Ubuntu 5 years later...

[Bart_D]

For me one of the advantages of having alot of users is big proprietary software companies will start to suppose Ubuntu and I know that sounds like a bad thing but its annoying when everything is going fine until you actually need a piece of specialised software that is not supported at all and you know will very unlikely have an open source equivalent especially to the same quality level.

I think Ubuntu should be more user friendly without restrictions, its not about "oh well users mess about and break their systems" because then they need to learn or get help to fix them. Its about me trying to explain to a non-technical user who is really interested that I will need to A, B and C then if that works run D and check E then reboot and run F, they cant handle the complexity and cant understand why its so much effort for simple task. I think they should have a right and a real chance to be able to use an open OS. They should be able to take a LiveCD, run it, install Ubuntu on a standard machine (which is great now) and then configure the system without having to figure out what the terminal is. The terminal should be for advanced users only not the mandatory way!

Im lucky because all the computers I have installed it on have setup and run fine thank goodness but when I found out flash videos didn’t work very well especially in full screen on my parents computer I couldn’t get my dad to understand that its down to flash and the gfx card drivers, he cant see why its such a problem to watch a youtube video. Its stupid little things like that that let Linux down.

Well said, good sir! Well said!

If the OP can't perform the basic tasks he/she has listed, then how can one "leave" this as is for a non-technical user? Quite frankly, it is beyond me!

Anyways, improvements(that have NOTHING to do with the GUI) are NEEDED. For the next version, they should get back to that. I'll give them a pass for 11.04....it's a new GUI for Ubuntu and some growing pains have to be overcome...hopefully most of them have been addressed and the remaining few will be tackled in the next release. Now(for the next realse, that is) it's time to fix those under-the-hood problems that just seem to have been ignored.

Oh, and as for the people saying "You need to search(online) HARDER to find a solution to your basic tasks", it is exactly THAT kind of thinking/approach that I HOPE the developers do NOT have/take. i-Pod synchronization! Making a movie? HUH! You gotta be kidding me, my man! These HAVE/MUST BE click-click-click processes that can be completed with minimal fuss and WITHOUT the need for a web browser.

[Ken UK]

Well said, good sir! Well said!

If the OP can't perform the basic tasks he/she has listed, then how can one "leave" this as is for a non-technical user? Quite frankly, it is beyond me!

Anyways, improvements(that have NOTHING to do with the GUI) are NEEDED. For the next version, they should get back to that. I'll give them a pass for 11.04....it's a new GUI for Ubuntu and some growing pains have to be overcome...hopefully most of them have been addressed and the remaining few will be tackled in the next release. Now(for the next realse, that is) it's time to fix those under-the-hood problems that just seem to have been ignored.

Oh, and as for the people saying "You need to search(online) HARDER to find a solution to your basic tasks", it is exactly THAT kind of thinking/approach that I HOPE the developers do NOT have/take. i-Pod synchronization! Making a movie? HUH! You gotta be kidding me, my man! These HAVE/MUST BE click-click-click processes that can be completed with minimal fuss and WITHOUT the need for a web browser.

Thanks

I've not really tried it because I have a Macbook to sync my iPhone but Banshee seemed to pickup all the music and playlists on my phone. I know it doesnt have the capabilities of iTunes but its a start right?

For making movies your best to look at kdenlive, I've heard so much about it and it looks pretty good.

[aaaantoine]

You cant compare this to Windows Vista/7!

Windows Vista didn’t just fail because the GUI wasn’t very good or people didnt like it, it was a piece of crap in everyway! Whats wrong with 11.04? If you dont like Unity or think its unstable etc. Thats just the UI not the whole OS! And thus you can change it to classic and fixed!

For all the flack that Vista gets, it really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. In fact, I don't really understand why 7 gets so much praise by comparison, as it's essentially Vista plus some polish.