Ubuntu Linux: Outside the Sandbox

[Hexydes]

I had my dad try Ubuntu Linux for a week. I wanted to see how well he was able to work with it (to see if it is a viable alternative in the future), but I figured I would document the experience as well. Might be an interesting read for some people here (I threw in my own conclusions at the end as well). :)


Link to blog post (http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_Outside_the_Sandbox)

[BDNiner]

Nice article. you should see if your dad can use ubuntu for a little longer. A month trial would be great since this extended period would bring other issues to light. I agree that linux is almost ready for the desktop, if it is setup correctly by an end user. My main issue is installing new software. If most software can prepackaged then that would be great, most regular users don't know how to compile software and the instructions left by most programmers assume that you are a power user and not a regular user.

[hkgonra]

Nice job.

[Hexydes]

Nice article. you should see if your dad can use ubuntu for a little longer. A month trial would be great since this extended period would bring other issues to light. I agree that linux is almost ready for the desktop, if it is setup correctly by an end user. My main issue is installing new software. If most software can prepackaged then that would be great, most regular users don't know how to compile software and the instructions left by most programmers assume that you are a power user and not a regular user.

Yeah, really this was just a test for me to see if he could use it in the future (and I just decided to go ahead and document it).

It is likely that when it is time to upgrade to a new computer again, instead of going with Vista, I'll just move him to Ubuntu.

My one sticking point is financial software, namely TurboTax and Quicken. I don't really want to try to get him to figure out how WINE works (and they weren't rated very well there anyway), so I'm not sure what to do about that. If Intuit made a Linux version of their software today, I'm pretty sure he'd be good to go.

Any ideas?

[Hexydes]

Nice job.

Thanks! :)

[Hexydes]

Also, if you guys can think of any other questions, I'd be happy to pass them on and post the response.

[Hexydes]

Updated, asking about initial learning curve.

[davahmet]

My one sticking point is financial software, namely TurboTax and Quicken. I don't really want to try to get him to figure out how WINE works (and they weren't rated very well there anyway), so I'm not sure what to do about that. If Intuit made a Linux version of their software today, I'm pretty sure he'd be good to go.

Any ideas?

I believe TurboTax also has a web-based service that essentially does the same thing as the PC version. However, since I haven't yet used it, I don't know if requires IE or if it runs client platform independent.

[Hexydes]

I believe TurboTax also has a web-based service that essentially does the same thing as the PC version. However, since I haven't yet used it, I don't know if requires IE or if it runs client platform independent.

Yeah, that I did know about, and I believe it runs on Firefox (not 100% on that though); my main issue is Quicken, because I don't know of any really capable software for Linux to replace that... :confused:

Thanks! :)

[Hexydes]

I found this site which listed a few Quicken alternatives. I've never really used Quicken, so I don't really know what would qualify as a good "alternative"; anyone know which of these options is most similar to Quicken?

http://www.osalt.com/quicken

[sailor2001]

Yeah, really this was just a test for me to see if he could use it in the future (and I just decided to go ahead and document it).

It is likely that when it is time to upgrade to a new computer again, instead of going with Vista, I'll just move him to Ubuntu.

My one sticking point is financial software, namely TurboTax and Quicken. I don't really want to try to get him to figure out how WINE works (and they weren't rated very well there anyway), so I'm not sure what to do about that. If Intuit made a Linux version of their software today, I'm pretty sure he'd be good to go.

Any ideas?

check out kmymoney2 in the repos

[Hexydes]

Awesome, I will do that! Thanks!