Getting out of comfort zone of Windows.

[linuxforall]

http://www.georgetoon.com/blog/get-o...-comfort-zone/

You wanted a list of reasons folks give to not try GNU/Linux. The arguments usually come in this order. K, here goes.


10: What’s Linux?
9: Will it run on Windows?
8: You mean I can’t use my internet explorer?
7: I just want to stick with what my computer came with.
6: All I do is email and internet anyway so I don’t need anything new.
5: It looks different
4: I just use Google
3: I just use facebook
2: I don’t get a box?
1: Will it run my Windows?

[Hungry Man]

All valid reasons!

haha

[cozumel]

Originally Posted by linuxforall

I don’t get a box?

Someone actually moaned about that to me earlier today lol like it was my fault

[linuxforall]

Originally Posted by cozumel

Someone actually moaned about that to me earlier today lol like it was my fault

Give them a sticker and T shirt

Here's my personal top 10 list of why not to try linux:

1. Something always breaks in Linux- guaranteed
   
2. An update will eventually break something in Linux - guaranteed
   
3. Linux is not as intuitive as Windows. Advice given in linux forums, while commendable, is almost always the stock ancient civilization-like hieroglyphics response; Example, Try: “sudo apt-get --purge reinstall linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils linux-image-`uname -r` linux-ubuntu-modules-`uname -r` libasound2” ...yeah, sure. It might fix the problem but good luck understanding how and why
   
4. Serious gaming is virtually impossible in linux
   
5. Installation of VMWare Tools in a Linux VMWare Workstation vm is next to impossible
   
6. Getting video drivers to work properly can be a nightmare
   
7. Getting wireless to work properly can be a nightmare
   
8. Playback of MP3's in some Linux players, especially Rythmbox, can be a nightmare - behold the inevitable crashes
   
9. Default enabled repositories are often not enough to obtain all necessary software for a complete working desktop.
   
10. Far too many distros available which indicates to me the linux development community as a whole can't get together and focus their collective efforts on a few candidates that really could be solid contenders in the O/S market, as opposed to a veritable hodge-podge of mostly half-baked efforts, most of which are going no where fast.

[J_L]

Originally Posted by wat0114

1. Something always breaks in Linux- guaranteed
2. An update will eventually break something in Linux - guaranteed
3. Linux is not as intuitive as Windows. Advice given in linux forums, while commendable, is almost always the stock ancient civilization-like hieroglyphics response; Example, Try: “sudo apt-get --purge reinstall linux-sound-base alsa-base alsa-utils linux-image-`uname -r` linux-ubuntu-modules-`uname -r` libasound2” ...yeah, sure. It might fix the problem but good luck understanding how and why

9.Default enabled repositories are often not enough to obtain all necessary software for a complete working desktop.

1. Uh, so you've never had an application crash, BSOD, etc. in Windows?
2. Windows have similar problems on many computers, especially once you add third-party software.
3. Once you get technical on Windows, the same thing happens. Command-line, registry, scripts, etc.

9. Don't agree with that, average users have all they need unlike techies.

The rest are valid to varying degrees.

[linuxforall]

Windows defines the word ANCIENT.........Windows 8 has NTFS, registry and all the pickings of good ol 3.11 and Linux is cutting edge period.

As for working out of box for mp3, thats a blatant lie by good ol M$ fanboys, why do we have KLite and other codec packs for Windows may I ask. its licensing and both M$ and Linux have to adhere to that. However distros likle MINT and many more work right outta the box and even come with Java enabled. Which M$ OS does that may I ask. From drivers to codecs to Java, all have to be downloaded and installed separately.

Originally Posted by J_L

1. Uh, so you've never had an application crash, BSOD, etc. in Windows?

Not to nearly the same extent it's happened to me in Linux.

2. Windows have similar problems on many computers, especially once you add third-party software.

Without 3rd party software, it's rarely an issue in Windows, whereas the same can't be said, at least in my experience, about Linux.

3. Once you get technical on Windows, the same thing happens. Command-line, registry, scripts, etc.

Rarely is it necessary to get that technical in Windows.

9. Don't agree with that, average users have all they need unlike techies.

How does an average user know which repository to enable when they need something as simple as an audio codec? Enable one wrong repository, and one runs the risk of installing one of those "developmental" updates, or whatever they're called, and ends up *gulp* breaking their system.

I will go on to say that Mint has given me by far the least amount of troubles, an excellent distro actually. Maybe developers should look to it as a model they can further evolve their ideas from.

[cozumel]

Originally Posted by wat0114

Not to nearly the same extent it's happened to me in Linux.



Without 3rd party software, it's rarely an issue in Windows, whereas the same can't be said, at least in my experience, about Linux.



Rarely is it necessary to get that technical in Windows.



How does an average user know which repository to enable when they need something as simple as an audio codec? Enable one wrong repository, and one runs the risk of installing one of those "developmental" updates, or whatever they're called, and ends up *gulp* breaking their system.

I will go on to say that Mint has given me by far the least amount of troubles, an excellent distro actually. Maybe developers should look to it as a model they can further evolve their ideas from.

The main differences is that a large number of Windows users just seem to click randomly starting processes via the gui without any knowledge of the consequences or what happens beside the scenes, thus breaking their system. These are the people who typically then call on people like me to fix their machines when the fault originates with their ignorance, lack of awareness or knowledge. This alarmingly includes those who work in senior management, directors etc which I find quite amazing!

A linux user has to learn and research to develop and optimise their personalised os. If the time is not taken to research then Linux will fail at the very beginning whereas Windows will work

They are two totally different ideologies. I prefer the knowledge, research route for any OS.

Obviously, there also plenty of Windows users with vast knowledge and understanding of their systems

Originally Posted by cozumel

The main differences is that a large number of Windows users just seem to click randomly starting processes via the gui without any knowledge of the consequences or what happens beside the scenes, thus breaking their system.

I remember being new to Windows ('95) years ago and doing similar, clicking here and there trying to figure things out. However, it didn't "feel" that uncomfortable for me, due to Windows having a certain intuitiveness, as I alluded to earler, that Linux doesn't have, certainly from my perspective. Sure I broke some things, but often I figured out things as well, and at a better success rate than I've had using Linux. I'd be lost most of the time if a search throughout forums looking for an answer to my linux issues didn't result in one of those "hieroglyphical" commands I alluded to earlier.

Just to quote someone who posted a sound issue earlier in this forum:

In Windows it's very easy, there is "Stereo" mode and "5.1" mode , and that's it.
Works perfect.

Can't believe how something simple is so complicating in Linux world, ALSA, PulseAudio, config files, muted, unmuted, this and that ...

That about sums it up. Couldn't have stated it better.

[J_L]

Originally Posted by wat0114

How does an average user know which repository to enable when they need something as simple as an audio codec? Enable one wrong repository, and one runs the risk of installing one of those "developmental" updates, or whatever they're called, and ends up *gulp* breaking their system.

An easy online search. Once again, same things can happen in Windows with developmental software.

[linuxforall]

Old: It's Lego. It's designed to come apart. That's the whole point.

New: But I don't want it to come apart. I just want a toy car!
Old: Then why on Earth did you buy a box of Lego??

Originally Posted by J_L

An easy online search. Once again, same things can happen in Windows with developmental software.

Sure, I've gone that route before with some success, admittedly, but it can be rather painstaking. It could result in something like having to do this:

mkdir -pv /var/www/html/centos/4/os/i386/CentOS/RPMS/

The Base Repository
Copy the RPMs from the CDs/DVD to /var/www/html/centos/base.

Create the base repository headers:

createrepo /var/www/html/centos/4/os/i386/

...or similar. Nice

With Windows, you simply search for and find the executable or Rar file, download it and install.

[linuxforall]

Mint, Zorin comes with all repos enabled, nothing needed, in Mint Debian, you get latest greatest on daily basis.

Of course there is .exe and then there is a multi million dollar virus cleaning industry

[cozumel]

@ wat0114

I kind of agree with you with the simple audio setting and similar scenarios. However, Linux would allow you to manipulate the functions of the soundcard or any other hardware to a level that Windows locks you out of. Windows, for me, has removed the freedom of the individual to choose precisely how they configure their system by only giving a choice of preconfigured settings (which are tweakable up to a point)

btw, I'm not a Linux fanboy. I use Windows all the time for convenience, gaming, ease of use. But it bores me. Linux challenges me, allows me to do or try things that are not possible with Windows and gives me enormous sense of wellbeing. I suppose Windows is like a dumb bimbo - a bit of eye candy, whereas Linux is the curvy, witty, intelligent woman with a ton of character and doesn't leave you feeling empty. Just an opinion mind you

Originally Posted by cozumel

@ wat0114
I use Windows all the time for convenience, gaming, ease of use. But it bores me. Linux challenges me, allows me to do or try things that are not possible with Windows and gives me enormous sense of wellbeing. I suppose Windows is like a dumb bimbo, whereas Linux is the curvy, witty, intelligent woman with a ton of character and doesn't leave you feeling empty. Just an opinion mind you

Fair enough and point well taken. Linux does challenge me as well, but unfortunately I often come away figuring out how to do something in linux but left with that empty feeling of why that something I did made it work. I copy/paste one of those meaningless commends in a terminal to get something to work but maybe never really understand what it was that fixed the problem.

Originally Posted by linuxforall

Mint, Zorin comes with all repos enabled, nothing needed, in Mint Debian, you get latest greatest on daily basis.

Of course there is .exe and then there is a multi million dollar virus cleaning industry

Right, as I mentioned earlier I agree Mint is excellent, the best distro I've used that comes closest to appealing to the masses, which in the end is what it's going to take, sorry to say, for Linux to become a significant player in the mainstream desktop O/S market. There just aren't enough people out there who have the techncial wherewithal of most Linux users who are going to embrace Linux as a viable alternative to Windows unles it becomes as user-friendly as Windows is. The major linux developers really have to start with focusing their collective efforts on only two or three candidates to get the ball rolling.

[linuxforall]

Due to licensing issues, neither MS nor Ubuntu can do what MINT can, plain and simple.

[Judge Dee]

Originally Posted by wat0114

Fair enough and point well taken. Linux does challenge me as well, but unfortunately I often come away figuring out how to do something in linux but left with that empty feeling of why that something I did made it work. I copy/paste one of those meaningless commends in a terminal to get something to work but maybe never really understand what it was that fixed the problem.

Great insight.
That was my exact feeling when I started using Linux.
I discovered the commands aren't really meaningless, but it takes study if you want to know the whys of something you're doing.
Even now, exclusively using Linux, I just copy and paste without always understanding the syntax of the commands.

[linuxforall]

There is a GUI for almost anything and everything you can do in Linux but then it would defeat the very purpose of this OS that is transparency and not to make one sheep.

[vasa1]

Originally Posted by wat0114

... Mint is excellent, the best distro I've used that comes closest to appealing to the masses...

No Mint for me for reasons that may not be discussed in a forum such as this.

As for meaningless commands, I hope to find them less meaningless as time goes by. Till now, I haven't used a command if I didn't understand it. There used to be a warning over at the Ubuntu forum about running commands without understanding them and about "toxic" advice that would harm newbies but I can't find that warning now.

[lodore]

Originally Posted by linuxforall

Windows defines the word ANCIENT.........Windows 8 has NTFS, registry and all the pickings of good ol 3.11 and Linux is cutting edge period.

As for working out of box for mp3, thats a blatant lie by good ol M$ fanboys, why do we have KLite and other codec packs for Windows may I ask. its licensing and both M$ and Linux have to adhere to that. However distros likle MINT and many more work right outta the box and even come with Java enabled. Which M$ OS does that may I ask. From drivers to codecs to Java, all have to be downloaded and installed separately.

name something you think makes linux cutting edge?

[linuxforall]

Originally Posted by lodore

name something you think makes linux cutting edge?

List is endless........tell me when was NTFS launched btw?

[lodore]

Originally Posted by linuxforall

List is endless........tell me when was NTFS launched btw?

which version of it? the current version 6.1 came with windows 7

ext2 came out the same year as the original ntfs.
the current ntfs is one year newer than ext4

so IMHO your once again just trolling. microsoft doesnt need to keep changing the name of their file system to make changes to it.

FYI i do love package management in linux i just wish all software on linux supported it.
I do like linux but the software i use doesnt have a linux version. my favourite being debian stable.

[linuxforall]

Originally Posted by lodore

which version of it? the current version 6.1 came with windows 7

Updated versions don't mean new technology or does it

[CiX]

Well Linux is great, but something keeps me from using it as primary OS

1. Fixing general problem in Linux is much harder than Windows (at least for me) In Windows if there are some normal problem at least you can fix it using point-and-click (noob way), but in Linux fixing most of the problem require the using of command line.

2. When you install software in Windows, you can just download the installer file and install it straight away, some application even have auto-update, but in Linux, you will have a hard time figuring out which "installer" to download and how are you going to install them, some of the software in the Software Manager is also outdated (at least in Linux Mint)