Bugs not solved / who is the intended audience for some opensource OS like Ubuntu?

[Oni45]

Hi all,

I am a fully convincing about OpenSource, and I try to promote it as most as I can for personnal or professionnal use because I believe in it. I saw as well many article which promote it as better as many other proprietary software or OS, and when I see the current Ubuntu website, it seen as if every body can use it, even the non expert people in computer... But I am not as convinced that it can be so easy for everyone.
There is now more than two year I have a netbook Dell Inspiron 13z or 1370. I can't use it with Ubuntu distribution due to a brigthness problem. I have a double boot Ubuntu & Windows 7, and at each new update, I tried the new version of ubuntu, but unfortunatly, this problem is still not solved, even if there is many discussion about it... (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/489397 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/994697 - http://web.archiveorange.com/archive/v/LLXmL9Nzsu9An3Qy3ae7 - ...)

I tried many of the purposed solutions to solved it, with many hours using the terminal and all the strange commands, but unfortunattly, nothing works.
In this way, to install some software, in many case, we have to use the terminal to solve some problem, or get the last version etc.
So, I don't understand who is the intended audience for some opensource OS like Ubuntu, because apparently it is focus for everybody, but in practical, I think it is not the case, and it is mainly people a little geek who use it.

Even after many improvement I don't think it is suitable to install it for my parents or other of my familly if I am not close to them, as soon as some problems like the one encounter with my laptop is not solved for exemple.

Cheers,

[grahammechanical]

You could say the same thing about any computer and its operating system when someone without any experience tries to use it. Open source software is not better than proprietary software simply due to the fact of its being open source. That point of view shows ignorance of real life computer usage.

The reason that Microsoft and Apple have operating systems that work better with hardware is because the operating systems are pre-installed and all the problems are fixed by the supplier before being sold to the public. What would you do if after buying that computer you discovered that there was a problem with the brightness settings? You would want your money back. True? So, the manufacturer makes sure that there are no problems like that before they put the product up for sale.

So, why do you not ask for your money back from the company that you purchased Ubuntu from?

Buy a computer with a Linux distribution pre-installed and you will not have the problems that you describe. But, remember this, you will still be getting the operating system and the applications free of charge.

I think that the developers of the Linux kernel and the developers of Ubuntu are doing a very good job in making it possible to install Linux distributions and Ubuntu in particular on such a wide variety of computer hardware and should praised and not critised.

You should write to Dell and complain about this problem. Insist that Dell provide technical details of their hardware to open source developers. Insist that Dell provide software to fix this problem.

Why have you registered in this forum just to complain about Ubuntu? If you truely are a believer in open source then you will understand that in open source we do not complain, We get involved and help fix things.

The people who started Ubuntu were not happy with many Linux distributions that required technical knowledge to use. They did not complain. They worked themselves and they also paid programmers to produce a Linux distribution that did not require a person to eb a little geek to use it. That purpose is still under development.

The company supporting Ubuntu is called Canonical. It makes money from the services it provides but it does not make a profit because the money is used to employ developers.

You underestimate your parents' and your familiy's ability to learn new things. They are older than you but that does not make them stupid.

[MadmanRB]

No OS is bulletproof though.
There are countless unfixed bugs in both Windows and OSX, the only reason why they seem so noticeable in linux is that its an ever developing platform while the others are static.

[Oni45]

Thanks for your replies... but I am not agreeing with all:

I know that no one OS is perfect, and I don't ask for it to Ubuntu.

"Buy a computer with a Linux distribution pre-installed and you will not have the problems that you describe". Yes I have already thought about it. But how many choice have we got for a laptop? Not so much... for ex. if you look with Dell (which I think is quite close to Ubuntu: to have on the first webpage of Ubuntu.com with a computer with "XPS"...), there is only One computer available with Ubuntu pre-installed!! And this one hasn't got a glare screen!

I already send a mail to Dell, but they respond me that this model is no more sales, so they advise me to see for another newer model...

Why I write this post on the Ubuntu forum? Because, I don't know in which way Canonical is conducting Ubuntu...
Why did we have got Amazon by default in Ubuntu (I know that we can change it)... I am not sure that all users, developers and other involved people in Ubuntu are agreeing with it, even if "They did not complain". What will we have in the future, something like Google do, give free services, and one day, it stop it? for ex. as it happened with GoogeReader or GTalk. Or do we will see another OS, based on the Ubuntu source as we can see in some discussion forum? or as it happened with OpenOffice and LibreOffice?

I am really involved in opensource, I spend time to collect data, to write script for some software, I promote it, and that is not for the free cost, but more because I believe into the compatible formats.

So sorry to express my opinion on the Ubuntu forum, it is maybe not the better place, but in others, I don't think that is a better place because it is a discussion which concern mainly Ubuntu, did you prefer that I express my opinion in other forum to make a bad picture of Ubuntu? I can, but I don't want because I like Ubuntu even if I am not agreeing with all!

I think it is better to express the opinion, even if other people are not agree, sometimes it can avoid going into the wall.

Regards

[Peripheral Visionary]

The reason that Microsoft and Apple have operating systems that work better with hardware is because the operating systems are pre-installed and all the problems are fixed by the supplier before being sold to the public. What would you do if after buying that computer you discovered that there was a problem with the brightness settings? You would want your money back. True? So, the manufacturer makes sure that there are no problems like that before they put the product up for sale.


Now imagine needing to buy a new computer every 6 months just to keep the latest stuff on it (let's say you run a business that depends on being at least current if not cutting-edge). When the OS works perfectly on a new computer but gets borked by updates, you make take it back to the Geek Squad if it was a Windows box.

I understand Linux is free (as in cost) and might take a little work to get it running after some update breaks it, but the ideal for many users might be a pre-installed OS that doesn't have to be re-installed every so often. Rolling release - but rock stable - is probably what the OP is wishing for. I bet it's out there, but probably not pre-installed.

[MadmanRB]

but you dont need to buy a new computer every 6 months.
Just get complaint hardware, thats all you need.
Heck my hardware is mostly linux compliant, with the exception of the graphics card as its ATI/AMD and you know how proprietary hardware is on linux.
But that is no fault of linux, as most makers of these things dont think of linux users.
Hopefully with drivers becoming more open this will change

[cariboo]

Do your research, when buying a computer system, that may mean buying a desktop system, instead of a laptop, but make sure the hardware is supported. I'd suggest staying away from anything with ATI/AMD graphics, as they obsolete the graphics chipsets much quicker than Intel or Nvidia. Other than graphics adapters, the only bit of hardware the seems to give most people problems is wireless networking, make sure that you research what chipsets the systems you are considering have, and if they are supported.

[tgalati4]

Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is an ideal, but the reality is different as you have experienced. As much as you would like to promote it, there are stubborn issues that don't seem to get fixed. You mentioned screen brightness--that is often related to the lack of an "open" video driver to correctly control your video display. There are many issues with hardware in linux. It is getting better, but there is a lot of hardware out there that just won't work correctly with linux.

One way to promote FOSS is to build a server for your club, church, or workplace, and host a bunch of services. Then Mac, Windows, or linux computers can use the services through the web using any browser. Look through the popular apps availabe: http://bitnami.org/stacks. Most of them install easily and require minimal maintanence.

Everytime you get a Windows machine to fix, ask permission from the owner to install a spare tire on the machine. After a while the client will be using the spare tire full time. Of course, to install a dual-boot Ubuntu requires some expertise and you want to back up the client's data before messing with the machine.

[LordDelta]

Part of the problem with coming from a Windows or a Mac to a Linux machine is a change of culture.

You've done the right and respectable by coming to this forum and complaining. Its a start; not much of one, but a start.

You can try and purchase support, and I'm sure there are hundreds of people who'd just jump at the chance to become your part-time linux support if you can pay them enough, but the practical matter is that unlike systems that have tiered black box support, linux is entirely unlike that. Linux is practically the jailbreak of the Desktop; fantastic communities with smart, employable IT professionals who will run the entire company on linux without large expensive licensing costs, and lots of small communities offering small additional services. Its about building communities, plain and simple. You can choose to invest time in it yourself, like you have done; but no individual can move a mountain. You'd be better off if you let your whole family run it; chances are they'd end up teaching you a thing or two about it in the end.

That said Ubuntu has always put forth a fair effort to keep its systems simple and usable. We don't have your laptop, though, and we don't have a magic wand to wave that lets us know all of your problems, so either

1) you find someone else with your problems and work together towards a solution

2) you hire someone to fix your problem

Linux is Free as in Speech, not as in Beer. It takes hard work to become excellent at it. But you can turn around and sell that knowledge to anyone else. That used to be the spirit of Ubuntu, at least, one of community.

All that said, the LTS releases of Ubuntu in my experience are rock solid, and have pretty darn good hardware support. There are going to always be some odd hardware problems, but that will happen even on Windows/Mac. Just carry around 2 or 3 LTS versions of the cd, and don't let family run the non LTS versions if they aren't willing to put any more time than it takes them to check e-mail/social media into using the thing.

As for the actual question in the OP's thread title

I'm not Mark Shuttleworth, and I don't think many people understand what goes through his head, but this is the target audience I see for Ubuntu:

Users of relatively modern (made in the last 6 years) hardware, who have an eye for a simple, graphically exquisite, dependable experience, who want to be very adapatible.

The official stance (for the desktop) can be found here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam

However that says almost nothing, everyone wants to be 'simple and easy to use':

http://www.linuxmint.com/about.php

Started off as an Ubuntu spinoff, basically they have the same goals except, purportedly with a much, much stricter packaging system. So, they might well be much more rock solid than even LTS, but the price you pay is that you give up some of the freedom to do what you want on your system.

Personally I would not run an Ubuntu on an older bit of hardware (I have a machine that's about 9 years old now that runs a Debian release, I don't think it would do well with the Unity desktop, I know there is a fallback 2D mode, which I haven't tested, but I get the sense there would be other problems).