What do your friends think of Linux/ Ubuntu?

[liquidfunk]

Personally my friends think I'm stupid for using it.

They say its stupid and nothing works for it, but in truth everything I use works. I mean I rarely play games on my computer. I have Photoshop working with Crossover, but aside from that its all Opensourse stuff.

It works wicked for me, I love the customization power you have. I only use my computer for Photo editting (Photoshop), IM and the net.

Why do people have such a big hate of free OS's?

[init1]

Yeah, I gave one friend some live cd's (feather and beatrix) so that she can bypass the password on her mother's computer. Another doesn't like linux, and yet another one loves it, but is somewhat noobish. He likes the gnome games, though.

[blackspyder]

The g/f hates it, the roommate thinks its a playtoy cuz it wont play his games. No one else i know even cares what OS they have. (I'm a diesel mechanic so most of my friends are mechanics too. Holley vs Eldabrock they understand, Linux vs Windows they have no clue as long as it plays music and shows pron they dont care)

[a12ctic]

Most of my friends respect it pretty well, a few of them have given it a shot but decided it just isnt for them being mostly gamers (the ones that have given it a shot at least). I don't really use any windows applications any more and i very rarely game. I did get oblivion running, but mostly just to proove i could.

[dewong numba]

Most don't understand it. Most don't understand computer at all anyway. Sheep.

[LightB]

the roommate thinks its a playtoy cuz it wont play his games.

Textbook irony!

[EdThaSlayer]

People here says it sucks. Just because its very different and they don't know how great it is.

[NfF]

Personally i think Ubuntu is a better software than Windows, cuz the moment i first saw the ubuntu interferance, i tot"wow, cool graphics.Bet Quake 4 runs better in this".Also one of the most simplest OS to start with, but also it's weaknesses are the drivers, and it's so hard to install prgrms. Like to play my Chris Dauhgry mp3, i have to download a software, which takes time, and some ppl may not have the time 2 do this, like.

Pls support more file formats(WMA,windows.exe,mp3) without downloading Ubuntu!! plzz...

[RAV TUX]

Personally my friends think I'm stupid for using it.

They say its stupid and nothing works for it, but in truth everything I use works. I mean I rarely play games on my computer. I have Photoshop working with Crossover, but aside from that its all Opensourse stuff.

It works wicked for me, I love the customization power you have. I only use my computer for Photo editting (Photoshop), IM and the net.

Why do people have such a big hate of free OS's?
All my friends either use Ubuntu or some other form of Linux.

Perhaps you should pick better friends.

There is an old Russian saying:


"You are as you friends are"

[Bartender]

All my friends either use Ubuntu or some other form of Linux.

ALL your friends!?! I can't get anyone to show any interest. I brought my desktop into work a few weeks ago and set it up at breaktime. Nobody even came over to poke at it.

My parents think it'd be too hard. An older guy I know says he's sticking with Windows because they're a big company that can spend the time and money to fix problems when viruses attack.

[RAV TUX]

ALL your friends!?! I can't get anyone to show any interest. I brought my desktop into work a few weeks ago and set it up at breaktime. Nobody even came over to poke at it.

My parents think it'd be too hard. An older guy I know says he's sticking with Windows because they're a big company that can spend the time and money to fix problems when viruses attack.

I have acquantices that don't know what Linux is, have never heard of Wikipedia, but I wouldn't call them friends just acquantices.

[spamzilla]

All my mates are either Windows fanboys or know nothing about computers, so I rarely bring up the topic. When I do bring up the topic, their response is similar to 'lol linux' or 'yeah but I want vista'

...very valid responses lol

[bonzodog]

My friends are 'indifferent' to it.

One wants me to put it dual boot on his cybercafe computers (all Ati boxes - mobos, graphics, the lot).

The other one doesn't currently use it, but has done, and likes it. It's just impractical for his college course at the moment.

Yes, I have just two friends in RL.

[mangar]

My computer literate friends see it as a waste of time - that Linux don't have any user visible advantage.
My non computer literate friends got quite excited over Comiz/Beryl, and thought it was amazing - OpenOffice gave one cold feet, and another one needed specialized economic software, so it was out of the question.

My gf thinks it's very nice, and actually likes it, but she needs spss and some ie specific sites, so it's a no-go for her.

[xpod]

Most of my mates down here in London dont really use computers.Not quite the geeky circles that many of you move in though;)
I have about a dozen neighbours & family members with computers but their knowlage of the things generally ends at solataire & msn.

The only real person that gives me any grief about Ubuntu(s) is my dear wife:D

The first computer last year was really her decision
The second she understood
The third she complained about
The 4th & 5th i had to get rid of again(mostly)

The joys of having a large family eh
Coming home to Ubuntu on her beloved TV last week though was just about the final straw:twisted:

[daynah]

The majority of my friends are Windows fanboys. They are excited about Vista. One of them wants to work on Windows Mobile. My boyfriend is not a computer geek. e was the one who had 3 My Documents if ya'll are keeping up. If he were on linux, I would not let him learn sudo. The others are better at linux than I...

But for some dumb reason don't use it!

I'm working on them first. Sigh.

[Warpnow]

I'm pretty young, so knowing so much more about computers than the people my age that I know, when I say its good, they generally don't question it...because eventually they'll need their pcs fixed when they mess them up.

[morghi76]

None of my friends uses Linux. Not because they are windows fans. They actually hate windows. But they are scared about all the settings you might have to go through. They are more likely to go for Apple's OS X.
My girlfriend trusted me and liked the idea of "freedom OS" for free. So I set up her computer and she liked it.
I think this is the major issue: only computer geeks will decide to dual-boot or whatsoever. For normal users being supported in their decisions by a skilled guy is a must.
I will try to invite my father in the huge Linux community. We'll see!

[Nekiruhs]

When I had Ubuntu on my lappy, well, when it was working actually, people would come up and be like "OMG, is that teh ******* Vistas?". Yeah, real smart bunch. But my friends, they respect it they just don't want it, gamers that they are, Although I have given out about 12 live.linuXgamers.net DVDS (Boot 'n play)

[23meg]

Everyone who's half seriously into computing who has seen me using Ubuntu is using it now.

[liquidfunk]

"Perhaps you should pick better friends". - Hmm I don't really think thats possible.

[Ultra Magnus]

When I say I'm running Linux I usually get "Is that the one with the penguin?" or just "why?" - Having shown people my computer with Ubuntu on (usually with beryl to show case the eye candy - everything seems to be transparent these days) they usually ask what version of windows that is but usually think its pretty cool (I was told I must be some kind of hacker?!) - although my girlfriend really like it (without beryl) so I suppose its a matter of how much you're used to doing things a certain way - also some of my firends are gamers who would use whatever OS had the best games - in this case windows.

[Tachyon_]

I'm a bit suprised about the attitude towars ubuntu among the normal users. I have my whole family "converted", but I think I could sum up my computer skilled friends' thoughts with two words:


mostly harmless

"Sure it's nice to run irssi server with old hardware, but what's the advantage (I can install AV, need this program and I can reboot), when I see only disadvantages (games)?" could be longer explanations.

[strabes]

I installed ubuntu 7.04 on my parents' and sisters' computer so that I wouldn't have to get rid of viruses/malware on their computers all the time. Both of them didn't really care and have been using it happily without any problems for >10 months. Very few of my friends are into computers, but the one that is easily switched and now uses it almost full time I believe. Last year on my floor at college several of my friends installed it on their computers and use it part-to-full time as well, but they had already heard about linux and were already partially interested, I was just the motivator I guess.

[fuscia]

my friends never heard of it. they all think i'm some kind of computer wiz. "in the kingdom of the blind, the guy with the white stick is king."

[RedNikon]

The typical response is, “Linux is gay” which is usually followed by, “Vista is getting on my nerves.” To which I reply, “I don’t have that problem with Ubuntu.” But they, the ignorant masses, ignore my suggestions. They continue to flock to Microsoft® like a moth to flame, shelling out hundreds of dollars for so-called “quality” software. And being drained even more to “increase” their productivity, with programs like Microsoft® Office©, Adobe® Acrobat© and Photo Shop©, and paying even more to do “unique” things like converting files to PDF©.

Though I guess if the imperialist truly had their way I would have to pay Microsoft® 10¢ everytime I used their name or even mentioned Windows©. I say Ubuntu is just as if not more “powerful, productive, unique, and valuable.

Microsoft® Windows© Vista© $500
Adobe® Photo Shop© $250
Microsoft® Office© $350

Not having to pay a thing for the same features

Priceless

[Zzl1xndd]

In my group of friends most people are very respective although the great majority of my Friends either have a great knowlege of computing or Have come to except that I know more then they do ;) .

Although with the groups of people I normally hang out with I would say there are more Linux and OSX users then Windows users and the Windows users are doing it because they need too not beacuse they want too.

[SonicSteve]

I get a very mixed response. One friend my own age has enough interest to play with it once in a while though I'm not sure it will ever go beyond that.
Some teens I know are gamers and as we all know Linux is not for gamers, at least not yet.
Other teens are in love with MS office 2k7. They tell me I don't know what I'm missing. Truthfully I don't care about what I'm missing. I do know that I'm not missing the bill of $400 every few years to buy the MS upgrade versions.
I don't miss the HDD thrashing when windows resumes from hibernate or sleep mode either. I still have a laptop running windows XP, it's not as reliable as my Ubuntu machines.

A colleague of mine is quite apprehensive about Linux in General. He's played with it but he's not currently running it.

[stalker145]

My acquaintances that know something about computers are amazed that I have made the jump to Linux. They listen patiently to me as I remind them that I no longer need to wipe everything and reinstall due to some virus/spyware/general-nastiness trashing my OS. I have seen a couple of them dipping their toes in the waters of Linux, but no one has yet to dive in.

My acquaintances that know nothing about computers just ignore me and click <Start>.

My wife wants to kill me because her OS is falling apart and I've told her that the next thing that I do to fix her computer will be to install Ubuntu... it's still falling apart today.

[Fenryr]

My parents think it'd be too hard. An older guy I know says he's sticking with Windows because they're a big company that can spend the time and money to fix problems when viruses attack.


Funny, I recently started using Linux precisely BECAUSE of security issues...Back in the day, I worked a lot with military-grade crypto, I'm a hardcore advocate of digital privacy, and Linux (Ubuntu 6.06) seems to offer a LOT more flexibility in these areas...Even under Windows, I use Firefox with several security/privacy add-ons to avoid adware, virii, spyware, and to secure a degree of anonymity that you just can't GET under the 'mom & pop' operating systems...I DO game a bit, and if Square-Enix ever ports FFXI into a linux client, I'll happily toss the REST of Micro$oft's crap right out the window...So to speak...*g*

[hellmet]

Everyone who's half seriously into computing who has seen me using Ubuntu is using it now.
Exactly. The rest of them are simply plain not serious about what they have on their Computers.

[mips]

I DO game a bit, and if Square-Enix ever ports FFXI into a linux client, I'll happily toss the REST of Micro$oft's crap right out the window...So to speak...*g*

Why not try WINE and if that is not possible install windows in virtual machine and then play FFXI from there. No need to dualboot anymore to play the game.

It's not like it's a 3d intensive game ?

[bobbocanfly]

All of my mates are shocked by how good the Beryl Cube looks and how much different my Gnome desktop looks to XP. None of them woukd install it though too scared of losing their trusty XP or Vista partitions.

[brim4brim]

None of my friends have installed it. They like it but only my techy friends (as in fellow Computer Science graduates). House mates think it is fugly out of the box.

[mips]

House mates think it is fugly out of the box.

Have to agree with them.

[b0ng0]

Well the ones who are slightly geeky and most into computers think it's cool and realise how awesome free software is. The ones who aren't so much into computer stuff think it's pointless since Windows works and supports more programs so why not just stick with it.

[DirtDawg]

The ones who aren't so much into computer stuff think it's pointless since Windows works and supports more programs so why not just stick with it.

Sweet Satan that really sums things up. I have one friend who's outright hostile toward Linux. He likes to pretend he knows what he's talking about since one time, 5 years ago, he built his own (el crappo) computer. But he displays his total lack of understanding when he says things like, "Linux sucks. They (the developers) don't even write it so iTunes works on it!" I mean, c'mon. Is he really that stoopid? (btw, the correct answer is, "yes")

What's really a drag, is he's always on the lookout for Linux issues when he visits so he can complain. I tried setting up a game of PrBoom (a Doom engine) over a LAN one night so we could drink whiskey and murder each other. Of course, it didn't work properly so it was, "oh man, Linux sucks so bad, blah blah dar dar duh dee dar." Ugh. Shut up.

My wife gets frustrated at finicky printer behavior and erratic multimedia support (as do I), but she's usually patient and Linux has grown on her over the last couple years.

Rav Tux says people like me should try to get better friends, which is precisely what I've decided to do. I live in Portland so I know there's plenty of like-minded enthusiasts here. I just need to find them. It's bad for the heart to be surrounded by people with no appreciation for the work I've done and knowledge I've acquired using Linux.

[bsund]

i remember it was some time ago now.. i think it was around 1999-2000..

we were some pals doing lan partys..

anyhow one time everyone started to show of there windows themes and stuff.. and i had linux and enlightenment with a real slick theme using duel-boot.. so they came to me when i had windows (gaming lan :P) running they was like "k you are using default theme" and then i booted linux and showed off enlightenment ^^

the respons i got was a long silence then they went to their comps muttering hehe :D

i bet that gave them some taste of linux hehe :)

but times change and now ppl start asking me about linux.. they say the saw/heard about it and it seems nice since they only surf and watch media so why pay the expense from m$..

so GNU/Linux is really on the move now on consumer side :KS

[b0ng0]

People feel like if something doesn't cost money and isn't made by a large company then it must be two-bit, buggy and not as professional. That's the impression I have gained from a few people when I've told them I use it. The usual response is "What's the point when you have Windows and it does everything I need it to?", to which I reply with a swift roundhouse kick to the face.

[Sayers]

All my friends either use Ubuntu or some other form of Linux.

Perhaps you should pick better friends.

There is an old Russian saying:

But I can't pick a differnt family :P :P :P

[Depressed Man]

Most of my friends don't know much about computers. My friends that do like Linux (though they play games that require DirectX so they stick with WIndows).

My dad doesn't like it though.

[Sp4cedOut]

The people I've talked to have the impression that people who use Linux are really good with computers.

[Sp4cedOut]

Most don't understand it. Most don't understand computer at all anyway. Sheep.

I don't think that's fair. Some people just aren't interested in computers. Others might call you a sheep because you can't name all the president's cabinet members (don't know what going on around the country), don't know the current leader of Pakistan, never read Marx's manifesto, etc...

The point is, different people have different interests.

[Alexander2007]

My friends think its different.

[Dimitriid]

Most of them are looking forward since I promised to install it on their computers. The reason? All their email accounts and comunications have been compromised because of their political ideas by parties unknown and they realize Windows right now is a security liability.

[pluviosity]

I was actually introduced to Ubuntu by one of my friends who is an OSX fanboy. Since I've been using Ubuntu, though, it's been growing on him :) Everyone else else I know either likes what they are using now or doesn't know what Linux is (I haven't been big on spreading it).

[kop316]

I've had a bunch of different responses from it sucks to its really cool.

I think my favorite story for this is my room mate for a while did not have his own computer so I let him use mine. When he got his computer back he actually asked me if I would install Ubuntu on it for him.

[gizmoarena]

i feel proud to say that, around 15 of my friends are using ubuntu regularly just because I suggested them. :D

[diesel1]

I have a couple (both 60+) next door, who run mandrake 10.2, I built the system and installed Mandrake for them. They like it how it is and don't want to change! They also share my ADSL, over wifi.

My parents run Kubuntu Edgy on a system I built. They had a Windows XP machine that was a nightmare to maintain. I said try Kubuntu and see what you think. They get much more real use out of their computer now. It does what they tell it and they don't have to worry about viruses, also they have everything bolted down network-wise.

My cousin has a Fiesty Fawn installation but still goes back to Windows even though it always lets him down.

A few other friends have LiveCDs of K/Ubuntu but I don't know if they use them.


Diesel1.

[cmat]

Everyone I know either bought Vista and returned it or didn't even bother upgrading. So my use of Linux peaked their attention and they will change when there are more commercial games (I told them to get a really hobby :) ) and software like Photoshop is available. The GIMP may be good but it's no Photoshop.

[Pitbull11188]

I attempted to use xp on my toshiba p205-s6337 just for games, and apparently the laptop needs vista drivers. So then I installed vista (which came with it), and at first I was impressed b/c they made it look nice and added a couple more functional features compared to XP.

Then I couldn't play any game in xp compatibility mode and there was no virtual desktops nor middle click pasting. Then I kept getting BS alerts and I needed to give every cd I put in and every program I clicked the ok to run, some even twice...once to allow it to run and once to make sure you clicked it.

Needless to say I had 7.04 back on my computer 3 hours after removing it.

back in the day (about 3 years ago) all of my video game nerdish friends decided to go for linux after they all loved firefox. They never took the time to learn how to use it and they couldn't play everquest and all those types of games. So they all switched back. I really think that there is no reason to NOT use linux if you're not a gamer.

[liquidfunk]

Latest response from a friend on this topic.

After seeing my Kiba-dock and beryl/ wobbly windows.

She says "Jeez, and I thought my computer was good".

Followed by "How much did you pay for that?!"

My reply. Nothing.

Pop this CD in, and BANG! The magic happens.

:KS

[teh'p3nsi0n3r]

I guess it really just depends what people used to as in alot of my friends who use windows aren't really computer literate don't really care for computer jargon which is fair enough, some of my friends who are appreciate Linux and reply with "i know its better but windows runs this blah blah" although i've mentioned alternatives which do exactly the same they still wont change,

although i have a few experiences to share....

Recently my dad (who uses xp) wanted to get rid of an old machine to give to my aunt and turned me and asked me to put kubuntu on it for him.
I did ask him why he wasnt putting his trusty "xp" on the pc of course, turns out he didn't have an xp licence for putting xp on the pc :lolflag:
so to follow up this story, my aunt who isnt really good with computers only wanted it for msn, email and general internet usage. After showing her how to launch the applications she needed shes been happy with it ever since.

Same goes with my friend who is quite computer literate, loves firefox, and after intorducing him to pidgin on my Ubuntu desktop install he loved it, but he preferred kde on my laptop ended up installing kubuntu and now loves amarok over his previous usage of media player, and prefers kopete to pidgin :) so i have converted a few, and couple of others who are interested.

One person who doesn't like photoshop's interface needed a program that could do more than basic image editing but not to powerful, i suggested gimp and now loves it :KS

[s1mple_M4N]

My wife took a little while to get used to Ubuntu, but she likes it now - no more "honey, the computer's crashed!". My 11-yr-old step-son thinks Ubuntu is cool!

I have a friend who works for a PC repair company locally who I have showed Ubuntu to. He is still a bit iffy about linux, but is warming to the idea.

Other friends are regular home users, and when they ring me with computer problems I suggest Ubuntu and they actually get a bit frightened!

[Compucore]

A professor of mine likes it. I had brought it into a place that he was doing some concelling for setting up certain projects and all that. And needed to borrow my laptop to do some number crunching while at the client place. I was helping him out with some other things at the same time at the clients place. When he had seen it and used it a bit there. Thought it was good to use and ased if he could get a copy of the same OS. Burnt it for him on cd. And at work for one of my contracts as well saved a colleagues behind too for getting access to a hard drive that was not able to access after a virus attack they had there. Now they have a copy as a back up in such a case. And she is trying to get them converted over to linux. Since it is more feasable for a law firm than using windows. environment.

COmpucore

[sunexplodes]

Most of my friends don't have an opinion, because the majority of them are musical or arty people who don't really care much about computers.

The exceptions of course, are as follows:

My roommate Mike, loves it. I converted him to Ubuntu shortly after I started using it last September. He's a fairly techy guy, a hobbyist php dev, old-school gamer, etc. He saw it running on my machine, and he put it on one of his two machines and loves it. He tried to use Ubuntu Studio to replace his recording setup on his other machine, but says the apps are a little too "clunky", but he's excited to see how they develop in the future, and wants to be completely rid of MS once the audio software catches up to the quality of Adobe Audition.

My friend Tim builds and sells budget Linux systems over in Toronto, to reasonable success, and works in a place called The Linux Caffe.

My girlfriend thinks it's nice, but she likes her iMac better.

[liquidfunk]

Having recently had a few parties. On LAN playing Unreal. I got mixed responses.

Some were, your computer is so fast, considering what mine has inside it.

Wow! That is so cool - About Beryl.

The worst one, bit of an insult: Whats that, is that the new Windows Vista. The cheek.

Have nearly converted my girlfriends mum to it too. She likes the idea of Dell selling it prepackaged and the lack of viruses.

Magic.:KS

[guguma]

All of the people I know thinks that GNU/LINUX (Not only Ubuntu) is great. But there are some problems with it which I agree.

1. The hardware producers colossaly hampers the development of GNU/LINUX.

(I cannot imagine the rate of converts if game producers produced games for GNU/LINUX, and of course included that NVIDIA and ATI provided drivers)

2. Documentation is fine but not good. You just want to do a simple task and there are thousand DIFFERENT documentations on it. But of course this is an outcome of the first reason.

And of course as long as most documentation is on Ubuntu, we prefer ubuntu. But I myself personally giving a try on Linux From Scratch.

[UI-Freak]

None of my friends care about other OS'es, and they have no reason to. Their software runs on Windows (academics), not Linux, and they have licenses for everything from work. They are not "casual users" that only surf and mail, they do use software of all sorts, and THEY have no use for Ubuntu og Mac at all.

An OS is not stronger than the software available for it, and they just cannot use Linux software for much.

Linux is great if you want a safe OS or if you are on a very low budget, but if you need Windows software for your work etc. etc. then it is simply not an option.

[g2g591]

You don't need windows software for 90% of everything you can do on a computer, 5% of that stuff involves virus, 4% DRM, the other 1% is for tasks programmers havn't made linux software for yet.

[drbraniac]

My friends are hardcore PC gamers (as in, they play games that are only available on Windows systems), but they think Linux seems cool. They're a bit intimidated by Linux as well, despite my insistence that Linux of certain flavours (particularly of the Ubuntu variety) aren't that difficult to use.

Some of them are fed up with their experience with viruses, spyware/adware, and other threats on Windows and would love to switch, but it's as if they were chained to Windows with their games. Which is understandable, but I'm not much of a gamer myself, so I wouldn't really know.

I told them they could dual-boot, but from their reaction to the phrase "dual-boot" ---> :confused: "Wotsthat?," I'm not sure they would know how exactly to go about that. :p

[Warren Watts]

I only have a couple of friends who are computer savvy. I don't even bother trying to introduce Ubuntu/Linux to the rest of the people I know. To them, a computer IS Windows.

In the three months or so since I switched to Ubuntu, I bet this one particular friend of mine has re-installed Windows on all of his computers at least once, but every time I mention Ubuntu, his argument is "I think it would be too hard to install"... *sigh*


My wife took a little while to get used to Ubuntu, but she likes it now - no more "honey, the computer's crashed!".
A fitting comment; I have made believers out of my entire family. My wife and kids won't even use Windows any more!

[buzzmandt]

my parents are running pclinuxos...
I'm installing ubuntu on my brothers pc next time he's in....
2 hard core gaming friends run ww2 online, says when i get that game to work they'll take it.....
another friend wants a computer just to have it after he saw beryl on mine.....

that pretty well sums it up

[misfitpierce]

I actually talked a good friend of mine into buying a Dell Ubuntu laptop and she loves it to death. :)

[Quillz]

None of my friends know what Ubuntu and/or Linux is.