Thoughts On Linux
10 Aug 2005
Well, after a week of playing about with Ubuntu and more recently Fedora Core 4 (running KDE), I have realised what Microsoft did with Windows. I love the idea behind Linux and its various distros such as Debian (I’m totally for open source software, and all the RMS stuff), but I hate the implementation. Linux is great for the server market, or other more specialised uses. But for the average person wanting to use it on their family computer, and in terms of ease of use, it’s terrible. If there was no Windows or MacOS, I really don’t think that home computers would be as popular as they are today.
I go into windows (XP), and download some program I want to install. I double-click the icon, and it runs the installer which is a simple “click next” job. That’s it. Program installed, no fuss. On Ubuntu I tried to install several programs. In its defence, the Synaptic package manager (GUI for APT) works great. But if you want some other program not included in the repositories you have to download the source, and then compile it. I tried this a few times. The configuration check would work ok most times (this is to make sure it compiles the right way for my personal system, apparently), but then it would always run into some error while trying to make the program. And then there’s the file system. Probably great for some server or something, but its just plain annoying for general usage in my opinion.
Then there’s the issue of things just plain not working. I have all my music on an external hard drive, in aac format. After spending a day or so getting the drive to mount, I got access to my music. But I can’t play it. Even after installing the extra repositories to add this sort of support, they still won’t play. I’m sure I could get it to work after a bit more messing about, but that’s not the point in my view. I should just be able to play the damn things. Another problem was listening to BBC Radio 1 online. This uses realPlayer, so I installed that (from Hoary Extras). It crashed every time, so that was no good and I installed the Helix program. This ran, but wouldn’t load the BBC content. Getting a computer to just do stuff shouldn’t be this much hassle.
So, I’ve now totally removed all traces of Linux from my computer. I know that Microsoft gets a lot of bad press, and some of it is well-deserved. But Windows XP is a good OS! It has many annoying features (I’d rather be using OS X), but it’s far more user-friendly than I’ve found Linux to be. What’s more, I count myself as a fairly advanced computer user. There’s no way the average Windows user could ever move to Linux right now. Things need to change.
I think the fact that you are a pritty advanced computer user is one of the reasons you had so many problems. For your average family however, that will just want to surf the internet, chat on msn and do their homework. Ubuntu has all of that covered. Music playback is somewhere where they need to spend a bit longer developing though, as most people seem to have problems with it.
I see your point there, but still disagee. It does have those three things covered, but how often do you (or anyone else) just leave the computer the way it is? You want to install other things that you want to be able to do. You may want to play DVDs. You basically can’t do this out of the box without installing Hoary Extras. It plays mp3s fine, but it should support all major formats out of the box. I believe they don’t support aac immediately due to some legal problem. Same with DVDs.
Plus there’s the issue of the iPod. Sure you can use some third-party things to get it to work, but its not as good as using iTunes (in terms of simplicity). And the average family may well have an iPod or something else of that nature.
It’s great for certain things (just read this article about Google), but I don’t really believe it’s anywhere near as good as Windows or OS X for family use. If it wants to be, it needs to improve a lot, and “get real” about some of its philosophies on free software.
I know what you mean. What with the throw away society we live in as well, most people wouldn’t give it the time of day. There are people that buy computers use them till they stop working because of a virus or some such. Then throw them away because it is to much hassle trying to sort them out. Linux has a good future it just needs to sort some areas out and polish others.
I can agree there. It certainly does have a good future, just not a future of family desktop computers in its current incarnation.
Try Linspire. It’s runs on linux and has an excellent windows interface.
http://linspire.com/
Been running it and it only presents an occasional hitch unlike the plethora of messages that pop up on your computer.
John: to me, I think that one of the main philosophies behind GNU/Linux is that it should be free. I think they’re just trying to cash in on the “Linux” name. That said, I don’t see anything wrong with non-free software (I don’t think, anyway. My mind is still open on this thought).
Man, whining about AAC files? As if that’s Linux’s fault? Maybe cuz it’s a proprietary audio format that only Apple uses so it can keep copyrights? Not to mention the decrease in sound quality as a result. But who cares, it’s an ipod! They’re so cool!
“There’s no way the average Windows user could ever move to Linux right now.”
That’s funny cuz I did like 3 years ago. No more viruses, no more pop-ups, no more forced activation/registration/upgrading. Maybe you should take it a little slower and learn the basics before diving in and whining cuz it’s not as easy as Windows. Linux distros are community supported projects, not financed by billion dollar corporations, and they are still more secure than any Windows OS, not to mention free!
As far as people switching over? That’s what our company does, http://www.thecybersource.com/ . Switching virused up, fed up Windows users to Linux. Old ladies, teenagers, newbies, and anything in between, and they love it!
Oh and one more thing, Linux has nothing to do with free as in money. It’s all about free as in speech. Linux/Open Source is based on the source code being available, so it can be modified, improved, or altered to your specific needs. Has nothing to do with money.
Hi Jesse,
Yes I realise all of that. I’m sure it works great for a great many people. But the vast majority of Linux users are fairly experienced with computers, and can often sort out many problems themselves.
I cannot speak for the people you mention, but I get the impression they they do not fall into the “experienced computers users” category (otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned them). I’m also sure that you offer a great service to them. And they’ll enjoy using it as it’s about as stable as a home computer can be. It also does probably everything they want it to do, with OpenOffice etc. But what if they want to do something it currently can’t do, which means installing some new program? I found that often this means going and compiling the thing yourself, and I don’t believe anyone should have to do this sort of thing manually like you do with Linux (as it currently stands, in its current implementation).
As for AAC. Yes, I can moan about it. The iPod is used by millions of people. Would you suggest buying an iRiver or some other great mp3 player that uses ogg or something, that’s more compatible with Linux currently? I’d argue that anyone should be able to go and buy what they want, and have their apps use it. What player you choose should not be based on what OS you own. Now I know this isn’t Linux’s fault; Apple keeps a great many secrets surrounding the iPod. I think they should allow some information so an iTunes-compatible app could be created for the Linux market. But even then, would many Linux users use AAC? Possibly not, as it’s not an open standard (free, as in speech). As for AAC itself, I was not aware it was Apple’s technology. I thought it was an ISO standard, that Apple have simply used in their technology. The format supports DRM, and thus Apple added this to their protected files. But I thought AAC itself was a set standard, not some Apple thing.
Hey Chris, let me elaborate a few more things.
Our customers are happy. When they need help, they call us. When they need to install something, we say open a terminal and type in “apt-get install whatever”. Bam! And if they can’t do that, we will ssh in and do it ourselves. And if they can’t do THAT we will gladly come over and help them. Linux is spreading like a virus around here, and I dare say we are a big proponent of it. We don’t feel the need to charge them if they need some help. After all the open source philosophy is keeping things open and interoperable, it’s not always about money. Keeping our customers happy keeps them coming back and telling their friends. Our business model is working well.
Maybe you aren’t aware how easy installing software has become with the apt and yum package managers in Linux. Check out http://ubuntulinux.com/ and you’ll be amazed how far Linux has come.
As far as iPod in Linux, there are already apps for that.
http://gtkpod.sourceforge.net/
http://banshee-project.org/
http://kpod.sourceforge.net/ipodslave/
http://nanocrew.net/software/sharpmusique/
Within the AAC comment, I don’t see where I said it was Apple’s format. In fact I think you may be right about it. The point is, it’s not Linux’s fault it can’t support something when it’s covered in DRM and locked away. Although it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem anymore :o).