breaking news (from January)

[HeWhoE]

A cautionary tale to PC users all over the world. Don't fall victim like the young lady in this local news segment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI&feature=related

[Newuser1111]

Another video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQekFkgpFJs&feature=related

[Keithhed]

Wow, such a non-story. If anyone in that clip had half a brain then there wouldn't be anything to talk about. Its not Ubuntu's falut she dropped out of school, I'd blame that squishy thing between her ears

[hardyn]

because throwing 100$ at windows licence would have been sooo much harder cancelling classes.

[jflaker]

"This isn't Windows, (it very well could have been a MAC!) and I don't know anything....I give up because I am not willing or able to learn something new or different."

Unfortunately, this is the challenge Ubuntu is up against every day!

What Ubuntu needs is a windows transition mini course.

How to setup and use open office so you can be compatible with windows users (simple script to set the preferences to default to MS compatible files)

How Ubuntu Gnome or KDE is similar to Windows....just things are in different places.

What would happen if she had XP and upgraded to Vista or Windows 7? She'd be in the same situation, learning something new and different.....

An OS is a tool. If you have always used a sledgehammer for construction, it may take some time to get used to a proper hammer, but you could if you had to!

[Like the Swallow]

IMO the biggest problem for her was using windows for such a long time before the Ubuntu purchase.

[rJ~]

Surely there must have been at least one geeky person in the building they could've run this by before going ahead with this nonsense story.

The woman didn't bother to read the information that you have to click past on the Dell site while ordering Ubuntu PCs? Or Google anything she still didn't understand after that? Or just click the link that gets you back to Windows PCs?

How about calling the ISP's tech support when the modem install disc doesn't work? Surely abusing a nice tech support person is the first thing you want to do when the stuff you bought doesn't work.

I wonder how the conversation with the Dell tech supporter went. They should probably have saved themselves a headache and just swapped it for a Windows PC.

[ntowakbh]

The update on the story is what is sad. Unfortunately, there are so many elitists out there that Ubuntu, or any Linux distro for that matter, is likely to not go very mainstream. I mean, as soon as I saw the update video, before they even started talking, I knew what it was going to be about, and sadly I was right.

There are a large number of Linux users, whose first response to someone like this is to swear at them. While, albeit, I did find it odd that she didn't realize sooner that Ubuntu wasn't Windows(not in the sense of it not being Windows, but in the sense that Windows software doesn't run on it[for simplicity, I'm ignoring WINE]), it is still no excuse for insulting someone on such levels as was done.

However, just as the guy said on the report, there were also people who were offering her free tech support. which does show the good in the Linux community. It's just depressing how the bad of the Linux community are normally the loudest, stereotyping the majority of us. I'm sure that many people of who were able to see the broadcast thought all Ubuntu users were terrible.

[MikeTheC]

Well, at least that's one less mentally-limited person we will have to put up with.

One question: How has she managed to not have died yet?

[youknowwhat4q]

I'm sure that many people of who were able to see the broadcast thought all Ubuntu users were terrible.

People are going to start lumping us in with bikers and tattoo enthusiasts. Oh wait, I am both of those things.

It is truly unfortunate that this story ran the way it did, and to be completely honest, it shouldn't have run at all. I assume that the editors at the news station got this poor girl's letter and not knowing anything about Linux/Ubuntu themselves. They tried to make he into a victim and in the process turned our beloved OS in to the bad guy.

I can understand people being upset because every time something like this is aired/published we become that much further from getting the average person to accept a Linux based OS as a viable solution on their own computer.

Either way, I'm going to keep fighting the good fight, and one computer at a time, we will take over the world.

[ibuclaw]

Thread closed for review.