Ubuntu made her drop out of college

Lets pose a simple set of questions.

If you had used a windows box to simply use a browser and word document, and maybe a chat client, would you be able to do much more than that on a linux box?

If you had used a linux box to simply use a browser and word document, and maybe a chat client, would you be able to do much for than that on a windows box?

If I put myself in that situation, where I know nothing really, either would be a strange enough switch, let alone doing anything that I don't know about.

There are many reasons why M$ is the monopoly that it is. But one thing is arguably true, M$ has always made it as painless as possible to set the computer up, even to the point of not being as stable or secure. I personally think that is why it still has dominance to some degree.

Sul.

 

Sul, I think she represents the typical pc user who only knows about and uses Windows and MS Office for her work, along with other common Win apps she uses for work or entertainment, and does not pocess the technical wherewithal to intuitively figure out something like Linux at the drop of a hat. Is she to be blamed for this or mocked for this, as it's obvious Linuxforall took glee at her plight. She was probably scared at the sight with its unfamiliarity and especially when she couldn't install her MS office and didn't know about oo, and that it could probably fill in as a reasonable substitute. I can probably hazard a pretty accurate guess that if the exact same encounter happens to a 100 randomly selected Windows only users, the same outcome would affect the majority of them, and come he77 or high water, they would look to replace Linux with Windows.

 

if the word painless installation is to be applied unequivocally, the title should go to Linux desktpo, all you do is install it via a CD or usb thumb drive, if needed enable hardware drivers and you are up and surfing, no need to look for drivers, AV, enable DEP etc.

 

Yes, today that might be the case. LiveCDs are very easy to use.

But painless installation is a relative term. I don't know much about linux, but a lot about windows, and linux is more complicated because I don't know that much. Is it really more complicated? Probably not if I knew enough.

But, if I put myself in the shoes of someone who knows diddly, M$ has made it pretty painless when all you have to do is answer a few questions and the desktop comes up. Linux has only achieve that for a neophyte in recent few years, at least on the distros I used to mess with up to 10 years ago.

As well, in the M$ world, installing a new this or new that has since w95, usally been painless. You could usually follow the directions to install the cd and get the new printer working. Not everyone of course, but thousands upon thousands who knew/know nothing have been able to do it. Linux has definately closed the gap in that respect, but again, only relatively recently.

This is not a topic that has a clearcut answer at all. It depends on how you defind "painless". I would wager that as wat states, you take a bunch of random people with very minimal windows experience, plop linux down in front of them, and they wish for windows again. But on the other hand, take those same people who have never used a computer, and linux would probably be just fine because they don't know what the alternative is.

This girl may have been completely ignorant of technical things and only was used to the familiar windows environment. I highly doubt she is the type who knows enough to even state "linux suxors and windows roxors". But, who can say, it could also be her way of getting her 10 minutes in the limelight via youtube. Heck, she may be a serious coder and no even knows

Sul.

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned how outdated the video is. Just look at the Ubuntu version.

 

I think you are right here. Take a new user who isn't yet familiar with either, and both linux and Win would appear about equally easy/difficult (I'm talking distros like Ubuntu or Mint, not the more difficult ones). Ubuntu and Mint for example, have made linux incredibly easy to install and get up and running. I'd say just as easy and simple as Win now. But to someone expecting Win, linux may indeed seem somewhat alien, although as I say, things like Mint take care of that pretty well now.

 

Absolutely! Linux has made up a huge amount of ground in the desktop arena. I have to agree with whoever said (in whatever thread) that linux is probably more confusing for advanced windows users than novice users.

Sul.

 

Well said.

The intelligence of the student aside, I'd worry about the quality of the institution that actually stoops to employing educators of this caliber.

 

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/7098/1/

88 year old veteran learned Ubuntu on his own and even updated from 9.10 to 10.04 and here is a college bound kid claiming to be unable to use it and citing that as a reason to drop out, totally hilarious.

 

There once was a father and son. The father was an excellent mechanic in the 40s and 50s, working on B-24 bombers in WWII and everything from cars to tractors to airplanes after the war. The father had his son help him when the boy was young, but no matter how many times the boy worked on motors, he could not understand it. He knew what the parts were and how it worked, but until it was apart, just could not get a mental picture of it.

The son eventually became a father, and had 4 boys of his own. When his 2nd oldest was 13, he bought him a dirtbike. Unfortunately for the boy, it was a used cycle on broke soon after. The boy decided he would fix it, so he tore apart the engine. It needed a new pison, new reed valve and a clutch assembly. The boy had never worked on a motor before, but from the few books the library had, thought he understood it. This was of course before the advent of the internet.

The father tried to help the boy, but was really no help at all. After a few weeks, the boy had the motorcycle working again. In fact, the boy sold it 5 years later for a nice price, and it still ran nicely.

Now, was the father stupid and the boy smart? Why could the boy do something his father, who had the luxury of being shown by a good mechanic when he himself was a boy, was unable to? The father could in fact work on motors, and was not ignorant at all, he just did not have a mind that worked the same way as the boys did.

Why do we need mechanics? Why can't we all just open the hood and perform a simple tune-up? It is only plugs and wires, cap and rotor, timing and fuel mixture. Why do some people not understand that a car needs oil like we need air? Afterall, everyone drives a car, and hence should not be ignorant of the metal object that propels them along the highway.

Or should they?

Sul.

 

Sully, nice post Gee whiz linuxforall, why can't everyone be a computer geek, just like you?

 

I would rather be the 88 year old veteran, in his case it would be a pleasure to have him at the univ, in case of the girl, she should find some other persuasion, where less brain and more physique is needed. Linux desktop doesn't need anyone to be a geek really. Thats the FUD MS spreads to prevent its share, plain and simple.

Btw when the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, its survival to know a bit under the hood to maybe have a chance.

 

Quite simple really. The onus was on her to ensure that the laptop has Windows pre-installed. Or is this not possible with Dell and one has to take potluck ?

 

Amen to that brother!

But, what if you bought an old VW Beetle, and when you went to open the hood --- there was no motor

Sul.

 

Pete's right, the girl mistakenly ordered it with Linux but maybe she missed the fine print and assumed it came with Windows. Never assume, obviously. She did, to her credit, finally get results; she just went about it differently , as maybe others would have pestered the upper officials at Dell, whereas she tried Dell initially, was refused, so decided: "#$%@ them, I'll go to the media". Hey, it worked for her. But in the end, I think her struggles could happen to a lot of people in a similar experience. It's just a bit disturbing that someone takes so much glee in her plight, even if some, perhaps even many, others could have figured something out.

 

I owned two Beetle, one Super Beetle, easiest thing to fix on earth. Air cooled carbureted simple engines, nothing much to do.

Btw, in case of a Beetle, you follow where the heat comes from when you don't find the engine up front

 

Absolutely agree. Turn your point around and I am not interested in going back to windows. Why? Linux does everything I need to do and I am now comfortable with it. After a few years or absence, windows feels strange and clunky to me. If my needs change, I will go back (grudgingly, and with some guilt) to windows. Your post effectively points out the reason I do not try to push linux on friends and family.

 

I doubt the film had much to do with this "debate".

The whole point of this thread was simply as an outlet for some individuals suffering from a combination of insecurity and immaturity to retaliate against a perceived attack on Linux. TBH it was rather disappointing to see the forum falling for it, getting trololololoed for 2 whole pages, and the mods allowing it to happen.

There's a reason the ignore list function exists. Use it, people.

 

Okay, I'll admit to immaturity but, come on Eice, this is not the busiest of sub-forums. We have to run with whatever comes our way. Lighten up on the reality checks.

 

I find it amazing that this women managed to order an Ubuntu laptop and not know it.

By default Dell comes with Windows, you have to specifically request Ubuntu.

Equally amazing (well not really) is the news folks not having much of a clue regarding Ubuntu.

Now I realize that she was just looking for an appliance to use for college, but jeepers Ubuntu is not that difficult to use. I think dropping out of college is a wee bit off the wall.

There is a follow up on this, take note of the computer the tech is using Ubuntu on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQekFkgpFJs

At any rate I hope she get this all straightened out and continues with college.

 

6 months ago I set up an eleven year old girl with Ubuntu after she kept getting infected with viruses on her laptop. I admit I did the whole initial setup. Nevertheless, it's been smooth sailing for her. She knows how to use repositories, save pictures, use Open Office, etc. It is easy.

 

My nephew started Ubuntu when he was nine and now he is fourteen and sticks to Ubuntu and best of all, he managed to convert quite a few in his school to Ubuntu as well.

Good reading here on how hard Ubuntu is LOL!

http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/70281.html

 

She had enrolled for online courses but couldn't get the internet working on her new computer, so I don't think she had much choice until the issue was resolved one way or another.

My father tried setting up Ubuntu on an old laptop 3 or 4 years ago, and he had many hardware/driver issues, so I'm not surprised the girl had trouble with her modem or router that presumably came with only a Windows installation CD. Of course, after a news team calls up her ISP they send out a tech to set it up but I doubt all their customers get that kind of personalized attention.

And I have OO installed on my computer (as well as MS Office), but last time I used it for something all the documents and spreadsheets looked different when a coworker opened them on Word/Excel, and there were other little issues. That said, it's great given the price.

 

The latest OO is far more compatible with MS documents but of course, some differences will always remain and in the girl's case, Dell would never ever force ubuntu on anyone without informing them, sadly all of us get Windows shoved to us like it or not.