming
Flash
Graphic Design - Adobe Products/3D Studio Max/Maya/Lightwave
Sound Editing
Business - Accpac/Quickbooks/Peachtree

EnGorDiaz

October 26th, 2008, 07:22 PM

It's not that it can't do certain things, it's just that those certain things weren't written to be run under the Linux kernel, they were written specifically for Win32.

linux can do more than windows so basicaly nothing

gadgetgirl02

October 26th, 2008, 10:18 PM

conorsulli

October 27th, 2008, 01:42 AM

NO SHOCKWAVE!!!, or authorware, or decent 3rd party hardware support like for my N81 or any other phone I have owned. :-(

gadgetgirl02

October 27th, 2008, 02:00 AM

NO SHOCKWAVE!!!, or authorware, or decent 3rd party hardware support like for my N81 or any other phone I have owned. :-(
Er, I have Shockwave. And I've had it for years. Authorware, okay, but I'm surprised -- I haven't heard of anyone using Authorware for years. And what the heck do you mean by phone "support"? I can use both Bluetooth and USB to connect my phone to my Linux laptop.

georgegerm

October 27th, 2008, 04:36 AM

Okay, I'll admit I didn't read through all 55 pages on this thread, but I did read through about six of them. What I'm gleaning from the posts is, "Linux's drawbacks are that This Specific Popular Software isn't available for it." There's been some talk about hardware drivers, but since I'm writing this from a laptop that was running Ubuntu 45 minutes after I received it, I like to think that we've conquered that one if people shop carefully.:) I've also noticed that the last two pieces of hardware that I bought (a new wireless router and an external hard drive) both mentioned that they were Linux-compatible, although of course in both cases that's a relatively easy claim to make.

Back to the Specific Popular Software -- software makers will port to Linux when they see a market for it. Back when Linux users had to be careful not to blow up their monitors when they launched XWindows for the first time, there wasn't that much of a market. But that's changing.

And as for games -- surely with all these software efforts, someone is willing to create a decent FPS to get the ball rolling? Imagine a FPS that utilised the extended desktop and Compiz-type effects...

even if its not in the spirit of ubu and linux i would pay to play top of the line games on ubu, but i would not give up my ubu for the games thats what partions are for
regardless as i said even if its not in the spirit of linux i would pay for a say call of duty 4 made for linux...
i think someone is missing a market
yet even if this is to no avail as it should all be as free as possible, windows CAN NEVER GIVE ME THE FREEDOM, AND THE GREAT FEELING OF BEING PART OF THIS GREAT COMMUNITY OF GREAT PEOPLE:guitar:

georgegerm

October 27th, 2008, 04:39 AM

i turn it around, LINUX CAN GIVE ME FREEDOM TO CHOOSE , THUS THE FEELING OF BEING A FREE SPIRIT AND IT (windows) CAN NEVER GIVE me THE FEELING OF BEING PART OF THIS GREAT COMMUNITY OF GREAT SHARING PEOPLE , NEVER:guitar:
viva ubu and mint
and do not under value this comment

Sephoroth

October 28th, 2008, 12:56 AM

*Deleted**

Sephoroth

October 28th, 2008, 12:57 AM

This sums it up:
Gaming
Flash
Graphic Design - Adobe Products/3D Studio Max/Maya/Lightwave
Sound Editing
Business - Accpac/Quickbooks/Peachtree

Maya is available for Linux. For gaming and photoshop there is WINE. For sound editing there is Ardour or Rose Garden. Flash player also works for me on x64 (not as good but it still works none the less :)).

malleus74

October 28th, 2008, 04:04 PM

Wine doesn't really work that hot with some games. The one I'm having the most problems with is Entropia Universe. By the time I've replaced so many dll files now, it'd almost be easier to just keep dual-booting... and, it still doesn't work... now I'm supposed to have to change the kernel somehow or another to really get the graphics to do right.

There's really not a 'good' Family Tree Maker clone, either. Gramps just doesn't seem to do it.

Emulators are still not 100% unless you're extremely comfortable with the command line.

cardinals_fan

October 29th, 2008, 02:16 AM

Maximo1561

October 29th, 2008, 03:58 AM

Another alternative to Gimp is Photoship Express. Does the same things as Photoshop Elements but is internet based requiring only a browser. No software loaded on your computer. https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

malleus74

October 29th, 2008, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the idea about crossover! The server was busy when I tried to download it, but I requested a key... :)

fikelfikel

October 29th, 2008, 03:53 PM

I feel more comfortable with Ubuntu, because it's just plain simple. Well, it's a bit difficult sometimes.

I did a test, new installation of Vista, left it untouched while on, came back in 1/2 an hour and couldn't use, because it's a memory gobbler. Turned Ubutnu on, left untouched for 1/2 an hour and was completely usable and stable.

What I hate about Vista and Windows is the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) Whenever I use Creative Mediasourse, crashes and dosn't work. Now, on Ubuntu no such thing. Hardly ever crashes.

Ubuntu is the best by far, but sometimes I have to use Windows for some apps that don't work on Wine, like Bluevoda Website Builder and Opus Presenter Pro.

I find the use of multiple desktop enviorments is cool on Linux, you can use XFCE, GNOME and KDE, whichever you want. :):)

bullfrog5

October 29th, 2008, 04:18 PM

Iv'e used windows all my life and just started using Linux. It is realy cool, but my main problem is with compatability. Most software is designed for windows and mac. Other than that linux is just as capable of doing everything windows can.

crimesaucer

October 29th, 2008, 04:29 PM

Roasted

October 29th, 2008, 06:16 PM

Vista can sound much better than Linux.

For the 2 years that I've spent on Linux..... the codecs just don't sound the same. I've tried most all of the media players and music players..... I've tried ogg..... I've always felt that it just sounds bad..... and all of the equalizer settings usually make it sound worse.

This has been on 2 different computers, compared to both Xp and Vista.

Linux and Xp used to sound pretty close, with Xp being a little better..... but Vista really improved their sound, and now it's almost painful to listen to the same CD's that I ripped at 320kbps.....

I guess it doesn't matter, I can always just use my iRiver.

After reading this, I did the same comparison, and I have found this to be false in my case.

The ironic part is, the Vista machine is actually packing a 7.1 24bit PCI sound card which has the proper drivers for it installed, while the Ubuntu machine is using onboard HDA sound.

So if anything, I gave the upper hand to vista, and it came back no difference.

Roasted

October 29th, 2008, 06:26 PM

crimesaucer

October 29th, 2008, 07:25 PM

After reading this, I did the same comparison, and I have found this to be false in my case.

The ironic part is, the Vista machine is actually packing a 7.1 24bit PCI sound card which has the proper drivers for it installed, while the Ubuntu machine is using onboard HDA sound.

So if anything, I gave the upper hand to vista, and it came back no difference.

Really? I've read some complaints about the sound of Linux compared to Vista.

This is about Vista's sound improvements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_features_new_to_Windows_Vista#Audio

..... anyway, it's a fact on my machine. As much as I love using Linux, I gotta say that the sound quality has never been as good as windows.

When I play a mp3 on Linux, it has way too much treble, and it has an off-key sound..... If I use an equalizer, it can never sound like the actual CD. I'm a music lover, and Linux and it's media/music players have never sounded like CD quality.

johndbottomley

October 31st, 2008, 09:10 PM

Only problems I have had are
1. Wifi access on Fujitsu Siemens Amilo li2727 Laptops and
2. Printing to Lexmark Printers.

I work in a community training environment where one aspect of our activities is to re-cycle PCs and Laptops for use in the community.

We always use Ubuntu or Xubuntu Operating Systems - In 2 years no-one has complained about lack of gaming capabilities.

My feeling is that most people looking or gaming experiences seem to use Wii or Playstations etc. and other similar tailor made hardware.

PCs and Laptops tend to be used for Internet and Open Office based activities

Coreigh

October 31st, 2008, 09:19 PM

Speech recognition. I have not found any useful programs for Linux to do speech to text, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking for Windows.

Ron from MD

November 2nd, 2008, 07:09 PM

Photoshop? Nah theres gimp.

Gimp is only 8 bit depth, not even close to sufficient for professional color photography.

fatality_uk

November 2nd, 2008, 07:11 PM

Take my cash :)

garwaymatt

November 2nd, 2008, 07:43 PM

Lexmark(Inkjet) printers are just generally awful in my experience, not just on the linux support side. They are the epitiome of the give away a printer sell the ludicriously priced cartrdges that gave rubbish print quality.

Their laser printers are very good though, most support postscript so they work perfectly under linux. I am a little concerned about the appearence of licence agreements on the toner cartridges though, that you only can use the cartriged if you return it to them for reselling. I gleefully tore off the sticker that told me this as I refilled the cartridge myself for around a quarter of the price.

gadgetgirl02

November 2nd, 2008, 07:52 PM

Gimp is only 8 bit depth, not even close to sufficient for professional color photography.

8 bit depth supports "16,777,216 possible colors" as per http://docs.gimp.org/en/glossary.html. That's fine for anything that doesn't need to print, because it also happens to be what most monitors will display.

Ron from MD

November 2nd, 2008, 08:07 PM

8 bit depth supports "16,777,216 possible colors" as per http://docs.gimp.org/en/glossary.html. That's fine for anything that doesn't need to print, because it also happens to be what most monitors will display.

You make the assumption I use a standard cheap monitor and don't need to print. In fact my color work is for publication and I chose a monitor that supports 48 bit color depth for that reason. I also noted 8 bit color depth does not cut it for professional photography, that should have been a clue. 8 bit is fine for newsletters and self printed greeting cards, 16 bit hits the level of cheap magazines but you 24 or 48 bit when you get into more professional publications where color accuracy is important. Also note I do not and never have used Abode products beyond trying them and deciding they're over-rated bloatware. They are slow, resource hogs and the manners with which they try to reorganize your system into what Adobe thinks is best are the worst "features" of closed source apps.

stir-crazy

November 8th, 2008, 01:46 AM

Only thing that keeps Windows on the radar for me is any sort of serious CAD program.

Given, I do know that there are some proprietary programs which I have not tried (nor do I know how interoperable they may or may not be with various AutoCAD applications). But AutoCAD is far and away the industry standard (at the very least in architecture and related disciplines).

Best I've found in the repositories is QCad (decent toy for your introduction to CAD, I guess). Maybe some of the other programs cut it, but I'm too cheap/poor to experiment only to find they lack features or compatability.

georgegerm

November 10th, 2008, 03:16 AM

I beg to differ:
http://www.psychocats.net/essays/gamingperspective

well the page is not there...
but regardless linux is simply not present when its top of the line games, and considering that when i go to a shop for games mostly nr.1 and to nr. 10 are action warlike games etc some racing a so on.
just take a look at top selling games are they bible games for children?? nope
just a reality check
now if you speak of basic games like poker, etc. then you are right, they are well used, in offices for example, but we are not talking of these types of games....
to gamers linux has a void on top of the line period
that said dual boot is an option:guitar:

aysiu

November 10th, 2008, 05:45 AM

Here's the updated link:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/gaining-perspective-on-pc-gaming/

Znupi

November 11th, 2008, 03:27 PM

web development. there are many strong applications for windows in that area

Linux Archive (http://www.linux-archive.org/)

Um. I must contradict you. Linux is awesome for web development. There are graphic programs (I'm starting to learn and like Inkscape, there's also GIMP, etc) for web designing and, other than that, all you need is a server and a text editor. And Linux has lots of them, and most of them better than the ones on Windows. Linux is a winner in the web development area, at least for me :).

ichi@YUKI

November 11th, 2008, 03:57 PM

Aside from gaming and photoshop, i also use windows to run some utilities (mobile phone, etc.).. after all, they were designed to run in Windows..

ratmandall

November 11th, 2008, 04:02 PM

Aside from gaming and photoshop, i also use windows to run some utilities (mobile phone, etc.).. after all, they were designed to run in Windows..

That's very true, just like devices with proprietary software for windows.

Barrucadu

November 11th, 2008, 06:00 PM

Um. I must contradict you. Linux is awesome for web development. There are graphic programs (I'm starting to learn and like Inkscape, there's also GIMP, etc) for web designing and, other than that, all you need is a server and a text editor. And Linux has lots of them, and most of them better than the ones on Windows. Linux is a winner in the web development area, at least for me :).

Good post, I really hate it when people say Linux is rubbish for web development because it doesn't have Dreamweaver or FrontPage. Using a text editor is better, as you understand it more, and end up with cleaner code. Plus, Linux was designed with networking in mind which makes it great for a local server.

cardinals_fan

November 12th, 2008, 01:37 AM

Good post, I really hate it when people say Linux is rubbish for web development because it doesn't have Dreamweaver or FrontPage. Using a text editor is better, as you understand it more, and end up with cleaner code. Plus, Linux was designed with networking in mind which makes it great for a local server.
My dad writes his pages in FrontPage. The mess it creates is rather frightening.

Znupi

November 12th, 2008, 02:52 PM

My dad writes his pages in FrontPage. The mess it creates is rather frightening.
I think he'd be better off doing Flash movies. They'll look better and they'll work in most browsers. Unfortunately, there's no good, full-featured Flash authoring environment for Linux. So this is another thing Windows can do but Linux can't. And it's a serious one. It would be really nice to see the guys at Adobe port their Flash IDE to Linux.

Chxta

November 12th, 2008, 06:44 PM

For flash development I use Swish (http://swishzone.com) on WINE. Works like a charm...

newbee70

November 12th, 2008, 10:01 PM

I just been wondering what other users have found that windows is able to do that linux (more specifically ubuntu) cant do...

CRASH MY SYSTEMS!!!

For me windows xp pro crashed my systems at least once a month, taking me 11 to 14 hours to reload, activate,and restore all applications and data.

Linux has crashed on me ZERO times in the months I have been running it.When reloading from scratch it takes me a total of less than 1 hour to reload, and restore all apps and data.

I shut down 3 xp pro desktops, and 1 Vista laptop and changed them to Ubuntu because I was tired of constant worms, viruses, and performance degradation.And because of Microsoft's intrusive call home every time you went online, and the constant whine about piracy. "My copies were all legal", and I had owned Microsoft since they got into the operating systems game. I have been waiting for linux to become a desktop friendly OS and it is now. So Bye Bye Microsoft. my money will go to Linux and the developers for linux.

Znupi

November 13th, 2008, 01:21 PM

For flash development I use Swish (http://swishzone.com) on WINE. Works like a charm...
Does it allow you to do ActionScript? What version of Flash is it actually? Does it create SWF8 or 9 files? Can it do ActionScript 3.0?

geezerone

November 14th, 2008, 03:10 AM

...performance degradation...

+1 :)

CholericKoala

November 14th, 2008, 05:51 AM

Visual Studio :popcorn:

sharp65

November 14th, 2008, 07:28 AM

CRASH MY SYSTEMS!!!

For me windows xp pro crashed my systems at least once a month, taking me 11 to 14 hours to reload, activate,and restore all applications and data.

Linux has crashed on me ZERO times in the months I have been running it.When reloading from scratch it takes me a total of less than 1 hour to reload, and restore all apps and data.

I shut down 3 xp pro desktops, and 1 Vista laptop and changed them to Ubuntu because I was tired of constant worms, viruses, and performance degradation.And because of Microsoft's intrusive call home every time you went online, and the constant whine about piracy. "My copies were all legal", and I had owned Microsoft since they got into the operating systems game. I have been waiting for linux to become a desktop friendly OS and it is now. So Bye Bye Microsoft. my money will go to Linux and the developers for linux.

If you have to reformat your computer once every month your seriously doing it wrong. It's hard to feel bad for you in your situation. Intrusive call to home? Oh please, stop the soap opera. Don't download stupid things and use a halfway decent anti-vrius and you won't get spyware. There is only one person to blame for that happening.

bangeko

November 14th, 2008, 11:33 AM

Infected by virus.

tarps87

November 14th, 2008, 12:16 PM

Run Sibelius 5. :)

That's still about, still being used by my dad on an acorn running Risc OS :)

tarps87

November 14th, 2008, 12:41 PM

Today I found what makes Windows more powerful, in a way: Daemon Tools. Yeah right, you can mount iso images in Linux too, but it doesn't always work perfectly and surely isn't easier.

Try gmount it's in synaptic, I used it onUbuntu 8.04 so don't know if it has changed but it was a point and click thing.

p.s. I am sad because I do not know how to participate in developing (I am brand new Linux user).

That's easy to solve, share what you learn with other new users :)

...most likely due to them using the start menu shutdown button that only puts the computer to sleep instead of shutting it down thus degrading the battery by keeping it in a discharged state for an extended period of time.

I don't know if that is the vista default or oem thing, but I think for the average (non-tech) user that is a terrible design. A red button usually means turn off...not sleep.

It's default on 'normal' installs or at least was on the business addition, IMO the idea was to give the impression of quick boot times.

Znupi

November 14th, 2008, 05:45 PM

It's default on 'normal' installs or at least was on the business addition, IMO the idea was to give the impression of quick boot times.
I definitely agree. A friend of mine had a Vista laptop and, well, the OS got broken, he got lots of viruses, worms, blah blah, and he asked me to reinstall Vista or put Windows XP. When I first powered it up, I was like "Wow! Vista just booted pretty fast" (although still not faster than Ubuntu!). I messed around (I had never used Vista before) and, well, it looks good, but that's about it. So when I got to shut it down in order to boot the Windows XP CD, it didn't boot it. That's when I was like "Ooooh, I knew Vista couldn't boot fast". But my rant goes even further, after installing Windows XP, it was a disaster! The laptop was DESIGNED to not work with it. None of the hardware was recognized by XP. Further, you couldn't find ANY drivers on the laptop's page (it was a HP Pavilion), I had to take drivers from other laptops' pages and try them one by one until I found the right ones. That just PROVES that HP did have the drivers, but they just didn't list them on the laptop's page!! Why?? Probably because of the stupid contracts it made with Microsoft. Aargh. Seriously, it was very frustrating, and stupid. Of course, after getting Windows XP sorted, I booted Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD just to see how it goes. Well, I have to tell you, I think it booted faster than Vista (from the CD!!) and it recognized all the hardware perfectly and was fast as hell. Awesome!

dragos_iliescu_2005

November 14th, 2008, 06:10 PM

Is there anyone that can use Lexmark X3330 printer successfully under Linux?

aysiu

November 14th, 2008, 06:30 PM

Is there anyone that can use Lexmark X3330 printer successfully under Linux?
No. Avoid Lexmark like the plague.

Tamalin

November 14th, 2008, 11:24 PM

What can Windows do that Linux can't?
Well, it can:

1 ) Run painfully slow on any hardware
2 ) Hide not-so-pretty errors from you so you can't fix anything
3 ) Drive you insane with it's insufficient command-line
4 ) Lock you out of your account
6 ) Break your network
7 ) Disconnect from the internet at random intervals
8 ) Be destroyed by a virus
7 ) Be destroyed by a virus called Vista :)
9 ) Render your disks unusable
10 ) Cost you more money than you need to spend

dentog

November 15th, 2008, 09:40 PM

I definitely agree. A friend of mine had a Vista laptop and, well, the OS got broken, he got lots of viruses, worms, blah blah, and he asked me to reinstall Vista or put Windows XP. When I first powered it up, I was like "Wow! Vista just booted pretty fast" (although still not faster than Ubuntu!). I messed around (I had never used Vista before) and, well, it looks good, but that's about it. So when I got to shut it down in order to boot the Windows XP CD, it didn't boot it. That's when I was like "Ooooh, I knew Vista couldn't boot fast". But my rant goes even further, after installing Windows XP, it was a disaster! The laptop was DESIGNED to not work with it. None of the hardware was recognized by XP. Further, you couldn't find ANY drivers on the laptop's page (it was a HP Pavilion), I had to take drivers from other laptops' pages and try them one by one until I found the right ones. That just PROVES that HP did have the drivers, but they just didn't list them on the laptop's page!! Why?? Probably because of the stupid contracts it made with Microsoft. Aargh. Seriously, it was very frustrating, and stupid. Of course, after getting Windows XP sorted, I booted Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD just to see how it goes. Well, I have to tell you, I think it booted faster than Vista (from the CD!!) and it recognized all the hardware perfectly and was fast as hell. Awesome!

I have the same problem, my friends want to make they HP to do right... but i couldn't do that in windows, because we install all driver but than a half of hardware don't work... Well, I said them, I can install you linux you are not a gamer and you will not have any problems (the most funny stuff is that one guy said that's VISTA - I don't now why is says ubuntu on start!)

Since then I hate HP I think it's piece of junk, sorry hp users but HP give me the worst problems in my life!!

Visual Studio

Yes it's nice, but do you really use all 4-5 GB.....

charddavi

November 17th, 2008, 12:10 PM

A Standalone Powerpoint (that works)

jago25_98

November 17th, 2008, 01:24 PM

What I miss is things like,
looking for how to change what runs on startup,
looking for a program to do something,
working with people who use windows, having to explain why I'm doing something.

But of course, not everyone knows about msconfig, or how to navigate the tons of adverts for properitory software on google you have to fight, or the lack of apt-get.

In terms of games, I don't bother anymore. I used to do 5 hours of counter-strike a day. Linux cured that. I don't think it's any bad thing I don't anymore. If I want to play games I use somebody elses console. I could buy my own. Many people I know have a desktop PC for gaming with windows, and a slower laptop for linux. Voicechat, MSN and IRC runs on the linux laptop, while the desktop does the gaming. 2 computers if you want to game are handy.

Hardware, however, is a major problem and needs to be addressed in a different way. Who agrees with me there?

Znupi

November 17th, 2008, 06:36 PM

I used to do 5 hours of counter-strike a day. Linux cured that. I don't think it's any bad thing I don't anymore.
Same here, although I miss it sometimes http://espacioforos.miarroba.com/1351860/cs.gif

Hardware, however, is a major problem and needs to be addressed in a different way. Who agrees with me there?
Definitely, and I think Ubuntu is doing a great job at hardware. As I said in my earlier post, on that HP laptop you would've needed to download a myriad of drivers for both Windows XP and Vista. Ubuntu worked out of the box - graphics, wifi etc. Maybe I was just lucky, but it's the same with my desktop, too.
Only one thing: Ubuntu regressed from 8.04 to 8.10 for me: my bluetooth ISSC dongle doesn't work anymore :(
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/289836

kg87

November 17th, 2008, 11:53 PM

I miss Counterstrike!

i think the major thing for me is the familiarity, I've been using windows since i can remember. I think the major ballache for me in ubuntu, is simple stuff like installing from source etc.. and configuration.

I think one thing that needs to be addressed is compatabilty with both XP apps (adobe Flash and PS, FLstudio, Poser, 3dsmax, nuendo etc), and the hardware (such as my Terratec dmx 24/96). As soon as that happens i'll install it on my main pc (im a tad of a wuss).

but... one thing i've majorly noticed, is the response and boot time of ubuntu, it blows xp out of the water.

my lappy is a 1.5ghz / 1.5gb dell, and it out performs my 3hz / 3gb desktop no problem.. im just glad i stumbled upon ubuntu!

yavez

November 18th, 2008, 12:28 AM

5. RipIt4Me /FixVTS, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink
--wine 'will' run this, but a native version should be faster / better. k9copy doesn't seem to work with everything this setup will. And I still have to burn the afterwards with k3b. An all-in-one ripper /shrink program that will burn directly to DVD would be AWESOME for me.

Better late than never, but I've found an excellent alternative to DVDShrink/DVDDecrypter.. it's called Shrinkta or DVD Movie Backup. Install libdvdcss2 from the Medibuntu repos - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu - and then run the Shrinkta/DVD Movie Backup .deb and you're ready to go backing up your DVD's to DVD5/9 .iso or straight to disc. You can strip out audio/video tracks and subtitles. Very good program all around.

Get Shrinkta/DVD Movie Backup here: http://www.by.kernel.org/pub/debian-multimedia/pool/main/s/shrinkta/

Handbrake replaces Ripit4me easily. Input DVD/ISO/FIle.. ouput in .avi/mkv/mp4 -- theora,xvid,x264 - ac3 passthrough,mp3,aac.. it's all there. You can get the development snapshot build that works great on intrepid here: http://handbrake.fr/?article=snapshot

tarps87

November 18th, 2008, 10:20 AM

I miss Counterstrike!

Try wine, I can run Counterstrike source and steam on it without losing any performance. The only problem I had was downloading demo's from steam.

jago25_98

November 18th, 2008, 08:07 PM

Yeah, dunno why but wine is slower for me on this setup. Guess it's related to what hardware is being used.

But I can think of something that is very nice on windows:
http://www.netlimiter.com/scrshots.php

This thing called netlimiter. Linux can do all this and more but netlimiter makes it just sooo easy :-) hmm... and as usual I think warez gives Windows an odd advantage don't we think?

Znupi

November 18th, 2008, 09:32 PM

and as usual I think warez gives Windows an odd advantage don't we think?
What advantage? Of getting the newest and coolest viruses and worms? No thanks! On Ubuntu I can download all the music and videos I like without worrying they might be virused. :)

Yownanymous

November 19th, 2008, 10:46 AM

To answer the question simply, bugger all.

Sorry about the language. If anyone finds it offensive, I'll edit the post.

Yownanymous

November 19th, 2008, 10:54 AM

I definitely agree. A friend of mine had a Vista laptop and, well, the OS got broken, he got lots of viruses, worms, blah blah, and he asked me to reinstall Vista or put Windows XP. When I first powered it up, I was like "Wow! Vista just booted pretty fast" (although still not faster than Ubuntu!). I messed around (I had never used Vista before) and, well, it looks good, but that's about it. So when I got to shut it down in order to boot the Windows XP CD, it didn't boot it. That's when I was like "Ooooh, I knew Vista couldn't boot fast". But my rant goes even further, after installing Windows XP, it was a disaster! The laptop was DESIGNED to not work with it. None of the hardware was recognized by XP. Further, you couldn't find ANY drivers on the laptop's page (it was a HP Pavilion), I had to take drivers from other laptops' pages and try them one by one until I found the right ones. That just PROVES that HP did have the drivers, but they just didn't list them on the laptop's page!! Why?? Probably because of the stupid contracts it made with Microsoft. Aargh. Seriously, it was very frustrating, and stupid. Of course, after getting Windows XP sorted, I booted Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD just to see how it goes. Well, I have to tell you, I think it booted faster than Vista (from the CD!!) and it recognized all the hardware perfectly and was fast as hell. Awesome!

Oh, I might add to that that if you get a Windows Vista license you're never allowed to install Windows XP again or something crazy.

Last time we had someone with this much control, he killed six million Jews.

tarps87

November 19th, 2008, 11:25 AM

Oh, I might add to that that if you get a Windows Vista license you're never allowed to install Windows XP again or something crazy.

I don't know about after accepting the user agreement but there is a loop hole that allows companies to sell laptops with XP using the vista license. If you search around you find that not all the computers sold with vista license were actually sold with vista installed, messes up microsoft's sales figures a bit

tsali

November 19th, 2008, 12:01 PM

Oh, I might add to that that if you get a Windows Vista license you're never allowed to install Windows XP again or something crazy.

FUD

Neither of the EULAs associated with my retail XP and Vista have such restrictions. However, since the Vista pack was an "upgrade", I am not supposed to run them both at the same time.

What did I get for agreeing to those terms? I got at a $150 discount on what is essentially a full version.

Given that it has worked as well as it has, it seemed like a fair deal to me.

Greyed

November 19th, 2008, 12:18 PM

Last time we had someone with this much control, he killed six million Jews.

Hmm, wonder if Godwin's Law applies to web forums?

lakersforce

November 19th, 2008, 12:20 PM

Hmm, wonder if Godwin's Law applies to web forums?

lol

Short answer: Nothing!

Answer the other way around: El Mucho!!!

terribletrouble

November 20th, 2008, 05:11 AM

There is one thing Windows does, and does very well.

Synchronize Contacts and Calendar to a Blackberry!

There is nothing in Unix that even comes close.

Chxta

November 20th, 2008, 05:57 PM

There is one thing Windows does, and does very well.

Synchronize Contacts and Calendar to a Blackberry!

There is nothing in Unix that even comes close.

I get tired when I hear these kind of lame arguments. I have three boxes, none running Windows, and I have a blackberry.

Ever heard of Barry (http://linuxappfinder.com/package/barry)?

One must note that all these companies do their stuff with Windows in mind, and the OSC has to go about getting things to work by itself largely until some 'kind' soul in one of these companies takes notice...

joe.turion64x2

November 20th, 2008, 06:42 PM

There is one thing Windows does, and does very well.

Synchronize Contacts and Calendar to a Blackberry!

There is nothing in Unix that even comes close.
Really? Out of the box? If not then it's not Windows's achievement.

Thanks.
Joe.

Tomatz

November 20th, 2008, 06:47 PM

Fragment, crash constantly and spy on your files ;)

SpenceMakesSense

November 20th, 2008, 06:50 PM

Tomatz

November 20th, 2008, 07:27 PM

Roasted

November 20th, 2008, 08:17 PM

EXTREMELY easy to setup a network bridge on windows. Just open up a your network connections and highlight the two connects you wants bridged. Right click. Then click bridge connections. Its one of the main things that keeps me having windows as a dualboot on my laptop so I can use it to connect my xbox through xbox live.

I've never bridged a connection to get my xbox online through xbox live. I just share the connection, which is easily done in both Windows and Ubuntu.

SpenceMakesSense

November 21st, 2008, 06:50 PM

Router?

Well for awhile there I had no internet so I had to connect to my neighbors from my laptop. Then bridge and connect it to my xbox because I sure as heck aint payin 100$ for a wireless receiver.

RandyNose

November 23rd, 2008, 10:35 PM

I just been wondering what other users have found that windows is able to do that linux (more specifically ubuntu) cant do...

so far the only thing i have found that i cant do anymore is gaming and a few online videos dont work sometimes

also, add anything to the list that makes one better or worse than the other, such as linux being practically virus free

Gaming is happening, might take a little more setting up. Via Crossover, or Wine, or... Who knows what. I don't game that much, and there's always the consoles for those that are really into it. Linux has Games. Just not the same ones all the time, and you can create things or edit one for your tastes... There's also the the ablity to play some of the Console ROM files, so that opens up the door to some older classic stuff. But no, if you WANT SPORE on release day, you might not get it.

As for Video Editing, The Gimp, and Blender for those that are into that kind of thing. Cool movies have been made with the use of Linux. Entirely? Maybe from the Blender Team...

I, have a few specific programs from work, that are windows specific and thus keep it around in a Virtual Box for the times when I want to use them, but I'm finding other open source solutions to doing that also.

But, then I' like to fiddle around with things, and so trying to hack something into submission might be the way that I spend a sunday afternoon.

stinger30au

November 23rd, 2008, 10:48 PM

windows runs the matrix

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1886349

Znupi

November 24th, 2008, 02:43 PM

windows runs the matrix

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1886349
Hahaha! Awesome!!!

go_beep_yourself

November 25th, 2008, 09:34 AM

Windows can do a BSOD Blue Screen Of Death and Linux can't

ndefontenay

November 25th, 2008, 09:53 AM

A friend of mine has switched to linux after being offered crappy support from various vendors. We are in Thailand and all the time it will be pirated windows software for "free". It will be locked, it won't have much installed on it.

He bought a MAC and thought that what he was getting is a fully useable OS. It's more tiday, nicer etc... but this wasn't it yet.

He installed Linux (with a bit of my help to boot from CD).
He had an office suit. He had a CD burner program. He had image manipulation program etc... He also had great support and all that for 0$

Linux exceeded his expectations more than windows and MAC. He told me this morning that he don't understand why more people don't use it. I reminded him that he was reluctant too at the beginning. He said he simply didn't know what it was and what it could do for him.

He describes himself as not passionate by it, just happy that it works and he got anything he needs after it's installed for free! He sees the end of endless troubles in Linux.

Spread the words. People are reluctant simply because they don't know any better!

TpyKv

November 25th, 2008, 01:09 PM

you'll find most new users don't play games or find the games available in Linux to be superior in the types of games they play (puzzle games etc)

Depends on your audience, I don't play games that often (have a wii and 360 and psp) but I'd like to be able to every now and then. Saying most new users don't play games is quite a general statement (how do you know what new users do? do you ask them?) and the puzzle games available are nothing like, for example, need for speed underground, so think I might have missed your point entirely...

Also - Ubuntu cannot play lots of DVD's without lots of dependency installs. When you go see a pretty lady to watch a DVD on your laptop, it doesn't look too cool having to hack away at the command line, trying to get something so simple to work....

go_beep_yourself

November 25th, 2008, 02:00 PM

Windows can sync music to the ipod touch and I haven't seen anyway to do it in Linux. I tried Amarok and gtkpodder, but they don't even detect that the ipod touch. I get an icon on the desktop saying it is a camera.

wizard10000

November 25th, 2008, 02:03 PM

Sadly, I removed Intrepid from my HTPC and installed Windows XP instead :(

The issue wasn't exactly a problem with Linux but was a problem with Nvidia's Linux utilities, which don't allow an easy custom screen resolution or address overscan issues nearly as well as their Windows drivers do.

jon555

November 26th, 2008, 08:19 AM

I just downloaded a 3 line script offline.

so all i got to do is right click the iso and "mount"
ISO - sure, but nowadays iso is rarely used. What with other 6 popular image standarts. Can you mount UIF CIF IMG NRG

And there is a lot to do on videocard and monitor support. I stll after two years can't get two monitors orking, but I have tried all possible.

Can't access my cell phones internal memory
It prints my printer backwards.
There is no Good video editor in ubuntu - tried them all
My TV card cant be found or used
No good 3D games. - Strategy, Tactical shooters, and wine doesn't really help there.
It deosn't fully use my sound card. If Play two videos 1 is without sound.
No program for reading LIT Books
Cant play AMR Audio
But no viruses for now.

go_beep_yourself

November 27th, 2008, 03:29 PM

ISO - sure, but nowadays iso is rarely used. What with other 6 popular image standarts. Can you mount UIF CIF IMG NRG

There's plenty of tools to convert those formats to iso. I can name a few. The rest you have to google for or search the forum. The ones I can remember are

poweriso (linux version)
bchunk
uif2iso

And they've all worked great for me.

go_beep_yourself

November 27th, 2008, 03:32 PM

Windows can display an hour glass for a long time that flips over and over!

go_beep_yourself

November 27th, 2008, 03:33 PM

Windows has registry and I'm really glad Linux doesn't! Windows can defrag partitions, and Linux doesn't need to do that.

burnetbj

November 27th, 2008, 06:50 PM

Well I dual boot XP64 and 7.04

The two things I like about XP is \\machinename and share files back and forth easy file sharing within a network> I currently have to use a USB to swap files. I got 7 PCs and its getting crazy trying to keep a backup of everything to my large machine.

Second is gaming

I know theres Samba and putty and all that but I am not up to that level yet. Theres nowhere to take any lessons around me either....Only thing I can find is Salt Lake City UTAH,,,,,good lord thats 4 states away :(

Znupi

November 27th, 2008, 07:42 PM

Try upgrading from 7.04 to 8.04 or 8.10. Sharing files and folders has never been easier (I actually find it a LOT easier than doing it on Windows!). If you want to access files on another machine just go to Places -> Network and you'll see a list of computers in your workgroup. To change the workgroup you're a part of edit the /etc/samba/smb.conf file to change this line:

workgroup = WORKGROUP
And then restart samba by running sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart and you're done! To view computers from other workgroups just go inside Windows Network (under Places -> Network) and you'll see a list of available workgroups. Double click on one and you'll see the computers in that workgroup. It's pretty easy! You don't need putty (fyi, putty is not used for file sharing, it's used for remote access via ssh, and you don't need it in Linux since Linux has its own built in ssh client).

Now for sharing files: to share a folder simply right-click it and choose Sharing Options. After that, it's self explanatory! Note that the very first time you share a folder it will have to install samba, and that might take a while. After that, sharing is instant.

I hope I convinced you to give it a try with file sharing on Linux. Honestly, I find it a lot more intuitive and simple than on Windows. Maybe it's just me. If you'll get the hang of it, it will be a step further to completely switching to Linux :).

By the way, you don't have to take any courses to be able to use a Linux desktop environment (you have to take courses if you want to be a sys admin ;)). I find Ubuntu generally more intuitive than Windows, and on top of that, you can find tons of docs and how-tos on the web. Also, you have great community support, there are lots of people who are willing to help you for free, talented and experienced people. Compare that to Microsoft's ****** customer support :P. I didn't take any courses, yet I am able to share files, run virtual machines, and generally use my Linux desktop in a very harmonious way. You didn't take any courses learning how to use Windows, did you? :)

Switching to Linux is indeed a challenge, and it requires some amount of effort, depending on the person. I believe with all my heart that that effort is worth it (it took me quite a while, too! And I still have a Windows XP virtual machine around when I need to test websites in IE, Safari, etc).

So, burnetbj, try it! You can do it! I'm not saying switch NOW to Linux, but try spending as much time on it as you can. Slowly, but steady, you'll find yourself spending most of your time on Linux, and you'll be able to ditch Windows. Switching from Windows to Linux is basically like quitting cigarettes :P.

PS: Sorry for writing a pretty big post that is pretty much off-topic :P

tsali

November 28th, 2008, 01:15 AM

This evening's frustrations...

Windows can:

1) Advanced file find on my hard disk - Ubuntu Tracker appears broken (Gnome Find works)

Nevermind - it started working after a reboot. I don't know why.

2) Play iTunes DAAP shares - Rhythmbox has been sitting at "Retrieving songs..." for the last hour.

Argh ](*,)

sleepyjon

November 28th, 2008, 05:27 AM

The only thing I've found that windows does better is gaming. Not because windows is better for it, but because most developers don't develop for linux.

73ckn797

November 28th, 2008, 05:38 AM

Windows can capture video from analog sources using available capture devices. Older cameras do not use Firewire and Ubuntu/Linux offers no way of doing this. Blame the device manufacturers for not supporting Linux.

paark.s

November 28th, 2008, 10:58 AM

My experience for this issue is happen(ing) in Thailand. And I won't discuss gaming.

1. Microsoft office and all windows font - for those who copy font from windows I think it's not fully legal in the aspect of copyright.

2. Adobe products - Typesetting is something opensource have a very hard time beating closesource.

3. Thais just want to stay with IE, MSN

4. Since most windows license here is pirated, price is not issue forbuying software.

and Etc. this is what I can recall for now.

Hardware support is growing rapidly, manufacturers tend to prodive more open driver.

GrantsV

November 28th, 2008, 11:08 AM

Windows has the fastest screen redraws in 2D, e.g. window dragging, maximising, minimising etc.

GTK is much slower even with a light weight WM.

ashmew2

November 28th, 2008, 12:23 PM

Q: What can Windows do that Linux can't ?
A: BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death

Ok...Its also possible with Virtualization on Linux Now! :D

kcredden

November 28th, 2008, 07:47 PM

Installing programs is still far easier and faster than linux. Sorry, apt-get still doesn't work all the time. Maybe if instead of giving just the basic programs but every single thing that's needed to run THEN install what's needed it'd work out perfectly.

Still - Ubuntu has allowed me to install about 70% of programs I use with just apt manager, that's something!

I shall continue my slow path to the light of linux however. :-({|=

Q: What can Windows do that Linux can't ?
A: BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death

Ok...Its also possible with Virtualization on Linux Now! :D

brainac0cult

November 28th, 2008, 07:51 PM

Giant Speck

November 28th, 2008, 08:50 PM

Q: What can Windows do that Linux can't ?
A: BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death

Ok...Its also possible with Virtualization on Linux Now! :D

Linux can do that on it's own. It's called a kernel panic.

Grant A.

November 29th, 2008, 01:21 AM

you see I could go on about stuff linux cant do but im afraid i would be wrong "if it dont work then write a program to make it work"
if your using windows then there is nothing you can do to make it better becuase it is closed source (I think bill is afraid of piracy)

You actually can write programs to improve Windows, 3rd party apps. If it's a bug in a program though, tough luck.

Auraomega

November 29th, 2008, 03:07 AM

Linux can do that on it's own. It's called a kernel panic.

I thought Kernel Panic was black not blue :p

What can ******* do that Linux can't? Run Winamp and play games, I know theres stuff like Wine for games, and that there are music apps, but those are the two things that keep my gaming PC on Vista.

-Aura

Mason Whitaker

November 29th, 2008, 03:15 AM

Let's face it, Windows has commercial companies like Verizon and Logitech by the belt, and Mac has managed to get better support over the years, but there is very little Linux support out there. Of course, its gotten better over time as more and more companies become aware of the growing number of linux users, but the number is not many.

In the case of Linux and gaming, it is not that Windows is "better" at running games, its just that game developers only really develop for Windows. Linux and Mac would be just as good, and even better, at running games than Windows.

In reality, the only things that Windows are better than linux at, are things that the software developers themselves are responsible for, not because Microsoft is better at what they do.

Auraomega

November 29th, 2008, 03:18 AM

In reality, the only things that Windows are better than linux at, are things that the software developers themselves are responsible for, not because Microsoft is better at what they do.

Agreed, I guess the real thing that Windows does that Linux can't (or at least, doesn't currently) is hold the majority of the PC market.

-Aura

pwebster25

November 29th, 2008, 04:47 PM

A couple things I miss:

Can't use Netflix "watch instantly" without IE. IEs4Linux is still a bit sketchy and I don't think works for this.
iTunes Store. My family uses this service frequently. I am using Banshee and it has a great link to last.fm. Both of these are great services for music organisation and use. However, when you want to purchase something it usually ends up at itunes store. That's a problem. Is there another service without the same DRM that has a similar selection?

Tamalin

November 29th, 2008, 06:03 PM

Yes, Netflix instant watch is one of the few reasons we still have a Windows computer in our home. I did sent an email to Netflix though, telling them I expect to see some good Linux support in the future.

fredscripts

November 29th, 2008, 07:02 PM

Windows can print documens with a lot of options (set the print as draft, scale, page order of appearance...etc). In Ubuntu, of course a question of printer driver, I have very few printing options (and , sometimes, even it prints the documents cut by the left border , which is really annoying because the first word of every line is cut and cannot be read...).

Lightstar

November 30th, 2008, 07:16 AM

I'm not gonna read all the replies.. here's the things I do miss by moving to linux

1)Easy custom screen resolution
2)Easy mouse/keyboard input customization
3)Some games aren't too good with wine
4)Simple programs are too troublesome (like my Skype, gotta change a bunch of stuff just to be able to voice)

Some of those could be fixed by the developpers (nvidia could put custom resolution in their config program, skype developpers could release skype 3.0 for linux, logitech could release their mouse/keyboard drivers for linux)

I'm sure my 1) 2) 4) could be fixed but it's alot of trouble.

luceerose

November 30th, 2008, 07:24 AM

Windows can print documens with a lot of options ...

I actually discovered how to use my printers double-sided printing the very first day I had ubuntu attached to it. Something I never figured out (or maybe never bothered to figure out) during the 15+ years of using windows.

Here's some things I can think of that windows does that linux doesn't/can't;

1) Take 10 mins to load the desktop + system tray, caused largely by;
2) Have one or more of each of the following - Antivirus, Spyware, Adware, Malware, Firewall, Cleanup, Download, iPod utilities - loaded at startup while you snore.
3) All seperate updates, installs, un-installs on every single installed program creating a massive pain in the ***.
4) Chew bandwidth sitting on idle contacting who-knows-what.
5) Comes stock standard with no office document capabilities whatsoever.
6) Takes 3 days of your time to install OS + all necessary components you need to get by (as opposed to about 3 hours for linux).

fredscripts

November 30th, 2008, 12:58 PM

I actually discovered how to use my printers double-sided printing the very first day I had ubuntu attached to it. Something I never figured out (or maybe never bothered to figure out) during the 15+ years of using windows.

Good for you :D, you should have a good drivers in Ubuntu for your printer that allow you to choose a lot of printing options. Not my case, where I can only mainly choose the pages I want to print and some extrange options plenty of command line commands similar to regular expressions..., and then even it prints documents cutting the left border so I'm not able to read the first word of every line :(

Step by step I'm trying not to boot the XP partition, this is one of the most annoying one because I print a lot of papers (at work I don't have to pay for paper nor ink :D).

CalvinK

November 30th, 2008, 06:27 PM

Dragon Naturally Speaking (speech recognition and dictation). The Linux World still lacks this type of software (there is a project Voxforge) . There are other programs specifically the MS one which is embedded in Vista but nothing working under Linux. Without it my Vista and XP partitions would not exist at all because the majority of the programs are a lot better in the Linux World for me ... provided you read the documentation before using them. They are much more flexible but need a lot more of intellectual investment and practice.

Azyx

November 30th, 2008, 07:47 PM

Ubuntu is not so good to collect and spread virus.

Giant Speck

December 1st, 2008, 02:34 AM

Ubuntu is not so good to collect and spread virus.

Actually, it could be quite easy to collect and spread viruses on Ubuntu. However, the viruses wouldn't infect Ubuntu. However, if you try to send files to Windows users, they could get infected.

wrtpeeps

December 1st, 2008, 04:04 AM

wrtpeeps

December 1st, 2008, 04:08 AM

I actually discovered how to use my printers double-sided printing the very first day I had ubuntu attached to it. Something I never figured out (or maybe never bothered to figure out) during the 15+ years of using windows.

Here's some things I can think of that windows does that linux doesn't/can't;

1) Take 10 mins to load the desktop + system tray, caused largely by;
2) Have one or more of each of the following - Antivirus, Spyware, Adware, Malware, Firewall, Cleanup, Download, iPod utilities - loaded at startup while you snore.
3) All seperate updates, installs, un-installs on every single installed program creating a massive pain in the ***.
4) Chew bandwidth sitting on idle contacting who-knows-what.
5) Comes stock standard with no office document capabilities whatsoever.
6) Takes 3 days of your time to install OS + all necessary components you need to get by (as opposed to about 3 hours for linux).

1. Rubbish
2. I have none. I'm just not an idiot who clicks on "Free Software" links you get on dodgy websites.
3. Win update, runs in the background, I click nothing. As for program updates, unless there is some amazing new feature I really want, **** it.
4. Again, rubbish.
5. Wordpad, notepad. Openoffice.
6. Anyone who takes 3 days to install windows can never classify themselves as a competent computer user.

Damn, that felt good.

ellalan

December 1st, 2008, 10:37 AM

Windows provide better Font Rendering that can not be matched by Ubuntu.

ndefontenay

December 1st, 2008, 10:40 AM

Windows can run specialised software not available to linux.

Windows has really good data integration.

You know the cube thingies in excel?

Updating excel data from a source DB is really easy on windows. It seems tough on linux.

Not impossible maybe but tough.

go_beep_yourself

December 1st, 2008, 09:39 PM

Windows can be pirated and Ubuntu can't!

celem

December 2nd, 2008, 01:39 AM

No they don't. unless your definition of 'most people' is 'most white, male, under 25 and over 13s' which mine isn't and most PEOPLE I know of all kinds like to play puzzle, platform, logic, and various other games and don't like to play either racing or shoot 'em ups.
Personally, I don't understand the interest in games. But then, I don't fit the "white, male, 13 to 25" demographic.

starcannon

December 2nd, 2008, 05:07 AM

luceerose

December 3rd, 2008, 08:39 AM

borlosky

December 3rd, 2008, 01:43 PM

wrtpeeps,

Go to speedtest.net & run a test with both an ubuntu computer & a windows computer.

I consistently get a result of 6300Mbps with ubuntu but only 5400Mbps with XP.

Therefore windows wastes bandwidth.

i wouldn't say that windows wastes bandwidth, i get same speeds both in ubuntu and windows. my guess is it's prolly more of a windows driver issue, or there's programs running in windows that are using some of your available bandwidth (torrent, instant messengers, or even some times windows firewall can cause weird stuff like that)

wrtpeeps

December 3rd, 2008, 01:52 PM

Swagman

December 3rd, 2008, 02:42 PM

Good for you :D, you should have a good drivers in Ubuntu for your printer that allow you to choose a lot of printing options. Not my case, where I can only mainly choose the pages I want to print and some extrange options plenty of command line commands similar to regular expressions..., and then even it prints documents cutting the left border so I'm not able to read the first word of every line :(

Step by step I'm trying not to boot the XP partition, this is one of the most annoying one because I print a lot of papers (at work I don't have to pay for paper nor ink :D).

looked in here ? (Click to enlarge)

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii45/Outcast_Aussie/th_Printer.jpg (http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii45/Outcast_Aussie/?action=view&current=Printer.jpg)

I have no issues with printing.. Heck.. I even bought TurboPrint for linux when I first changed over and then found I didn't really need it.

KaiTheory

December 8th, 2008, 10:15 AM

When it comes to complicating simple things like compiling code or creating LaTeX documents, ******* wins hands down!

georgegerm

December 8th, 2008, 10:18 AM

well i thought on this thread i would never hear the word games again.
but there it goes , it is an issue that the open source games do not come to the ankles of a call of duty 4 etc. etc.
it matters not what age you can prove to me uses them i am a proud 51 and do play top line games when i desire i cannot do that with linux.
point is i need a DUAL boot.
know think this thru if theres no linux theres no dual boot (well maybe mac would have do it anyway.)
and i have almost knifed my guts over my printer canon 1p3500
it will not print anything with color well, period. I gave up on it.
so guess dual boot again no more problems.
i need and use ububtu more, why because its simply the way of the future, even with these issues. and of course i don't pay a dime for this great product (but i have contributed 2x already, but thats not really paying a greedy firm but helping out the development)
take notice of this again GAMES are an issue, and i mean real to of the line games. no money no honey there so it shall stay that way.
all said and done ubu and its son linux mint are the cutting edge of pc software made by dedicated unselfish people world wide.
notice how vista is a MAJOR piece of junk in europe if it was not preinstalled and pushed that way NO ONE would buy the crap, at least none of my friends that have a bit of knowledge about compus.
viva ubu viva l.mint viva la revolucion from mr. pinguin:guitar:

Giant Speck

December 8th, 2008, 07:10 PM

I just thought of something.

Windows Media Center detected my USB TV Tuner without me having to install the drivers. And it works great.

On Ubuntu, however, after hours and hours of searching for drivers, it still doesn't work.

cespinal

December 8th, 2008, 08:32 PM

windows suspends my laptop... and the mic works as well

I have not been able to make suspend or the mic work since I got Ubuntu 6 months ago

squeabs

December 9th, 2008, 01:20 AM

Windows, to my knowledge, can run FL Studio better.

linkmaster03

December 9th, 2008, 01:47 AM

Play sound through the headphones. Even after many long hours, my headphones on Ubuntu won't make a peep.

Roasted

December 9th, 2008, 06:33 AM

windows suspends my laptop... and the mic works as well

I have not been able to make suspend or the mic work since I got Ubuntu 6 months ago

I've never seen an operating system that is 100% when it comes to those features.

We bought some HP Desktops at work... and they can't hibernate, and often have trouble coming out of standby. Yet we have other HPs that are slightly different, hardware wise, and work perfect.

The same copy of XP Pro is installed on both.

dBuster

December 9th, 2008, 11:40 AM

What can windblows do that linux/Ubuntu can't? Well suck my wallet empty for starters...

I have totally switched over at home as everything is working well. My mic and total audio is just fine. USB flash drives mount perfectly and those windblows apps on the flash drive run well within wine.

Plus being able to run a true 64 bit os without shelling out an arm or a leg is priceless....

porcorosso76

December 9th, 2008, 01:27 PM

Linux can do everything. The problem is: how many years you have to let it do the same things that you can do with windows in a pair of click.

For an end user, a device that won't work is an issue of Linux. An end user or an user without knowledge or TIME to let a device work, doesn't care if the fault is of hardware producer or linux.

In my case, with my knowledge, it's impossible to use a Pinnacle 330e USB DVB-T card to see television.

There is a guide to compile em28xx drivers, but it's required to change kernel version, and is only for 32bit editions of ubuntu. Furthermore, every info about using tv with linux is sparse in a dozen fo sites V4L, linux tv and others... and I don't have time to pass 354 hours following the line.

SO, at the end of the story: What Windows do that Linux not? SEE TELEVISION ON MY COMPUTER

ivanhoe75

December 20th, 2008, 03:51 PM

I've never seen an operating system that is 100% when it comes to those features.

We bought some HP Desktops at work... and they can't hibernate, and often have trouble coming out of standby. Yet we have other HPs that are slightly different, hardware wise, and work perfect.

The same copy of XP Pro is installed on both.

Switch off hibernation in power options

upapilot

December 21st, 2008, 06:14 AM

Windows can install and programs easily as compared to linux.
It has support for a wide variety of hardware, drivers etc.
It is something everyone is familiar with.

There are no viruses on Linux
All the software is free and open source and hence won't bombard you with messages such as: Please pay now, Trial period over etc

densou

December 21st, 2008, 03:20 PM

My favourite games runs almost on Windows only :(
(I'm not able to use WINE but I don't mind ^^ )

andrewj100

December 21st, 2008, 03:45 PM

It does everything Windows does, especially if you run windows in a virtual machine for the odd app that doesn't work.
The only thing windows has over ubuntu is that sound works straight off.
Every version of ubuntu I've installed (especially on laptops) has involved lots of bad language and banging my head on the desk before finally getting it working.
The day sound works straight after the install (that includes youtube) I'll give a copy of it to everyone I know!

Giant Speck

December 21st, 2008, 03:50 PM

It's a shame that you can't run an existing Windows partition as virtual from within Linux. I think that'd be awesome, albeit complicated.

Prasius

December 21st, 2008, 08:01 PM

All the software is free and open source and hence won't bombard you with messages such as: Please pay now, Trial period over etc

And this is both something that is great about Linux, and the thing that is seriously holding it back as a mainstream operating system. Generally, unless there's profit to be made, companies won't invest in it. I realise that many major companies do give a lot to the Linux community, however, to think they're not doing this to achieve long term commercial objectives is a little naive.

As for the "but you can run it in Wine" argument. I think I'll just boot into my XP partition, run it there and save myself the hassle thanks!

Kareeser

December 21st, 2008, 08:18 PM

Personally, I don't consider "windows runnning in virtualbox in a Linux host" as Linux. You're still technically using Windows.

sleepyjon

December 21st, 2008, 10:00 PM

I've only found two things windows beats linux in:

Photoshop & gaming, both of which I personally think are very important.

tarps87

December 22nd, 2008, 10:33 AM

Windows can install and programs easily as compared to linux.

:confused:

Have you used synaptic?

adrian.todireanu

December 22nd, 2008, 10:56 AM

halovivek

December 22nd, 2008, 11:00 AM

Good auto sound configuration.

Circus-Killer

December 22nd, 2008, 11:08 AM

it can:

cost a fortune
include drm
spy on you
be so open and friendly to viruses and spyware
use up max resources on nothing
work exceptionally hard at idling

tarps87

December 22nd, 2008, 12:10 PM

I can't watch HBO online, on an IE and WMP10 only site, without having to dissasemble my brains, reading countless threads and help topics about how can I add some simple, default features of Windows to my ubuntu install. Not to say about my useless tvtuner that, despite my efforts, doesn't want to cooperate. Why don't they use the simple and "easy to find and install" Windows drivers? Why must it be so complicate, when the information for almost everything that's on the market today already exists? Can nobody find a way to "translate" a simple Windows driver to the "language" of Linux?
I know that so many solutions exist outthere, several ways to get it solved but I'm a completely Ubuntu-illiterate user, and Linux is something really strange for me.
That's, actually, the single, most important thing that's missing in Linux - the GUI -. Having windows and buttons, instead of text consoles doesn't make it user-friendly, since I have to return to them everytime (and there are plenty of times) when something doesn't work.
The better part is that is free, as should all human knowledge be, in order to contribute to the wellfare of everyone, and I thank and congratulate every single person that has contributed in some way to it.

If HBO online chooses to support on wmp10 it is down to them to change, wmp it microsoft software for windows hence why it is on windows by default. There are OS independent ways specificity designed to do this. Why should have have to use windows or microsoft software to use a website.
They don't use the windows drivers because the are designed for windows, these drivers are not simple and they are not simple to translate. The information for closed source drivers are exactly that, no one else can see or use them. Any closed source drivers that manufactures choose not to make for Linux have to be reverse engineered to work, which is also not a simple task. I suggest that you right to the manufacturer of you tv card and request that they support Linux, or you can reverse engineer the driver so others can use it, but bear in mind that is it illegal in certain countries.

ranch hand

December 22nd, 2008, 06:34 PM

Who cares?

guatebus

December 22nd, 2008, 08:33 PM

It can burn audio cds easier - ubuntu makes too many coasters -

densou

December 22nd, 2008, 09:10 PM

It can burn audio cds easier - ubuntu makes too many coasters -

:confused: do Brasero, K3b (and so on) burn cds so badly ?

inxygnuu

December 22nd, 2008, 09:16 PM

be windows!:lolflag:

Other than that run windows programs. If Ubuntu ran all of my windows programs, then Vista would be less than a byte on my computer.

Cracauer

December 22nd, 2008, 09:56 PM

My list:

Gaming. Not having much luck with Wine or VMware's Direct3D beta.

Audio is a mess. Sorry, ALSA was so messy for so long that people built a bunch of other protocols/demons (like Jack) that should all have been unified in the first place. Configuration of sound under Linux is outright horrible. (Want a challenge, p.m. me?) Would really like to use the SPDIF in on my soundcard, too. Can't even run Audacity's UV meter at the same time as recording with arecord. Not impressive.

NVidia's 3D drivers used to be good, but they aren't anymore. This is a real problem. Xorg/DRI on ATI cards is still rocky.

Garmin/GPS stuff, updating/build maps. I suppose if I ever wanted to get my cellphone data into my PC I'd face similar challenges (I have one of those junk motorolas Razor that Verizon forced on unsuspecting dummies like me). This works through VMware, though.

3D editors: Blender too hard, Wings3D is texture challenged.

Audio workstations: I'd like to use the commercial Windows plugins.

Firefox? OK, it's not that IE is better but Firefox is really not what an OpenSource program should be about. We should have demanded Navigator 3.0's source and work from there.

My wife uses all kinds of klickibunti programming tools on Windows. Not that I like them, but for certain types of tasks they are incredibly handy, namely things that involve both GUI elements (shudder) and either SQL or other widely used query languages like OLAP. I have to claim to be an "engine level" programmer to justify liking emacs better. You should see her link some random piece of data to a chart making library in .net. Quite different from manually opening mysql and either writing a file for ploticus or get your head around pychart, or write phyton code for pychart from ruby (talk about indendation nightmare). She doesn't even care that she's using C# and the library is VB or whatever.

Chrisj303

December 23rd, 2008, 02:52 AM

Have good software available for it.

georgegerm

December 29th, 2008, 02:08 AM

Most people will prefer shooters and racing games to puzzle games. ;)
And ask an professional about The Gimp, I doubt you'll hear many positive reactions (off course it works perfectly well for what I and most users do with their graphics software).

Hardware has never been a problem for me with Linux, in fact, I like the way Kubuntu deals with hardware a lot better then Windows XP.

i agree i 100 percent with you if ubu or any other distro got around the gaming problem i think windows would loose at least 30 percent of their users..
it keeps coming up that no only kids play games or adult prefer linux games i think thats true nonsense and i do not care about figures i am 51 and me and my young, and older friends play top of the line games..
why because they are great fun..
i have no linux game on my linux pcs simply because they do not give a gamer the cool feelings this games do on windows
you will always find some people who love to make the point that this made for windows games are not important ,,,,
i could not disagree more
personaly i double boot my main pc and my lappy and my 2nd pc are 100 percent linux mint, and ubu in that order
i truly wil never agree with this argument that games are not an issue
but i do not think top of the line games will be made for linux any time soon as money talks... period... and the linux world is ,, well what can i say for the people, and free
simply the best ubu 4ever :guitar:

MikeTheC

December 29th, 2008, 08:56 AM

It can burn audio cds easier - ubuntu makes too many coasters -

Drop your write speed. Don't assume that just because you can burn at 36x or 52x that you should. Try burning at like 4x - 8x, and you should find that problem pretty much disappears.

DirtBitCo

January 1st, 2009, 08:01 AM

Display video on my HDTV.
Hardware Decoding of h.264 with my hardware (but linux is just finally catching up)
Strata theme for Firefox (looks a hell of a lot better then anything available for linux)
Run all of the fantastic Windows software which dominates the world.(without any problems or incompatibilities)
BSOD (i can't figure out anything from these kernel panics - you'd have to be a damn rocket scientist to troubleshoot your own problems)

go_beep_yourself

January 1st, 2009, 08:17 AM

One thing that really bugs me that Linux doesn't do is read from the Clipboard with a text to speech software. I'd like to using Linux when studying Python but use Windows, so I can run 2nd Speech Center to read my Python Programming pdf book to me. I've tried running 2nd Speech Center in both Wine and VMWare Workstation. Neither have been a good solution :(

densou

January 1st, 2009, 06:37 PM

Drop your write speed. Don't assume that just because you can burn at 36x or 52x that you should. Try burning at like 4x - 8x, and you should find that problem pretty much disappears.

No lad, I checked it out, there's some truth: (I use good old CD-RWs, can be burned only at 4x), Brasero and K3B gave me poor results, NeroLinux solved my trouble [but it's not free :( ]

Bens_fullonworld

January 3rd, 2009, 02:39 AM

Windows can make you buy new hardware so you have the latest version of Windows with all that sparkly pizazz it oozes.

Seriously, how many otherwise ok computers end up trashed cause it can run something....

geezerone

January 3rd, 2009, 03:08 AM

I understand and agree that Windows has a great knack of 'encouraging' one to not only spend a good amount of money on their all singing software :o but then spending hundreds on a new upgrade; how thoughtful!

The latest Windows OS makes your shiny new super-fast computer as slow or slower than your old one! Thank goodness people are NOT rushing for the latest OS and causing M$ to think again with its gravy train releases of O$es every few years.

Then again, thankful for Opensource software :)

LinuxLoonNH

January 3rd, 2009, 04:42 AM

Run my iConvert 35mm / Slide Scanner that I got from the Brookstone Outlet store. I'm trying to not to spend $200+ just for a scanner to scan about 20 years worth of negatives. Other than that, not much at this point after only a week back in Linux.

riteandritual

January 3rd, 2009, 05:53 AM

I was a huge gamer, and now I play avidly - though only occasionally. And ironically, its my favorite puzzle-game, Bookworm, that won't work at all in linux.

With Ubuntu everything worked for me out of the box - Wacom, movie burning, mounting ISOs and virtual pcs to run other OSs... I can download/install them with one click, update them even easier and from one place. Awesome.

Photoshop and Flash weren't even a problem because it only took me about an hour to get it working in VirtualOSE winxp - work perfectly (so far).

Zune and my Sony walkman (which uses SonicStage) were a problem at first, but no longer since I can use them through VirtualOS too.

And finally the dealbraker: Warcraft. I don't get the framerates that I did on Winxp, but it works fine. Linux, I'm sold!

If I'd love fps games I would never have had much of a problem - with Wolfenstein, Sauerkraut and others, Linux has that in the hat. But I like rpgs... If I get The Witcher, Fallout 3 and Oblivion working well in Ubuntu, then I will never even have to think of Windows again.

(But till then, I'm still playing with the idea of dual-booting.)

Luckily, it looks promising... Fallout 3 (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=14322&iTestingId=33301), Oblivion (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=7506&iTestingId=35064), Witcher (http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=9593)...

Once Wine has a one-click dummy way of installing the big games (auto-recognizing them and setting the specific configs right, for example) so kids can install them, all it'll need is a good advertising run (a deluge like the Geico gecko that is everywhere) to be the next M$.

viridity

January 3rd, 2009, 01:05 PM

I'd like to have two things added to Ubuntu:

1. on-screen keyboard - I normally use this on Windows when entering username/password on financially sensitive sites.
2. hourglass - I am just used to seeing hourglass as an indication of the active window being busy. The default Ubuntu busy pointer doesn't give me this sense.

Those are the only 2 things that I miss from Microsoft. Other than that, Ubuntu is the perfect system for me.

Znupi

January 3rd, 2009, 03:16 PM

1. on-screen keyboard - I normally use this on Windows when entering username/password on financially sensitive sites.
Why??

2. hourglass - I am just used to seeing hourglass as an indication of the active window being busy. The default Ubuntu busy pointer doesn't give me this sense.
Personally, I really enjoy the default Ubuntu mouse theme, but you can download as many as you wish. An example download site would be here (http://gnome-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=36). I'm sure you'll find lots of Windows XP-like / Windows Vista-like themes.

Cracauer

January 3rd, 2009, 04:47 PM

Bluescreeens.

It's really time that Linux and the other free OSes get cracking and get something similar.

geezerone

January 3rd, 2009, 11:25 PM

...2. hourglass - I am just used to seeing hourglass as an indication of the active window being busy. The default Ubuntu busy pointer doesn't give me this sense...

Grounation is my chosen mouse theme and a post, including how to install, can be found HERE (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=3414).

Wireless is still a problem with Linux per se and because drivers are written for Windows this is something Linux will have difficulty with for some time in my opinion.

Giant Speck

January 4th, 2009, 12:33 AM

Bluescreeens.

It's really time that Linux and the other free OSes get cracking and get something similar.

They already have. It's called a kernel panic.

Cracauer

January 4th, 2009, 03:08 AM

They already have. It's called a kernel panic.

No, kernel pancis suck compared to bluescreens.

The whole point about the bluescreen is that the panicing kernel displays an error message even when the graphical subsystem is hogging the graphics card.

Normally it is Windows that has only one error message "doesn't work" and Linux has the useful messages, but in this case it is the opposite. The moment you have X11 up you don't get any kernel panic error messages (unless you use a serial console).

It is my understanding that this will be implemented for Linux very soon, but for now it's a big Windows advantage.

jerzydirtracer

January 4th, 2009, 03:22 AM

Nothing. Windows is the biggest bloated monopolized overpriced waste of money besides its the biggest computer virus. When windows crashes its done. Time for a complete reload. Linux crashes go to recovery type in a command and wallah system back to normal. Even gaming is coming on in Linux. Once there is gaming, by by windows.

xjgnsdof

January 4th, 2009, 04:21 AM

Giant Speck

January 4th, 2009, 04:25 AM

No, kernel pancis suck compared to bluescreens.

The whole point about the bluescreen is that the panicing kernel displays an error message even when the graphical subsystem is hogging the graphics card.

Normally it is Windows that has only one error message "doesn't work" and Linux has the useful messages, but in this case it is the opposite. The moment you have X11 up you don't get any kernel panic error messages (unless you use a serial console).

It is my understanding that this will be implemented for Linux very soon, but for now it's a big Windows advantage.

Good point. I've only encountered one kernel panic in Linux and that was during bootup, so I was able to see it was a kernel panic.

I've only encountered a bluescreen in Windows once.

I guess I just misinterpreted what you said. :P

Cracauer

January 4th, 2009, 05:30 AM

Good point. I've only encountered one kernel panic in Linux and that was during bootup, so I was able to see it was a kernel panic.

I've only encountered a bluescreen in Windows once.

I guess I just misinterpreted what you said. :P

Both Linux and Windows rarely crash without help from bad drivers.

Bad drivers happen to Linux, too. Of course the situation is better than on Windows, but e.g. I tried to get my S/PDIF in working with ALSA 1.0.18b3 and KABOOM. So how could I know whether it's actually ALSA? Timing kind fit but the panics were rare and who knows whether the hardware got weak or whatever? Would have been nice to actually see the error messages, and under Windows I would. (whether it would be useful, aka not just "segmentation fault at 0xDEADBEEF and BTW you suck").

I'm not sure that box has a serial port for a console.

Znupi

January 4th, 2009, 04:43 PM

I miss how I could set my mouse pointer to snap to the default option in a dialogue box. It's a minor inconvenience to aim at and click the "OK" button (but, if I'm wrong, please PM me with the solution).
You can simply press Enter. Maybe it's just me, but I've always found that option in Windows quite stupid. It's just annoying to have your mouse move around without your will.

ms2756

January 5th, 2009, 01:26 AM

Ya, with the mplayer-mozilla plugin and flash-mozilla plugin you should be able to stream all videos on any page.

Gaming is def a big issue. The people at wine and crossover make some of the larger titles and older games available, but its by no means a reasonable alternative... yet.

The only thing i've found to date is my modem. Winmodems simply wont work with linux, end of story. Some people have had limited success with linuxants drivers but they didnt work for me.

Photoshop? Nah theres gimp.

Another thing.. there might be some scanners that wont work with ubuntu. But I think feistys support is better in this department.
I think the question should be:
What does Linux has that Windows doesn't?

Let me explain:
Computers either come with Windows or Mac. For a noob who needs a computer for checking e-mail, printing documents, i.e. not using advanced features, there really is no difference. So for them there really is no reason to switch. And they also probably don't know about linux - their friends also use PC's as an iPod charger.

For businesses, Microsoft Office is essential. I know because I felt it. Microsoft Word is horrible, but Powerpoint and Excel are indespensable. Even though there are some alternatives in Linux, the businesses cannot make the switch - there are just too many features incompatible with the "outside world of Microsoft."

So here's an answer to your question (I hope :)

rahul_bhise

January 5th, 2009, 05:36 PM

windows can print/scan on a lenove m730 all in one printer which Linux cant :-|

mister_pink

January 5th, 2009, 09:21 PM

1. on-screen keyboard - I normally use this on Windows when entering username/password on financially sensitive sites.

Whilst the question "why?!" does spring to mind, the answer is theres loooads of them! Can't remember how you get the default one that is already installed, but there's loads in the repos, eg gtkeyboard or for something a bit different dasher.

Edit: I think the default one is called onboard - try running it with alt f2

djrakowski

January 5th, 2009, 10:16 PM

There are a few things I can't do with Linux that I can do with Windows, but many, many things Linux makes more complicated. For example, I was able to get a Broadcom BCM4318 wireless card working in Ubuntu 8.10, but I had to search the 'net until I found some dude's blog explaining how to do it. Fortunately, he provided a zipped set of shell scripts to assist in this process, and even more fortunately, I understand shell scripting well enough to make modifications if necessary.

I have Ubuntu installed on a machine that dual-boots WinXP Home Edition. This same wireless card was immediately recognized by XP, and the OS even asked me which of the in-range networks I wanted to join. It knew that I'd set up my network with WPA security and prompted me for a password, which is really the only piece of information I needed in order to make this device work under XP. I needed to know practically everything about the device and my wireless network to get it working in Ubuntu.

Linux is absolutely useless to me when it comes to Blackberry sync. I use SplashMoney (a Quicken-like financial tracking program) and an Excel/OpenOffice.org spreadsheet to manage my finances. My new Vista PC syncs this data flawlessly in both directions. I've done a fair bit of research on this point, and it seems that there's nothing even close to this capability for Linux - or, at least, not without a fair amount of hassle.

And speaking of finances, Linux can't do TurboTax. That's a killer for me.

joshmuffin

January 8th, 2009, 01:54 AM

Suck? Get viruses? BSOD?
I think that's about all..
Wait....game.

Yeah windows ripps.

phylae

January 8th, 2009, 09:06 AM

I haven't found any good software for Optical Music Recognition. I need to scan hand-written music, and then correct the mistakes manually. Audiveris promises this, but it doesn't quite work yet.

The only other reason I ever boot Windows is to see what websites look like in Safari/IE7/Chrome. When the rest of the world switches to Linux I'll be able to stop doing that :)

physeetcosmo

January 8th, 2009, 05:40 PM

I find that alot of electronic development software does not work on Ubuntu, or at least the support for the specific electronic devices (FPGA, uC etc) is not on the 'bleeding edge'.

For instance, the software that comes with these development boards i cannot get to run on Ubuntu for the life of me. i was running them on Wine. To be specific, Microchip's MPLAB IDE, Xilinx' ISE, and Renesas' HEW IDE do not run in Wine. Also, other third-party boards that interface with this software are not supported, specifically Digilent's FPGA development boards require a driver as well as Digilent's Adept Suite to burn the bit file generated by Xilinx' ISE software.

Other than these specific 'high-geek' software, i prefer Linux over Windows, just for the sheer fact that it is free. Software should be free.:D

Andre-D

January 9th, 2009, 10:17 PM

Office 2007 +Activesync
- I need it to access Exchange server, and be able to open other people's calendars, organize meetings.

Activesync, to sync PocketPC

Sadly , I need to use VmWare workstation with outlook+activesync.

-these two tools are siginificant

medya

January 10th, 2009, 03:31 PM

Windows can do yahoo messenger with Voice Webcamm and Chatroom-voice, linux cant.

RaZoR1394

January 11th, 2009, 02:03 AM

Whilst the question "why?!" does spring to mind, the answer is theres loooads of them! Can't remember how you get the default one that is already installed, but there's loads in the repos, eg gtkeyboard or for something a bit different dasher.

Edit: I think the default one is called onboard - try running it with alt f2

Cellwriter is good. It has both on screen keyboard and handwriting recognizer. That's what most Tablet PC users use.

bob-linux-user

January 11th, 2009, 02:44 AM

Two things I have noticed:-
1) There doesn't appear to be any easy to use, GUI based *accurate* OCR software for Linux
2) Excel is easier to use than Open Office 3-especially things like dragging or pushing cells about.

HuaiDan

January 11th, 2009, 03:50 AM

I ***REALLY*** miss device manager. Where tf is a GUI list of all my installed hardware in Ubuntu? Command line can suck my ***. I want an Ubuntu device manager! Any recommendations?

HuaiDan

January 11th, 2009, 04:27 AM

Command line can suck my ***.

Let me amend by saying "for hardware management." It's ok, even preferable for some things, but hardware management isn't one of them.

Znupi

January 11th, 2009, 12:29 PM

I ***REALLY*** miss device manager. Where tf is a GUI list of all my installed hardware in Ubuntu? Command line can suck my ***. I want an Ubuntu device manager! Any recommendations?
Have you tried searching for Device Manager in Add/Remove? :) Make sure you install the gnome one, not the KDE, it's newer and better :)

petermck

January 11th, 2009, 05:49 PM

Windows can keep you up to date with antivirus and firewall software as well as developments in these fields, Linux can't.
HAHAHA! Very true. Windows can seamlessly facilitate the exposure of your personal information to those who would like to impersonate you. Just take a look at how many times windows scores a 9+ on the National Vulnerability Database (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search?). And please, don't tell me how you should have more software to protect your windows system. If windows had been designed with the end users best interests at heart instead of "ease of use at any cost" we all would have been spared the vast majority of these security threats.
I'd agree with most of what has been said in this thread. To summarize;

The Latest Games
Professional Specialist Software
Device manufacturers value added software
Some device drivers

Ubuntu is behind in these areas, though it's getting hard to find a device that doesn't have basic functionality with Ubuntu. As an example, I bought a webcam today, took it home and plugged it in. It worked immediately. I did not do any particular research into what webcam to get from a Linux compatibility point of view. I would not have considered taking such a cavalier approach 2 years ago. Device support has improved out of sight in the last 2 years largely due to the use of standards like UVC. This is what open source is all about. Compatibility.
The good news is I have seen all the areas listed above improve significantly in the last 12 months.
Ubuntu could be as good as windows in all these areas, but it won't be until it achieves more market share. Once it gets beyond a 10% share vendors will put more serious resources into porting their games/apps to linux. After all, in these economic times what vendor can afford to ignore 10% of the market?
A really good sign is that device manufacturers are increasingly recognizing that if they open up the API for their devices to the community, the community will write the device drivers and sometimes even the apps for them.
This makes good economic sense for most device manufacturers. Their core business is the device, not the software to use it. The software is usually a business cost to them. If they don't have to write the software, but rather can rely on a community of open source developers to write standards compliant software that makes their devices useful, the development cost can drop to their bottom line:)
According to Market Share (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/default.aspx), linux OS desktop use seems to have grown by between 50 and 100% in the last year, but is still below 1% of the total market. If this growth rate continues without any increase, at worse linux will get 10% a share of the desktop within 7 years. If it manages to double its base per annum, it will achieve 10% share in 3 years. Comparable to Mac, but without the price tag. At that point developers and vendors will take a lot more notice and it becomes hard to see what would stop linux becoming a significant desktop OS at least in developing markets.

georgegerm

January 12th, 2009, 04:12 AM

i always gripe about the games issue but i think that one will not be solved in my lifetime, period.
i do like, unlike a response i read, the smart mouse function of windows versus none in ubu..
minor issues like that one discurage a lot of possible linux newones...
mouse movement in a linux laptop , (in my opinion anyway) works from bad to ok but not very well that often also
and please if some can start fresh with a progy like the gimp versus the windows competition in my mind hes quite a smart fellow ie. the gimp is hard to figure..
and an all arounder like acdsee pro is no were in sight in a linux enviorment as i can tell..
yes i think there are one or two that do some things but nothing like my acdsee pro, sorry to say
but for most basic, photo simple work linux is way off on windows period..
as i mentioned the gimp is not for me an my friends a real alternative, its just a pain in the neck mostly..
we do a lot of photo shoots of all kinds of things and travels
that said i use linux as in ubu and mint in 2 of my 3 pc and the third the newest has dual boot xp-ubu
but i wish i wish i wish games to make a major leap
then i think i will be 99 percent linux
for now its 50-50 xp, ubu and mint
and thank you all out there who contribute money to make linux better and of course the developers, wow you guys are special in my book,
thank you:guitar:

spcwingo

January 12th, 2009, 04:28 AM

Run Portrait Professional. :cry:

HuaiDan

January 12th, 2009, 06:57 AM

I'll try it! Thanks!

Have you tried searching for Device Manager in Add/Remove? Make sure you install the gnome one, not the KDE, it's newer and better

JTLJudoMan

January 16th, 2009, 01:19 AM

Another thing that ubuntu cannot do is rotate the second monitor in a dual monitor setup.

Also overall the whole display manager seems woefully inadequate. In windows you simply drag displays around to adjust their orientation in regards to each other. In linux you get to hopefully install private drivers from nvidia/ati (I'm using nvidia) and then run that with gksudo (or it wont save your configuration choices).

Then you have to manually edit their relation to each other (vertically/horizontally).

If you would like to rotate one screen 90 degrees for say doing internet browsing (I find most websites/forums are better with a vertically orientated monitor) you cant. Period. There is no way to do it (at least there wasn't about a month ago when I set up my workstation... if there is now please point me to the instructions).

This is probably my second biggest gripe with the operating system aside from the obvious lack of support for peripheral software such as logitech mice, steelseries mice, etc... Most just don't develop software for linux due to the fact that it has no appreciable market share in the three dimensional gaming arena its really not worth their time to code applications/drivers for linux in the majority of cases.

Open office will also not properly handle most complex macros from microsoft office. Open office also does not have the super slick conditional formating interface that excel 2007 has (one of my favourite features)

Other than that I find it to be a pretty capable operating system.

Cracauer

January 16th, 2009, 03:18 AM

Another thing that ubuntu cannot do is rotate the second monitor in a dual monitor setup.

I do that all the time at work and at home.

My main display is 1200x1600 (90 degress turned), the secondary is 1600x1200 or 1920x1200.

OK, strictly speaking I rotate the first one, not the second one but I bet that works, too :)

DocHoliday52090

January 16th, 2009, 03:27 AM

Clean, very polished GUI.

Not beautiful, but no matter what I do, I can't get the sheer clarity and 'sharpness' in my themes, fonts, or even window borders. The GUI is just very, very clear and clean compared to Ubuntu's comparitively blurry/fuzziness.

It's nothing very noticeable, but it gets on my nerves every now and then.

JTLJudoMan

January 20th, 2009, 06:47 PM

I do that all the time at work and at home.

My main display is 1200x1600 (90 degress turned), the secondary is 1600x1200 or 1920x1200.

OK, strictly speaking I rotate the first one, not the second one but I bet that works, too :)

Please point me at where you do this? And are you using ati or nvidia?

I've tried changing the xorg file to 1200x1600 but that doesn't seem to help.

spcwingo

January 20th, 2009, 07:21 PM

Please point me at where you do this? And are you using ati or nvidia?

I've tried changing the xorg file to 1200x1600 but that doesn't seem to help.

Have you tried grandr? It's in the repos.

sudo apt-get install grandr

Mr. Picklesworth

January 20th, 2009, 07:29 PM

Have you tried grandr? It's in the repos.

sudo apt-get install grandr

You don't really need that any more... the new Screen Resolution preferences should handle it all fine, and the Show Displays in Panel option gives you handy controls. Comes down to if your display driver supports newer xrandr, though. (Proprietary NVidia ones do not, almost everything else does).

JTLJudoMan

January 20th, 2009, 07:37 PM

Have you tried grandr? It's in the repos.

sudo apt-get install grandr

How did you guys get the two displays to be separate instead of connected so that it doesn't show up as say a 3200x1200 display in grandr? With nvidia x server it seemed that doing the twinview was the only way to make the displays behave properly when rotating (via compiz cube). Thanks for the info!

Cracauer

January 20th, 2009, 07:53 PM

Please point me at where you do this? And are you using ati or nvidia?

I've tried changing the xorg file to 1200x1600 but that doesn't seem to help.

Option "Rotate" "Right"

I'm using the binary NVidia driver.

swoll1980

January 20th, 2009, 08:19 PM

Run WOW at a playable frame rate

munster

January 20th, 2009, 08:55 PM

1. Install Nvidia drivers properly without hours searching forums and 16 reboots

2. Sync Evolution with my Nokia 6120

I finally sorted point 1 myself but most users wouldn't have bothered - I almost gave up. If it can satisfy point 2 I would consider switching completely to Ubuntu...

edit:

I need to run proprietary Windows only software to control my irrigation system at work - it is wired via rs485-232 to a WinXp pc in another office. I thought this would preclude Linux at work but - just worked out how to use rdesktop - I can now open a Windows window on my Ubuntu desktop and control that pc over the Lan (or WAN from home). So while I still need windows on the irrigation pc, I don't need it on mine.

All I need now is Opensync....

Barrucadu

January 20th, 2009, 11:01 PM

Run WOW at a playable frame rate

Yes, who doesn't expect an OS to run programs designed for a completely different one just as well?

swoll1980

January 21st, 2009, 08:12 AM

Yes, who doesn't expect an OS to run programs designed for a completely different one just as well?

Don't get your Ubuntu underwear in a knot. The question was What
can Windows do that Linux can't? Not what do I expect linux to be able to do. I don't expect anything to work properly under wine, I've never had much luck with it. I think the question is geared to reasons why people still run windows, and WOW is one of mine.

Liviu-Theodor

January 21st, 2009, 08:22 AM

Recently I found out that Windows can do two things that Linux can not, one good and one bad, I let you decide which is which. One thing is I can run in Windows Ulead Photo Studio, but not in Linux (does not work under wine). The other is something that only Vista has done to me: it just deactivated at random times, on random computers, the antivirus programs installed. I am sure Linux does not do this and can not do either...

Greyed

January 21st, 2009, 08:29 AM

I think the question is geared to reasons why people still run windows, and WOW is one of mine.

One of yours, not Linux'. My machine is old in gaming terms. A single-core AMD 2500+ overclocked to 3200+, 2Gb of 2700 DDR RAM and an nVidia 7600, AGP version. WinXP WoW pulls about 25fps average. KUbuntu 8.10, the Jaunty nVidia drivers & Wine, 22fps.

If you are having a problem with it then it is either your machine being worse than mine or you having not updated to the latest nVidia drivers which boosted FPS on the Linux side by about 10 on my machine. You will note none of those are under the control of Ubuntu, any distro of Linux or even Windows for that matter.

You have to update your hardware.
nVidia has to write the drivers.
You have to update those drivers.

swoll1980

January 21st, 2009, 06:48 PM

One of yours, not Linux'. My machine is old in gaming terms. A single-core AMD 2500+ overclocked to 3200+, 2Gb of 2700 DDR RAM and an nVidia 7600, AGP version. WinXP WoW pulls about 25fps average. KUbuntu 8.10, the Jaunty nVidia drivers & Wine, 22fps.

If you are having a problem with it then it is either your machine being worse than mine or you having not updated to the latest nVidia drivers which boosted FPS on the Linux side by about 10 on my machine. You will note none of those are under the control of Ubuntu, any distro of Linux or even Windows for that matter.

You have to update your hardware.
nVidia has to write the drivers.
You have to update those drivers.

i have a 2.6 celeron 768mb ram and a nvidia 6100 on xp with the most of the effects on half way I pull 40 fps. With Ubuntu/Wine, compiz turned off, all of the effects on there lowest setting, and The latest linux nvidia drivers from nvidia.com it runs at an unplayable 2 fps.

Now this is with the new wotlk expansion not the burning crusades. I don't know if that makes a difference, but could explain the different levels of performance we experienced

ps. if your pulling that low of a frame rate on xp you should turn the effects down, or if they are down clean your computer. there's no reason with the default setting you should be pulling less than 60 fps with your hardware

calvinps

January 21st, 2009, 08:25 PM

Windows (or should I say *******?) is rubbish. That's all I can say really :lolflag:

I am building a new computer at the moment. Sooner or later, I will become a full time Ubuntu user :)

Roasted

January 23rd, 2009, 03:00 PM

I will always have Windows until Left 4 Dead comes out for Linux. Until then, Windows unfortunately has a special spot on my hard drive.

geezerone

January 23rd, 2009, 08:09 PM

Windows can attract malware/viruses better than asylum seekers to the UK!

I like some of what Windows can do but there are an awful lot of nasty infections for it on the web.

Gaming is what keeps appearing and it is very true. If they could write the exact 'Windows' games for Linux would enough people buy? Prob not but there is always hope.

TorqueyPete

January 23rd, 2009, 11:05 PM

Windows Vista can irritate and annoy even though I've paid for it!
If I had a problem with Ubuntu I didn't mind too much, and could generally fix it via advice from the forums.
Yes, I know there are Windows forums, and the best I found is called bleepingcomputer.com (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/) .
But when I convert this new PC over to Ubuntu, I won't have to wonder when's the next time I'll need to get help with dodgy trojans and DNF hijacks!

john_spiral

January 24th, 2009, 12:25 AM

I find Windows heaps easier to move around via the keyboard.

Saving files in Gnome requires you to use both the tab & arrow keys to move to a specific folder :-( not very intuative.

Another two things I find lacking in GNOME is the ability to minimise all the windows. In Windows it's simple with the Windows key & M.

also

to launch a command prompt from the keyboard in Windows is a few key strokes, ctrl + esc , r , cmd <-- return. I know you can do a ctrl & alt F1 to get to a bash but you are no longer in X in GNOME.

calvinps

January 24th, 2009, 12:26 AM

I will always have Windows until Left 4 Dead comes out for Linux. Until then, Windows unfortunately has a special spot on my hard drive.

Try runnin' it using Wine.

calvinps

January 24th, 2009, 12:28 AM

[deleted]

Znupi

January 24th, 2009, 12:46 AM

to launch a command prompt from the keyboard in Windows is a few key strokes, ctrl + esc , r , cmd <-- return. I know you can do a ctrl & alt F1 to get to a bash but you are no longer in X in GNOME.
Try Alt+F2 type "gnome-ter" and hit enter (it will autocomplete).
To minimize all windows: Ctrl+Alt+D.

Tip: there are a lot of shortcuts you can assign key combinations to in System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts. With that you can also change the "minimize all windows" feature from Ctrl+Alt+D to WinKey+M :)

geezerone

January 24th, 2009, 02:12 AM

I find Windows heaps easier to move around via the keyboard.

...things I find lacking in GNOME is the ability to minimise all the windows. In Windows it's simple with the Windows key & M.

also

to launch a command prompt from the keyboard in Windows is a few key strokes, ctrl + esc , r , cmd <-- return. I know you can do a ctrl & alt F1 to get to a bash but you are no longer in X in GNOME.

In Gnome you can assign keystrokes to suit you to launch terminal or minimise windows. There is also 'Compiz' and look at settings under the 'General' tab where many options are defined to show desktop, minimise etc.

Give it a go and see how flexible Ubuntu is. :)