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Is usability breaking Linux adoption?
ComputerWorld ^ | 3 August 2012 | Dennis Mbuvi

Posted on 08/06/2012 8:15:49 AM PDT by ShadowAce

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I personally use Fedora as well. Since I've had it exclusively on all my computers since Fedora Core 1, I've pretty much forgotten how Annoying configuration of it can be to others.

It doesn't take me long to configure a new installation to be the way I want it, and--for me--it just works.

I also tend to configure portions of it as I need it. Network comes first, obviously, and the Desktop just gets adjusted as I perform various tasks on it. It doesn't seem like a long time, but it may be once you take into account everything that gets done over the course of several days while I'm working with it.

1 posted on 08/06/2012 8:15:57 AM PDT by ShadowAce
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To: rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; Salo; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; stylin_geek; ...

2 posted on 08/06/2012 8:16:43 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

Linux is a very expensive operating system, once you add in all the hours you have to spend tweaking it.


3 posted on 08/06/2012 8:19:45 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: ShadowAce

Just. Use. Ubuntu. I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on my grandparents’ crappy laptop and it’s working like a charm.


4 posted on 08/06/2012 8:21:29 AM PDT by 14erClimb
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To: ShadowAce

After decades the Unix and Linux geeks dreams of havingt everyone love their fave - they have yet to figure out that gramma just wants to turn on the computer and see the email button light up that there are new photos of the grandkids there....

Until that happens Mickeysoft will continue to dominate and Linux will continue to be for geeks

Superior operating system or not, you just cant turn it on and go the way you can with a Windows machine


5 posted on 08/06/2012 8:23:19 AM PDT by Mr. K ("The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum [of good]")
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To: ShadowAce

I use Bodhi Linux ,Zorin and Xubuntu ,all easy to install and use and work great ,Distrowatch has dozens


6 posted on 08/06/2012 8:24:09 AM PDT by molson209
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To: 14erClimb
I son installed Ubuntu on his desktop several years ago.

I can't stand to use the thing.

Mostly due to unfamiliarity, I think.

7 posted on 08/06/2012 8:24:17 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Zhang Fei

I’d rather spend the time than the cash. Personal preference.


8 posted on 08/06/2012 8:25:46 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

I was using RedHat in the late 90s for a while.. Went away from the linux systems for a while. When my XP laptop HD died, I put Ubuntu on the new HD.

Today’s Ubuntu is light years ahead of what I was using before.

Couldn’t fer Adobe Flash to work, so went with the open source flash, it works great.

The only other major hitch was getting DVDs to play. Downloaded the needed 100 meg files, and all is good.


9 posted on 08/06/2012 8:25:53 AM PDT by wrench
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To: Zhang Fei

Oh please. Any decent admin with a few years under their belt will have kickstart or autoyast or preseed scripts that need but a few minutes of “tweaks” to get an OS ready to go. If you are installing via local, menu driven media and manually “tweaking” in today’s age, you’re doing it wrong.


10 posted on 08/06/2012 8:32:00 AM PDT by Michael Barnes (Obamaa+ Downgrade)
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To: Mr. K

>>gramma just wants to turn on the computer and see the email button light up that there are new photos of the grandkids there....<<

Actually, this is exactly how my Ubuntu system is working now. With the in-house Wi-Fi no need to even sign on to the internet, it is on 24/7, just hit refresh on the browser or check mail when it shows that there is new mail.

Microsoft is fine when it works, when it doesn’t, resources are thin for finding the problem. Linux has lots of online resources for problem solving.

Plus you do not have to re-boot under linux every time you move your mouse like you do under Windows.


11 posted on 08/06/2012 8:32:32 AM PDT by wrench
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To: Mr. K
"...they have yet to figure out that gramma just wants to turn on the computer and see the email button light up that there are new photos of the grandkids there...."

Oh, man, I just ride in 'em. I don't know what makes 'em work ...


12 posted on 08/06/2012 8:34:08 AM PDT by BlueLancer ("No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full" (Sulla))
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To: molson209
Distrowatch has dozens

Therein lies part of the problem. If the geeks who develop these distros put aside some of their personal preferences and created three superior and gramma-friendly products, they'd be singing a different tune and have better "market-share". People other than them might bother using them and learning about them.

Before the Linux/Unix folks start on their rants about their superior product, here's my take: if you have to click on an .msi, .rar or other file extension (except .zip or .exe) to launch your product, it's not user-friendly.
13 posted on 08/06/2012 8:37:25 AM PDT by tenger (It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for. -Will Rogers)
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To: ShadowAce

“I have been a Linux ... user for a quite a number of years, actually, since I owned my first PC about four years ago.”


14 posted on 08/06/2012 8:39:27 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes everything)
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To: ShadowAce

My impression is that Android succeeds, in part, because hardware designers are obliged to accommodate it, rather than the other way around. I’m not sure this will ever be true for desktop Linux.


15 posted on 08/06/2012 8:43:50 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy
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To: tenger
If the geeks who develop these distros put aside some of their personal preferences and created three superior and gramma-friendly products, they'd be singing a different tune and have better "market-share".

You're missing the intent of the number of choices.

Sure there are hundreds of different distros out there, but most of them are special-purpose. ie DVR, database, gaming, etc.

There are much fewer GP distros--Fedora, Ubuntu, and Slackware--along with their derivatives.

Compare that choice to what MS gives us--Personal, Home, Business and Enterprise (or whatever they're naming them these days). All of those actually have the software on the disc--they're just not "turned on." With Linux, everything's turned on by default.

BTW--file extensions mean nothing in Linux. Literally.

16 posted on 08/06/2012 8:47:09 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Mr. K
Linux is still primarily for hobbyists.

There are too many varieties and versions for it to be considered practical for ‘real’ computing.

I tried several ‘distros’ a few years ago. One would not recognize my wide-screen monitor. None would recognize my PCTV card. They had a few standard programs — browser, etc., not not enough programs for serious use.


17 posted on 08/06/2012 8:48:35 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: ShadowAce
As a user who has both Windows and Kubuntu on the desktop I must say that, purely from a usability perspective, the best part of my day is when I hit the button on my KVM switch and shift to Kubuntu.

Most modern Linux distros provide a more sophisticated and nuanced working environment than Windows, which is exactly what I want. I'm sure other folks are perfectly happy with what Windows offers, and more power to 'em.

My next install with be the Linux Mint distro, with KDE as the user interface (as I understand that support for Kubuntu is about to disappear).

18 posted on 08/06/2012 8:49:12 AM PDT by The Duke
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To: Paine in the Neck

I met Linux online in 1991. I’ve made a lot of money off of Linux over the years.


19 posted on 08/06/2012 8:54:06 AM PDT by isthisnickcool (Sharia? No thanks!)
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To: TomGuy
What do you consider to be "real" computing?
20 posted on 08/06/2012 8:55:10 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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