Ubuntu cannot compete with OS X or Windows 7

[arrow.69]

I'm gonna get incredibly bashed for posting this, but here it goes.

I've been running various Linux distributions on a bunch of computers since I was 13. Windows would **** me off, Vista got released, or sometimes I just felt like playing around. I've been through MEPIS, OpenSuse, Kubuntu, Ubuntu,amongst others. It eventually became clear to me that Ubuntu was the overall best desktop distribution out there, if only for the tremendous amount of support there is out there for it.

I love Ubuntu. It's a very capable OS and I love the idea of running a completely free and open operating system. I've probably run some variation of Ubuntu on and off for the past four years. I usually run Ubuntu for six months to a year until something forces me to go back to Windows or I just get too annoyed at a few bugs. Whenever a new release comes out I usually check it out, eager to see what improvements have come along.

However, I have to admit that Ubuntu simply can't compete anymore. Windows 7 is a huge leap for Windows, and OS X has always been user-friendly and functional. I know that under the hood, Linux is more stable, quicker, more secure than Windows. But the truth is, to the end-user on the desktop front, the experience you get running Ubuntu doesn't measure up. The problem isn't a lack of applications of features. Ubuntu just lacks polish and integration. Say what you will, the amount of bugs, small crashes that happen for seemingly no reason, lack of conformity across the OS, destroy the experience for most users. I think Ubuntu will never be a viable option for the consumer because it trades off quality, functionality and intuitiveness for customizability. Most users just want a nice OS with features designed to make their life easier on the computer. They want all those features out of the box and they don't want to tinker with their operating system. They want it to just work for them. Anyways, no amount of customization or tweaking will bring Ubuntu up to the level of functionality Windows or OS X offer right now.

What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Why do you prefer Ubuntu?

[solwic]

I'm gonna get incredibly bashed for posting this, but here it goes.

I've been running various Linux distributions on a bunch of computers since I was 13. Windows would **** me off, Vista got released, or sometimes I just felt like playing around. I've been through MEPIS, OpenSuse, Kubuntu, Ubuntu,amongst others. It eventually became clear to me that Ubuntu was the overall best desktop distribution out there, if only for the tremendous amount of support there is out there for it.

I love Ubuntu. It's a very capable OS and I love the idea of running a completely free and open operating system. I've probably run some variation of Ubuntu on and off for the past four years. I usually run Ubuntu for six months to a year until something forces me to go back to Windows or I just get too annoyed at a few bugs. Whenever a new release comes out I usually check it out, eager to see what improvements have come along.

However, I have to admit that Ubuntu simply can't compete anymore. Windows 7 is a huge leap for Windows, and OS X has always been user-friendly and functional. I know that under the hood, Linux is more stable, quicker, more secure than Windows. But the truth is, to the end-user on the desktop front, the experience you get running Ubuntu doesn't measure up. The problem isn't a lack of applications of features. Ubuntu just lacks polish and integration. Say what you will, the amount of bugs, small crashes that happen for seemingly no reason, lack of conformity across the OS, destroy the experience for most users. I think Ubuntu will never be a viable option for the consumer because it trades off quality, functionality and intuitiveness for customizability. Most users just want a nice OS with features designed to make their life easier on the computer. They want all those features out of the box and they don't want to tinker with their operating system. They want it to just work for them. Anyways, no amount of customization or tweaking will bring Ubuntu up to the level of functionality Windows or OS X offer right now.

What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Why do you prefer Ubuntu?

I agree with your ideas, but disagree that it cannot compete. While I appreciate your thoughts and your candor, ultimately it's just an operating system; just software, no life-altering decisions went into which OS you use.

If you like Windows or OSX, by all means use them. The truth is, Linux is buggy...but so are the other ones. No software is perfect, and any attempt to find one is nothing but an exercise in futility. Rather, try to find (and then use) the OS that is perfect for you. You can't lose if you do that.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[SteveHillier]

Most users just want a nice OS with features designed to make their life easier on the computer. They want all those features out of the box and they don't want to tinker with their operating system.

For the most part isn't that what they get now?
The first Linux I installed some 13 years ago now, had a graphical interface but you had to set up the screen resolution, horizontal and vertical refresh rates and so on on install else it would not work.
Boy, we are a long way past that now and in my experience Ubuntu can be set up to run without tinkering if that is what you want.

[PariahVayne]

Fragmentation will always hold back Linux. Choice is great, but too many choices and it gets confusing, especially for a new user.

[Alex Libman]

Ubuntu can definitely compete on the server, and in "the third-world market" where people can't afford the price of a Microsoft OS (including its ever-growing hardware requirements). Ubuntu also has the (unfair) advantage of being able to include as much free software as it wants with its OS, while Microsoft is legally restricted by antitrust regulation. A lot of student / job functions only require a finite set of software packages, and that's the market where Ubuntu could compete very well, and I also predict a bright future for simplified distros like Google's "Chrome OS".

And then you also have off-the-grid Anarcho-Capitalist tax resisters like me, but most of us prefer OpenBSD...

[SunnyRabbiera]

Fragmentation will always hold back Linux. Choice is great, but too many choices and it gets confusing, especially for a new user.

You should tell this one to Microsoft though, both Vista and 7 both have one too many choices as well...
XP initially had two versions, Home edition and Professional
Stuff like Media edition and starter edition came later.
Both Vista and 7 have basic, home, home premium, business, enterprise and ultimate.
Cripes thats more then the primary versions of Linux one needs to know about:
Debian/Ubuntu, Redhat/SUSE, Slackware and Gentoo. (though one could equalize it with Arch)

Most of the other spin offs are based on those distros, or a varient of...
Like Mandriva, it is a varient of redhat but is still based on RPM.

Look the OP is only focusing on looks it seems, and popularity.
For me Linux is a very good competitor to both OSX and 7.
And Ubuntu can be a good competitor too, the last two buntus have flaws but hey all OS's have their down periods, including Windows and OSX

[RobotChubby]

It can compete with Windows, but in some ways it can't match it. I'm building a gaming rig at the moment, and I'm pretty sure the only way I'm going to be able to play Arkham Asylum et al (in best quality) is by going the Windows route.

But the mere existence of Ubuntu 9.10 and the size of the community proves that it can compete and will continue to do so.

It all depends on the user and their applications. The ends, in this case, justify the means.

In some ways, that renders the argument irrelevant.

So, er, can't we all just get along?(!)

[Aflack]

What holds linux back for me is the extreme feeling of unpolished-ness... if that's a word.

And the little bugs that are different on every single installation. Ill install on my comp and have some weird bugs.
Install on a friends and have some random weird different bugs.
And same goes forever...

[PariahVayne]

Fragmentation will always hold back Linux. Choice is great, but too many choices and it gets confusing, especially for a new user.

You should tell this one to Microsoft though, both Vista and 7 both have one too many choices as well...
XP initially had two versions, Home edition and Professional
Stuff like Media edition and starter edition came later.
Both Vista and 7 have basic, home, home premium, business, enterprise and ultimate.
Cripes thats more then the primary versions of Linux one needs to know about:
Debian/Ubuntu, Redhat/SUSE, Slackware and Gentoo. (though one could equalize it with Arch)

Most of the other spin offs are based on those distros, or a varient of...
Like Mandriva, it is a varient of redhat but is still based on RPM.

Look the OP is only focusing on looks it seems, and popularity.
For me Linux is a very good competitor to both OSX and 7.
And Ubuntu can be a good competitor too, the last two buntus have flaws but hey all OS's have their down periods, including Windows and OSX

There is some truth to that but they all have one thing in common;

WINDOWS 7 Home Basic

WINDOWS 7 Home Premium

WINDOWS 7 Ultimate

Windows is far more unified than Linux is almost every aspect. It's strange how many Linux users slate Windows but refuse to acknowledge any of the lingering problems with their chosen O/S.

Ubuntu is great in a lot ways, but it has some very painful flaws. Xserver/PulseAudio/upgrading for example, and it's not quite the 'minority' that have these issues as some people like to pretend. Personally I think ubuntu missed its chance of not capitalizing more when Mircosoft was wounded with Vista. Now it looks like ChromeOS will push it even further back into the shadows.

[PariahVayne]

What holds linux back for me is the extreme feeling of unpolished-ness... if that's a word.

And the little bugs that are different on every single installation. Ill install on my comp and have some weird bugs.
Install on a friends and have some random weird different bugs.
And same goes forever...

Exactly.