Ubuntu screenshot in Yahoo Tech article

[sipirilin]

I don't normally post here, but today I read an article on Yahoo that had an Ubuntu screenshot in it. Any publicity is good publicity? Right?

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/still-on-windows-xp-heres-some-bad-advice-80911845810.html (https://www.yahoo.com/tech/still-on-windows-xp-heres-some-bad-advice-80911845810.html)

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

The article is about replacing Windows XP. Not all publicity is good. Not when it is labelled "Bad idea #3: Move to Linux" and goes on to say "But here’s why it’s a bad idea: It really is a platform for nerds."

Edit: the picture is of Ubuntu (Unity) which probably will not run on a lot of old XP boxes. Why not a picture of Lubuntu?

[eldavar]

Not for nothing, but I think the author's decision to use an Ubuntu screenshot when mentioning Linux in general goes to show that Ubuntu (to most of the uninitiated public) is the #1 household name when it comes to Linux. The author could have easily used a screenshot from any number of other distros. The fact that he chose Ubuntu speaks volumes. So, even though the article itself doesn't portray Ubuntu in a positive light, the fact that Ubuntu was used as the image is a testament to its position in the realm of Linux distros.

Just my 2¢ here...

[3rdalbum]

I can confirm that Linux is a platform for nerds. I tried a recent version, Linux® Ubuntu™ 5.10, and I had to put something into the terminal to get my floppy disk drive to work. Obviously Linux is too heavily geared towards nerds, and only when you can accomplish floppy disk mounting without a command-line will it be really ready for prime time.

[Eddie Wilson]

What is so sad about this article is that it does have some untruths and there is no way to correct the author's mistakes. No comments section. Modern LInux distros such as Ubuntu are very user friendly and can be installed by someone with a knowledge of general computer operations. Furthermore Windows XP programs can be made to run on a LInux distro and even an Apple computer by using Crossover. Another thing that he commented on that will cause some people problems is a lot of XP machines will not be able to run Windows 7. Many would need to use a lighter LInux distro such a Lubuntu or Xubuntu. Hopefully not many will take stock in this article and will seek further information.

[Eddie Wilson]

I can confirm that Linux is a platform for nerds. I tried a recent version, Linux® Ubuntu™ 5.10, and I had to put something into the terminal to get my floppy disk drive to work. Obviously Linux is too heavily geared towards nerds, and only when you can accomplish floppy disk mounting without a command-line will it be really ready for prime time.

I love it. :D I had the same problem in 5.04. Those were the days. I even remember my first punch card experience.

[LillyDragon]

Suggesting Ubuntu, the most user-friendly distro out there, is harder to use than Windows, is very uninformed. I had a far easier time installing Ubuntu on my new hard drive than I would have with Windows, and I have all the software I need.

Although I do agree with the article author that users would need some time to find all new software to do their work, and not quite everyone has the time for that; so his point does still stand for casual desktop owners needing to make the switch from XP on short notice. I admit, I fumbled around with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS for at least four months before I found every open source analog to my favorite apps that I needed, and WINE helped me avoid filling in a couple more blanks too.

I still feel like it was worth it for me, at least. Ubuntu is my favorite OS and I feel so comfortable doing everything from it natively on my PC. I think my hard drive with Win7 is collecting dust. :P

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

Suggesting Ubuntu, the most user-friendly distro out there, is harder to use than Windows, is very uninformed. I had a far easier time installing Ubuntu on my new hard drive than I would have with Windows, and I have all the software I need.

Although I do agree with the article author that users would need some time to find all new software to do their work, and not quite everyone has the time for that; so his point does still stand for casual desktop owners needing to make the switch from XP on short notice. I admit, I fumbled around with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS for at least four months before I found every open source analog to my favorite apps that I needed, and WINE helped me avoid filling in a couple more blanks too.

I still feel like it was worth it for me, at least. Ubuntu is my favorite OS and I feel so comfortable doing everything from it natively on my PC. I think my hard drive with Win7 is collecting dust. :P
this i agree with, the writer has probably never even booted a ubuntu os in the past 5 years
i switched to ubuntu when 9.04 was current which was great, never game me any issues, i moved to 10.04 for a couple years untill it was too dated to get the job done (mainly media codecs) then i moved to xubuntu 12.10 -> 13.04 -> 13.10 and will be on 14.04 hopefully by the end of the month
i used 9.04 on a Pentium 4 system (dell optiplex gx270) and it was better than windows, linux can get 1080p out of that integrated gpu windows xp cant get but a measly 1366x768
that old system can run xubuntu no problem, i plan to get these up and running again with 14.04 after i replace some bad caps and get a HDD for them

i hav my mom using xubuntu, her computer skill are well below the typical windows users level to put it politely

[QIII]

I can confirm that Linux is a platform for nerds. I tried a recent version, Linux® Ubuntu™ 5.10, and I had to put something into the terminal to get my floppy disk drive to work. Obviously Linux is too heavily geared towards nerds, and only when you can accomplish floppy disk mounting without a command-line will it be really ready for prime time.

Foaming soda squirting out of nose and splashing on keyboard ...

[monkeybrain20122]

Yeah right Linux is for nerds. My friend got a refurbished laptop for $150 with XP and a bunch of crapware on it. He got a virus on the very first day. I told him to either take it back to the store and asked for an up to date OS (and possibly for free as they shouldn't have sold him a laptop coming with an OS that would expire in one week) or I could install Lubuntu for him. He had no idea what Linux or Lubuntu was but went along with the lubuntu option after trying out the live usb (everything worked out of the box). After a few days he is touching up photos with gimp and editing movies with OpenShot. :)

BTW, I think there is a difference between a geek and a nerd. :)

[LillyDragon]

I can confirm that Linux is a platform for nerds. I tried a recent version, Linux® Ubuntu™ 5.10, and I had to put something into the terminal to get my floppy disk drive to work. Obviously Linux is too heavily geared towards nerds, and only when you can accomplish floppy disk mounting without a command-line will it be really ready for prime time.

I've only been using Ubuntu since 8.04, but I probably would have loved and hated 5.xx versions at the same time. It's easy to take auto-mounting drives for granted these days.


this i agree with, the writer has probably never even booted a ubuntu os in the past 5 years
i switched to ubuntu when 9.04 was current which was great, never game me any issues, i moved to 10.04 for a couple years untill it was too dated to get the job done (mainly media codecs) then i moved to xubuntu 12.10 -> 13.04 -> 13.10 and will be on 14.04 hopefully by the end of the month
i used 9.04 on a Pentium 4 system (dell optiplex gx270) and it was better than windows, linux can get 1080p out of that integrated gpu windows xp cant get but a measly 1366x768
that old system can run xubuntu no problem, i plan to get these up and running again with 14.04 after i replace some bad caps and get a HDD for them

i hav my mom using xubuntu, her computer skill are well below the typical windows users level to put it politely

All the issues I had with 8.04 disappeared with the release of 9.04, it was a solid OS. (In 8.04, I had to enable Advanced Power Management over ACPI, and disable IRQ polling to get my ethernet card to cooperate.) Everything on my desktop just worked, I loved it. I didn't even have to install drivers for my scanner, or my USB-modded XBOX controller, those worked out of the box too! Can't say the same for Windows, you need loads of drivers for this and that before your desktop is ready.

So Windows Vista on my desktop went hasta la vista, good riddance! I only kept Windows XP for software that didn't work in WINE properly at the time, (Game Maker 5.3a) but now that works too, so no need for XP in a Virtual Machine.

Kudos to your mom too. Seems like Linux has a way of teaching you more about the system you're using, so computers aren't scary, fragile glass boxes anymore that need to have the whole machine replaced if you get a virus. Using Windows since I was old enough to read didn't teach me squat about PCs, honestly. The bulk of what I know now came from when I started reading about Linux at age 16.

[bashiergui]

Obviously Linux is too heavily geared towards nerds, and only when you can accomplish floppy disk mounting without a command-line will it be really ready for prime time. LOL bleeding edge!

[WogBoy]

Not true It's not just for nerds, I am new to Linux and I use Kubuntu LTS, I use a 3g ZTE modem to connect to the net sometimes and it was easy to setup.
I plugged the modem in. A few seconds later an info box poped up saying it was detected, I clicked the internet icon in the bottom right panel and selected manage connections. Then all I had to do was select my carrier and the plan I was on ( the country was autoselected for me) then I hit connect and it did. If thats nerdy .....
Oh yes I also found an app in muon package manager that allows me to log into my account and recharge it, To configure this I had to read a wiki so I could find my carriers settings. ..... OMG I am a nerd..


The nerds will tell you it’ll do everything that XP will do. They’re right.

Yes So true. There is no reason the avarage user cant use Linux. By avarage I mean Mr and Mrs Avarage who surf the net do emails watch movies that sort of thing and lets be honnest here how many avarage users actually use MS office as it was intended.

[carl4926]

Obviously a OS X nerd and a looser. Uninformed and taking backhanders more than likely.

[mastablasta]

well about most people/friendly "know about windows"- we have a local community forums that have computers sections. almost every answer to every probelm there is either "stop downloading torrents man! ahahaha" or "try to reformat the drive and reinstall Windows. see if that helps".

among others our IT support at work (where everyone knows something about widnows computers) is laughable. my colleague - i need help my computer is just rebooting for no reason. what they do? check if she has any movies stored on compute. when they don't find anything the decide to monitor the machine remotely (log?) and find otu that the porblme is in networking. as every once in a while the netowork link is cut. an interesting observaiton - a link is cut because computer rebooted.

or "my computer is extremely slow (indicating hard disk faulure)" - again they check if there is any photos, mp3 files or movies on disk. you know, those can slow down the disk the guy told me. after they can't find the error, they upgraded RAM. sure enough a week later total disk failure.

[WogBoy]

my computer is extremely slow (indicating hard disk faulure)
Sorry to argue here. But on Windows that can mean the pc is infected by malware. I found that out the hard way when my Windows pc got infected after I downloaded a "free" dock like cairo dock, I had 17 instances of scvhost.exe, Plus Ask toolbar A registry editor a pc optimiser And Conduit all trying to run on my pc All installed by default without my approval, It took 5 minutes to boot, and clicking on the firefox shortcut resulted in a 3 minute wait thats if the pc didnt crash. I went to a help forum and they aided me in cleaning up my pc, The result after the final reboot was like a new pc. 2 years latter the Hard Drive is still fine.

[LillyDragon]

again they check if there is any photos, mp3 files or movies on disk. you know, those can slow down the disk the guy told me.

People like that must extract their knowledge on electronics from the Fiction section of a book store. I know relatives like this, and it outright disgusts me.

The only reason the family PC ever had to be reformatted three times was because of bogus torrents that were infected with exotic malware. (Haven't pirated programs ever again after discovering Linux and open source software.) The hard drive itself is still going several years later, after regularly reinstalling PC games, burning/copying DVDs, which involves huge temporary cache files, converting video formats, daily photo transfers, database work, web surfing, and so on. I did much the same on my own PC for three years, on top of installing OSes left and right while distro hopping.

So I agree with WogBoy. Actually using your hard drive for what it's intended for, storing things, doesn't kill it. Even reckless, unsafe pirating and web surfing on an easily exploited OS doesn't do that.

[jbaerboc]

I love how the author doesn't give much in the way of solid information on the Ubuntu portion of the article. He just makes blanket statements like "its for nerds" and "none of your software will work". Well firefox, chrome, thunderbird, etc...works fine. And the majority if not all the XP users I know are simple web browsers and email viewers. The author was pretty obviously a Mac Centric person because I'm sorry but Mac is not remotely similar to XP and yet he said it is.