Converted my first windows user! (Also a suggestion)

[veratyr]

Got my friend to install ubuntu along side his windows XP install and he loves it. He's amazed at how much you can do in linux that you can't do in windows (for free anyway). He says synaptic is the best thing ever and he has allready set up his own webserver with PHP and and other stuff to test web pages on. One thing he pointed out to me was that certain things need to work better out of the box which I agree on. For example video codecs, dvd support, DMA, mp3 support in rhythmbox and sound juicer, and all the little other tweaks needed with a new install. Now I know due to licensing and all most of these arn't possible. But woudln't it be a good idea for example after a fresh install of ubuntu the user is displayed with a first time setup of most of these tasks? The user is asked if they would now like to install thrid party codecs, fonts, enable DMA, etc through a graphical wizard. I think this would be a great tool in easing the transition of new users from a windows environment that are used to things just working. It would prevent some of the early headaches and would give the user a more functional system out of the box.

[Brunellus]

Got my friend to install ubuntu along side his windows XP install and he loves it. He's amazed at how much you can do in linux that you can't do in windows (for free anyway). He says synaptic is the best thing ever and he has allready set up his own webserver with PHP and and other stuff to test web pages on. One thing he pointed out to me was that certain things need to work better out of the box which I agree on. For example video codecs, dvd support, DMA, mp3 support in rythmbox and sound juicer, and all the little other tweaks needed with a new install. Now I know due to licensing and all most of these arn't possible. But woudln't it be a good idea for example after a fresh install of ubuntu the user is displayed with a first time setup of most of these tasks? The user is asked if they would now like to install thrid party codecs, fonts, enable DMA, etc through a graphical wizard. I think this would be a great tool in easing the transition of new users from a windows environment that are used to things just working. It would prevent some of the early headaches and would give the user a more functional system out of the box.
1) Congratulations to you and your friend. He has just taken his first step into a wider world.

2) The legal ramifications of distributing multimedia codecs are something that Canonical probably doesn't want to be hit with. As the situation stands now, it's "leaderless resistance" as far as multimedia codecs is concerned. Once they're included in the main distribution, the organizations responsible for maintaining those packages become targets.

Many people are being told Ubuntu is a newbie-friendly distribution. This is only half-true: Ubuntu is a distribution that lets a newbie learn very quickly, and thus gain confidence. This is not the same thing as what, say, SuSE does, which is hold your hand with as many GUIs as they can manage right at the outset.

[veratyr]

I'm not talking about including these things in ubuntu. I think simply asking the user if they would or would not like to perform a few of the actions outlined in the ubuntu guide automatcially for them on first run for them. Wouldn't it essentially be legal if they can choose no and its simply performing steps people allready do after the fact? It's more along the lines of just informing the user that before these things will work you will have to perform these actions, Yes or No? I also agree with you that going through the steps in the guide at first do help you get comfortable with the basics. However for certain things that most people feel should just work out of the box, couldn't some compromise for improved functionality be granted in these small areas? The user can still learn a lot on their own when they go and choose to setup application "XYZ" after they have a configured system.

[aysiu]

Have you seen this?

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/printthread.php?t=22646

[veratyr]

No, but it is very interesting. However it still requires a new user to download and run a script which they may have no idea exists. If questions were asks and prompts given on first run the user would be informed of these certain needs.

[poofyhairguy]

Wouldn't it essentially be legal if they can choose no and its simply performing steps people allready do after the fact?.

No. Not for the codecs and stuff. Makes Ubuntu an accessory to a crime:


An accessory to a crime is any individual who knowingly and voluntarily participates in the commission of a crime.

By law, an accessory can be held as liable as the principle actor who carries out the criminal act.

http://www.criminal-law-lawyer-source.com/terms/accessory.html

Sorry, but thats the breaks.

[veratyr]

](*,) ...sigh

[xequence]

Congrats! I am trying to convert my 11 year old brother to linux ;-)

And I think installing the codecs sort of gets people into using the command line...

[poofyhairguy]

](*,) ...sigh

Thats why its important to use open codecs for your own work (if you do that sort of thing).

[Brunellus]

Congrats! I am trying to convert my 11 year old brother to linux ;-)

And I think installing the codecs sort of gets people into using the command line...
of all the things that finally got my 15 year old brother to ask me to install ubuntu on his computer (to dual-boot, naturally, with windows, because he still wants his games) it was...nethack. yes, nethack. No, not even a graphical version--the hard-core, text-mode version that launches from the command line.

Imagine that!

Nethack, and my GNOME Desktop (http://photos22.flickr.com/32026545_9a050a7d79_o.png) have caused him to think that Linux is cool. That and it looks like I run rings around him when I do stuff from the commandline.