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SunnyRabbiera
October 28th, 2007, 09:02 PM
alright here it goes:

Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?

Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?

Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?

Question 4:
How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
if Ubuntu is your first and only linux then ignore this one.

Question 5: what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?

Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?

Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?

-grubby
October 28th, 2007, 09:11 PM
Question 1:
10 years
Question 2:
Windows 95,98,2000,xp,MSN messenger,internet explorer,Office 2003
Question 3:
tried Safari
Question 4:
Damn Small Linux. doesn't work: sound,ease of use
Question 5:
ease of use,no viruses(tie)
Question 6:
the default theme
Question 7:
can't think of anything that MS or Apple could use
__________________

gn2
October 28th, 2007, 09:13 PM
1: 24 years

2: Lots. Too many to list

3: None

4: 1

5: Free as in beer

6: None

7: Why would I want an Ubuntu feature on Windows or Apple? I don't use either.

corney91
October 28th, 2007, 09:24 PM
1. 8/9 years at a guess
2. Win95,98,XP,Vista and the media players
3. Itunes, iPod
4. None extensively, although I do have many LiveCDs of various distros
5. Ease of use
6. People's perception of it (this goes to Linux in general)
7. Free (both senses I guess, but more in the beer sense)

Bruce M.
October 29th, 2007, 12:59 AM
Question 1: 26 years

Question 2: DOS (various versions), Windows (various versions), MS Office, MSIE, OutLook Express, everything else was 3rd party.

Question 3: 0

Question 4: 0 - Ubuntu is my first linux.

Question 5: 1. It's NOT windows, and does "everything" I need doing (so far)on my computer.

Question 6: Ubuntu has a drawback? Hmmmmm...

Question 7: Open sourse for windows, Apple has it.

Celegorm
October 29th, 2007, 01:41 AM
Question 1:
As long as I can remember, 16 years maybe?

Question 2:
DOS, windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, MS Office, IE, windows media player

Question 3:
IPod, ITunes, and to a limited extent on the school computers, OS X

Question 4:
Ubuntu was (more or less) my first.

Question 5:
The community. It was ease of use and installation when I first switched, though.

Question 6:
I can't think of anything but nitpicky stuff not worth mentioning.

Question 7:
Windows could really use workspaces, repositories, and a better command line (preferably more unix-like). Both windows and OS X could do with a bit of sliming down, or at least it would be nice if there were minimal, fast versions of them available, like what Fluxbuntu and Xubuntu are for Ubuntu. A removal of DRM would be great as well, especially for vista.

stalker145
October 29th, 2007, 01:50 AM
Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?

24 years.


Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?

A ton - Win 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT, 2K, XP, Vista, Office (most of them), ad nauseum.


Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?

A couple, though I don't remember the OS version. It was for a church I attended in California.


Question 4:
How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
if Ubuntu is your first and only linux then ignore this one.

A few - Arch, SimplyMepis, OpenSuse, Puppy, DSL. The thing that worked for me in Ubuntu was the community. I was lost when it came to Linux and I needed the help. The community provided just that.


Question 5: what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?

Definitely the community.


Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?

I would say advertising is about it - and that's being taken care of with Dell and other initiatives.


Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?

Transparency (as in allowing code to be shown) and community. Windows users are very much on their own from my personal experience. I can't really speak for Apple.

FuturePilot
October 29th, 2007, 01:55 AM
Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?
~14 years

Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?
Office, WMP, IE, Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, (Vista? does that count? haven't exactly used it for anything)

Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?
iTunes

Question 4:
How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
if Ubuntu is your first and only linux then ignore this one.
Linspire. (Touchpad, volume and multimedia buttons work perfectly in Ubuntu. Also had sound issues with Linspire)

Question 5: what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?
Hardware support and good compromise with restricted stuff. (no restricted stuff by default, but not a pain to install)

Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?
???

Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?

:-k

kostkon
October 29th, 2007, 02:05 AM
Question 1:
I started in 1989 (I was small), so let's say about 18 years.

Question 2:
Hmmm. If I count Windows 95, 98, ME, Age of Empires 1, 2 and 2 MS mice, then 7.

Question 3:
1 (an iPod)

Question 4:
2 (SUSE and Mandrake). Many things made me to come to Ubuntu.

Question 5:
The community, of course.

Question 6:
In my opinion (always): nothing else.

Question 7:
What else? The community!!

igknighted
October 29th, 2007, 02:12 AM
Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?

About 15 years.

Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?

Way too many to try to count.

Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?

Used? Quite a few. Owned? 3 (2 ipods and one iBook that I salvaged, but did not buy myself)

Question 4:
How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
if Ubuntu is your first and only linux then ignore this one.

4. Slackware 10.2 (couldn't get scroll wheel to work, due to my newbishness), Suse 9.x and 10 (Didn't understand why mp3's didn't play), Mandriva 2006 (Seemed nice, just didn't click with me) and Fedora Core 4/5 (Again, the mp3 thing). The Ubuntuforums were the first forums I found, so I stuck around. The distro is nothing special compared the others I used and I no longer use it, but the forums are near and dear to me.

Question 5: what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?

Community is active

Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?

The brown theme, and popularity amongst businesses and education institutions. It would help these places a lot with upkeep and then users would want it at home because they use it and love it at work.

Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?

Scrolling windows by hovering the mouse without changing focus, and highlight/middle click to copy/paste.

dmacdonald111
October 29th, 2007, 02:19 AM
Question 1:
Since I was 11. I never even knew what a computer was until I got to secondary school. (Yeah, I'm that old)

Question 2:
I've lost count. The amount of jobs I've had I think I've used most of them.

Question 3:
Er. Imagine 15 years ago and the standard graphics package they had on the mac. That's the only one I've used. And the last time I used a mac too.

Question 4:
I have tried using SO many, but what I did like was FoxLinux. But I use Ubuntu, as the ATI support is much better. Must get GForce.....

Question 5:
Hmmm. The support is great. The ability to use ALL of my hardware is also great. And the community :)

Question 6: The noob factor. I think that Ubuntu is doing a great job, but I think they are getting side-tracked to 'linux users' rather than the 'noob users'. If they could incorporate them, then ubuntu would outshine m$ even.

Question 7: Hmmm. Other than being able to run basic games, nothing. Oh, wait! We can! hehe

HermanAB
October 29th, 2007, 02:42 AM
Sonny, when I was your age, we used punch cards and paper tape for programs and the computers used thermionic valves and magnetic core memory.

I have never heard of Microsoft and an Apple is something you eat since it keeps the doctor away...
;)

SunnyRabbiera
October 29th, 2007, 06:16 AM
well if you guys are wondering why I am asking this, it is mainly from curiosity and also I think my husband might be interested in this as he is really considering linux at this point.
He really likes Ubuntu and PClinux and a few others I have used here, he will most likely go use Ubuntu as it seems to work better on his computer then PCLinux... he has a strange slowdown and driver issue with PCLinux that somehow Ubuntu can resolve, he wont install it yet though as I have told him about my issues with Gutsy.
Right now I am on Ubuntu Gutsy again to test out some possible longer term issues then the crossover and monitor issues I had with it, after a month or so and I dont have further issues he will most likely dual boot XP and Ubuntu as he really doesn't like Vista.
In his case he has used windows since 95 and barely knows anything else, I have given him tips on how to make Ubuntu work for him so there is no big deal on that one.
I might bring him on here someday to talk with you guys and with the guys on the other linux forums I go to and he can share some of his own stuff.

For the sake of fairness though I will answer my own questionare here so here it goes:

Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?
Roughly ten years

Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?
95, 98, ME, 2000, XP with IE, Office and outlook

Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?
itunes, quicktime, safari, Apple II, OS 8, OS 9, OSX

Question 4:
How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to PClinux, what works in PClinux that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
roughly 4, Yoper, Suse, Mepis, Ubuntu with Mandriva in between


Question 5: what is PCLinux's biggest strong point for you?
general ease of use compared to similar distributions

Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is PClinux's biggest drawback?
PCLOS library compared to others I have used like Debian and Ubuntu based distros

Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on PCLinux that you think windows or Apple could use?
The control center, and Synaptic.

back to my husband: if he does use ubuntu I am sure it will work for him as it has for me in the past.
I have tried a few others on his computer, sabayon seems to work fair for him, Mandriva works a tad better for him then PClinux but I have alerted him on how unstable it is (I used 2008 off and on and its shaky at best)
Linux mint also seems to work alright for him as does Mepis and Sidux, but he has mainly opted for Ubuntu as he is a little shaky on derivative distributions despite the fact I told him that Ubuntu is itself a derivative of Debian.
But he is very unsure on how linux variants are supported, he knows that Canonical is funded by Mark Shuttleworth and he knows that name as he is an astronaut.
I also told him of people like Ian Murdock, Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds but he knows Shuttleworth the most.

macogw
October 29th, 2007, 06:50 AM
Question 1:
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?
14 years

Question 2:
how many microsoft products have you used?
...a lot
windows 3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2k, xp, vista...thats 7
word 95, microsoft works (the old version in win 98 i liked), microsoft works (the new version in xp i hate)...thats 3 more
office 97, office 2003, office 2k7...3 more
flight sim, visual studio, msn explorer, msn messenger, age of empires...5 more
18 total

Question 3:
How many Apple products have you used?
apple //e platinum, macbook pro, iPod, os 8 (i think...), iPhone
5 total, i think

Question 4:
How many distributions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
Damn Small Linux is what I tried before Ubuntu, and I used it in Qemu. It was to be sure Linux had GUIs that were usable before making the switch. Since then, I've used Fedora, Sabayon, OpenSuSE, and Debian. Wireless (ipw2945) works out of the box, while Fedora and Debian need to have the firmware installed. That's no big deal, and I like that they have it all-free. I didn't try OpenSuSE on this hardware.

Question 5: what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?
Community. It has no technical merits over Debian, and I don't see Debian as being hard to use/install at all (when the hardware is supported, at least), but finding other Ubuntu users is really easy.

Question 6: what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?
It's not on the computers on the shelf when you walk into Circuit City or Best Buy or the campus bookstore.

Question 7: if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?
That's not a sentence. Windows desperately needs virtual desktops (the powertoy sucks and slows the system to a crawl!).

aysiu
October 29th, 2007, 06:58 AM
How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?
At home, since the mid-1980s. For both home and school, the late 1980s.

how many microsoft products have you used?
MS-DOS, 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Publisher... I can't name any more, but there have been more, trust me.

How many Apple products have you used?
A few iPods, some older Apples and Macs, a Mac Powerbook, an old iBook, iTunes, Mail, Safari...

How many distrobutions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?
I tried one before moving to Ubuntu. Mepis was good, but I like the documentation and community better with Ubuntu.

what is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?
The forums.

what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?
Too much hype. People expect it to be Windows but without problems. It isn't Windows, and it still does have problems.

if there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?
Package management

Scruffynerf
October 29th, 2007, 07:55 AM
Q1: How long have you used a computer at both home/ work/ school/ whatever?

Umm... since about 1981. So, about 26 years, give or take.

Q2: How many microsoft products have you used?

Probably about 8-10. Mostly Operating systems and office products (Office / Works / MS Money etc)

Q3: How many Apple products have you used?

Hardware: 3 - the tiny Apple, the Quattro or whatever it was called and the original iMac.
Software, about 5-6?

Q4: How many distributions of Linux have you tried before going to Ubuntu, what works in Ubuntu that doesn't work in the others you have tried?

3 All up. Tried Knoppix and Helix as forensics LiveCD's. Once looked at Red Hat (4.0?). The LiveCD's worked fine, couldn't get used to the crap naming conventions. Red Hat never worked. For Ubuntu, by and large, the stability, and also that there's a lot done under the hood for the new user. It's been a learning experience coming from Windows, however from what I've seen, Ubuntu is the easiest for someone migrating over.

Q5: What is ubuntu's biggest strong point for you?

The community support, and also the focus on ease of use for a non-linux "l33t hax0r"

Q6:what OTHER then games, hardware support, software support do you think is Ubuntu's biggest drawback?

Hmm.. other than the issues that you have cut out, probably the name and the brown. However, the problems facing linux adoption is the above. See, when people buy a new computer, or a device for their computer, such as a webcam or something, they want something that just works. They don't *care* if something is part of the kernel, or needs to run as 'ring 0' or in userspace or "it's not linux's fault, it's the hardware manufacturer's fault for not supporting linux" whatever, they want something that just works. Ubuntu is pretty good here, but suffers from the same problems as all the other distro's.

Q7 If there was a way to add one thing that you consider great on Ubuntu that you think windows or Apple could use?

In addition to package management as has already been mentioned, I think that both the other OS vendors could implement the security system/functionality that "sudo" and "su" manage to achieve.

Vista's UAC is largely a borked version of this, and I'm not sure what Apple's security system has these days.