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View Full Version : A real indication of growth in Ubuntu.



irv
March 28th, 2011, 02:37 PM
About a year ago, one friend and myself were the only ones using Ubuntu in our area. But I have taken notice this past week that my one grandson and one granddaughter are using Ubuntu only on there PC's. Then chatting with a friend on facebook I found out he is using Mint but he has three friends using Ubuntu. This is a good indication that Ubuntu is starting to come of age. Who know what the future holds but it is starting to look bright.

sffvba[e0rt
March 28th, 2011, 02:40 PM
Awesome to hear :)


404

Sean Moran
March 28th, 2011, 02:47 PM
About a year ago, one friend and myself were the only ones using Ubuntu in our area. But I have taken notice this past week that my one grandson and one granddaughter are using Ubuntu only on there PC's. Then chatting with a friend on facebook I found out he is using Mint but he has three friends using Ubuntu. This is a good indication that Ubuntu is starting to come of age. Who know what the future holds but it is starting to look bright.
Wouldn't it be lovely if we could save our money up and then head on down to the street where all the caryards are and have a good look at the Fords and the Chevs and the Toyotas and the Subarus and the BMWs and the quirky stuff like Fiats and Citroens and Skoda and maybe big RVs or little minis or Hondas and cruisy Cadillacs and Hummers and Jeeps and Rolls-Royces for the ultimate compensation factor, and drive what suits us best?

Actually, that's the reality for cars. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could make the same decisions about operating systems?

Actually, we can, but wouldn't it be lovely for the other half of the people to understand that they too can?

irv
March 28th, 2011, 03:06 PM
When we choose a car we look for extras that make our lives easier, and that what we should do when we choose an OS for our computers.

lz1dsb
March 28th, 2011, 05:04 PM
In my area there aren't too many Ubuntu/Linux users. There's still this negative attitude towards Linux in general that I don't understand: "Linux is hard!" Come on! The FOSSs have changed so much during the past years.
I think that there are many people that are too lazy to try out and explore something new, even though most of them don't really like Windows...

Spice Weasel
March 28th, 2011, 05:14 PM
I know 6 people IRL that use a non-Windows/Mac OSX operating system on their PC. When you consider the amount of Windows PCs in the world you start to realize how many more users an alternate operating system gains when its usage share goes up 0.1%.

I think that the market share is okay at the moment and wouldn't mind if it stayed the same, because there are benefits benefits to 'unknown to the mainstream' OSes as well as popular OSes. Although I think it would be really good for technology to have a FOSS operating system to compete with Windows, I would rather use something with low usage share. [/unpopular-opinion]

Sean Moran
March 28th, 2011, 05:16 PM
In my area there aren't too many Ubuntu/Linux users. There's still this negative attitude towards Linux in general that I don't understand: "Linux is hard!" Come on! The FOSSs have changed so much during the past years.
I think that there are many people that are too lazy to try out and explore something new, even though most of them don't really like Windows...
When people tell you that "Linux is hard" what they mean to say is, "I might look clever, but I'm actually not all that adept at anything outside my sphere of competence, so don't challenge what little intellect I have to live with - let me cling to what little I have".

sammiev
March 28th, 2011, 05:18 PM
Both my kids use Ubuntu. :)

PuddingKnife
March 28th, 2011, 05:37 PM
Wouldn't it be lovely if we could save our money up and then head on down to the street where all the caryards are and have a good look at the Fords and the Chevs and the Toyotas and the Subarus and the BMWs and the quirky stuff like Fiats and Citroens and Skoda and maybe big RVs or little minis or Hondas and cruisy Cadillacs and Hummers and Jeeps and Rolls-Royces for the ultimate compensation factor, and drive what suits us best?

Actually, that's the reality for cars. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could make the same decisions about operating systems?

Actually, we can, but wouldn't it be lovely for the other half of the people to understand that they too can?


I wouldn't want an open source car cobbled together by hobbyists.



Although I think it would be really good for technology to have a FOSS operating system to compete with Windows, I would rather use something with low usage share. [/unpopular-opinion]

Yea, there's always going to be bug number 1. I would love to see linux go mainstream, so that I could continue to use linux while wallowing in the benefits of commercially supported software.

Sean Moran
March 28th, 2011, 05:49 PM
I wouldn't want an open source car cobbled together by hobbyists.

Why is that? If you could own a Rolls' or a Bugatti or a Lamborghini, built by true craftsmen who've tested it through and through to make sure that everything is 100% perfect, wouldn't you trust in a hand-crafted work-of-art over some mass-produced candidate for recall spewed out by unknown factory would-have-beens on some anonymous production-line somewhere in the backwoods of Beijing?

When you make something a hobby, it's because you care about what you're doing for more than just the money. When it's a hobby, it comes from the heart, not just the hip-pocket.

PuddingKnife
March 28th, 2011, 06:35 PM
Why is that?

Because I'm a Subaru guy, and I want their product and the guarantees that come with it. My life tends to depend on it, whereas with my laptop, it's ok to use an operating system created by mostly volunteers.

Im not bashing linux, I just think open source is appropriate for some businesses for not for others.

Rachel_Eliason
March 28th, 2011, 09:23 PM
I wouldn't want an open source car cobbled together by hobbyists.




Yea, there's always going to be bug number 1. I would love to see linux go mainstream, so that I could continue to use linux while wallowing in the benefits of commercially supported software.


As far as I am concerned the only reason bug number 1 is even a bug is that neither Windows or Apple make any significant attempt at cross platform compatibility. Linux doesn't need to take the market share. It only needs to grow large enough to force the other two to 1)adhere to open standards and 2)write software that works on open platforms, or at least the result works on open platforms reliably. (Just for example I would love to be able to send my open office documents to someone without having to first check what word processor they use and converting the file type...)

unknownPoster
March 28th, 2011, 09:50 PM
Anecdotal evidence isn't proof or indication of anything to be honest.

sydbat
March 28th, 2011, 10:03 PM
Anecdotal evidence isn't proof or indication of anything to be honest.Maybe it's scientifically anecdotal...

kostageas
March 29th, 2011, 03:18 AM
I had never seen anyone use Linux until I started (probably because I never knew what it looked like) but now every so often I see someone using Ubuntu or openSUSE. I saw one person using Fedora. These are just when I pass by people in the library or something.

IWantFroyo
March 29th, 2011, 03:38 AM
Linux is making a good impression. The problem is that a lot of computers come shipped with Windows, and any early configuration difficulties (acpi anyone?) make them think Linux is really hard.

johntaylor1887
March 29th, 2011, 04:14 AM
I personally wouldn't mind a small increase in the numbers of users, if only because then manufacturers would take a harder look at developing hardware drivers. But overall I'm not too concerned about linux "taking over". If linux is really all that, it will naturally become more mainstream.

JDShu
March 29th, 2011, 04:35 AM
Anecdotal evidence isn't proof or indication of anything to be honest.

Yes it is. It shows that people in OP's particular circle are getting more comfortable with Linux. Anecdotal evidence is indication of something.