The bet is on! Ubuntu vs. Microsoft

[professor fate]

Hello,
I am here because of a bet I have with a friend. This is the deal: I have to use Ubuntu for 30 days. IF there is anything I can’t do on Ubuntu (except for games which he reluctantly conceded is Microsoft turf) that I can do on Vista, then I get a brand new laptop courtesy of my buddy. IF on the other hand, I lose, I have to pay for his new laptop.

The rules:
1. I have to post any and all questions I have about installing and using Ubuntu on this forum.
2. I have to save all of my correspondence.
3. I cannot use any other OS for 30 days, except for my computer at work.
4. If I can demonstrate that Ubuntu isn’t neck to neck with Microsoft in anyway, I win.
5. I have to use open source software as much as possible. If there is no equivalent, then I get to use MS software, but using some sort of emulation software to run it on. (Buddy said I’d have to learn about it here).
6. My friend wanted me to use Feisty, but I told him to step up to the plate, so it’s going to be Gutsy. (I figure since it’s new, it must have lots of issues, so the better for me).

Well, there it is. I plan on winning this bet, but I will be fair. All of this will start tomorrow. Tonight is the last evening of my beloved Microsoft for 30 days. I am downloading Gutsy and will install tomorrow.

Professor Fate

[Flying caveman]

So, have you picked out your laptop yet?

[3rdalbum]

I'm not trying to insult you, but it sounds like a rather dumb bet - he's using an operating system that he's familiar with, and you're going to be using one that you've never used before. Good luck, though, and I hope you win.

[professor fate]

This is the deal. I\'m a Microsoft guy..and he\'s a Linux guy. For months he\'s been going on and on about how Linux can do everything Microsoft can. I told him to put his money where his mouth is or shut the **** up. Well, now we got some money on the table, or I should say a laptop.

Now it\'s up to me to drop Microsoft for 30 days and live on a Linux diet. As I said in my first post, I\'ll be fair and give it a sporting chance.

[distroman]

Shouldn't the bet be if he can't get it going? Either way I see a winner.

[professor fate]

This is sort of funny. I get the impression the Ubuntu users are pulling for me to win. I was really expecting the opposit. Something along the lines of, \"I hope you don\'t mind losing because Ubuntu can do anything Microsoft can\".

[sloggerkhan]

How nitpicky do you plan on being? Are you going to be like "I win because open office doesn't have grammar check, only spell check" (which I tend to view as a feature) ? And what about stuff that a "Linux Guru" could do, but you probably can't learn in a month?

It seems like a weird bet unless you are both fairly liberal in interpretation or have a really detailed contract.

That said, if you view things by type of task, he's probably right. But some of the solutions for those tasks won't be on equal footing between platforms.

[DoctorMO]

In one sense he's bribing you to use ubuntu and concede that it's a viable platform to do productive work (which it is) on the other foot despite the Microsoft paradime of complete and utter indifference to users, Microsoft have got an awful lot of money to bribe, trick and generally act quite immoral to squew the markets and this is something a lot of Linux users have come to terms with. We here accept that the market is designed for windows users at the moment and it's our sheer tenacity and cleverness that allows us as a community to work arround the windows industry momentum.

We also have a saying: "Linux is not Windows" and you know it's not, it does different things, some things it doesn't need and some things it can't do. So if your bet is about core operational functionality then you will loose but if it's about all the apps, games, drivers and various other things you might want to use then you will run into the above problem of working against the momentum with absolutely no incentive to grind away problems with the community.

Still it'll give you a good view of ubuntu and a free laptop; although if it was me I would have stipulated that the laptop much always run ubuntu, but that's because I'm a bar stuard.

[Martje_001]

Try compiz fusion

[distroman]

How nitpicky do you plan on being? Are you going to be like "I win because open office doesn't have grammar check, only spell check" (which I tend to view as a feature) ?

I say let the grammar natzis vote on that one.