Ubuntu made her drop out of college

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qj8p-PEwbI-

Bad bad Ubuntu, poor girl.

 

Not even a facepalm can describe how I'm feeling right now

 

I also love the expression of the clueless smug newscasters trying to act knowledgable there.

 

what ignorants...

 

Thanks, I will send the link to a family member contemplating the switch to Ubuntu on my advice. Of course it will never happen now, and gratefully save me the nuisance of being blamed for a crappy experience.

 

This story doesn't surprise me at all and, in fact, I would expect similar ordeals for most any Windows users who've never used linux before.

 

Would you use that as an excuse for dropping out of college. Good now Linux and Mac users will have legitimate excuse as well then, Windows made em drop out of college

 

Of course not, only the ordeal she experienced as a complete newcomer to an O/S she'd never used before and never expected to be installed on her new laptop. Shame on Dell, too, for not affording her the option to choose her preferred platform in the first place.

 

Shame on all hardware manufacturers for bundling Windows as OEM and shamelessly touting and peddling it to users when they have a legit free and superior choice as well. There should be a choice on all period, now you know how those using Linux feel about this.

 

Don't worry about feeling a need to defend Linux; I'm not bashing it. My first comment that got you started was, I will contend, factual. Second: Windows is mainstream; Linux is not. That could explain why it's the dominant bundled O/S with hardware. third: MS Office is, whether you like it or not, the current industry standard office software platform. As for you stating Linux is superior, well that's subjective; superior to some, not so to many others.

 

And your claiming that MS Office is industry standard is equally subjective, try telling that to millions who download and use OO worldwide, as is your claim that Windows is mainstream. Its mainstream because OEM leaves you with no other choice. Here you are criticizing Dell for the same behavior but this is due to them including Linux instead of Windows.

You started defending the stupidity of the girl here which is nothing but a veiled attack on Linux and defense of Windows and this is the response to that.

Let me see, I am on a budget so I can get by OO which is free and will do 95% of MS Office, also now odf format has MS Office support, I get an OS thats free, its all wrong and should be condemned to hell because a airhead can't figure it out. LOLOL! really.

 

You do realise that at the end of the day, the girl lost her time in college. Imagine if that was your daughter. Would you be talking to her like that? People make mistakes all the time. Some are silly. We've all been there.

I do understand your point/opinion that perhaps the girl shouldn't have taken things public and put the "blame" out.

But I don't think she is blaming Linux or Open Office? Isn't she blaming Dell? From my perspective, I wasn't too happy with the video because it sort of made a bad name for Dell and I've always had good experiences with Dell.

Also I don't think she or anyone is condemning anyone or anything to hell. Perhaps ultimately, this is just a media program trying to get more viewers to watch their program. And it appears they have succeeded...

 

As I would blame Dell for giving my daughter Windows to use but then I guess being a Linux user would mean Windows to be a no brainer. I am sorry, this girl simply shouldn't be in college, as someone who is on board of admissions in leading universities, specimens like this, we just don't need.

 

What do you expect her to do then? "Roll over and die"? Also, I don't think we can completely judge her based on a media release like that. Who knows, she may end up discovering the cure for cancer (whatever that means) and prove us all wrong.

Why would you blame Dell for anything? I would only blame Dell if I received something I did not agree on etc. For the most part, Dell (like any business who wants to stay in business) will try to comply to your wishes. Communication is key though, like many things in life.

 

Yep since you are faulting with Dell for not giving her Windows, I would fault with Dell for my expected OS and thats Linux, its all based on assumption here isn't it. Dell didn't promise her Windows and if this person can read plain English, they explicitly mention Windows or Linux wherever its applicable.

I blame all PC manufacturers for peddling Windows via the MS nexxus when they should have kept it as a choice.

 

If you hate how the world works, either do something about it or complain about it. Or keep quiet.

Joking aside, I suppose Dell peddles Windows because that's where the money is? Just like Prevx/PrevxHelp peddles Wilders?

 

to get the internet working you shouldnt need to use a disc from an isp.
a decent isp should provide a router that is setup and ready to use out of the box.
Most people only use around 5% of office features so im sure openoffice would be fine for those users. .Most people dont try openoffice and cough up the money for MS office because they are told its the one to use.

can anyone name me any other industry that would allow one company 95percent of the market?

the dominance Microsoft has on the market should of looked in to and stopped ages ago.

 

The search engine market?

And 95% market share is true only for the desktop. For supercomputers, it's the other way around in favor of Linux, I believe. Should that dominance be looked into and stopped, as well?

 

Well, the analogy may not be perfect because one is open source, the other is proprietary.

 

Oh I go one step further, I create team of volunteers from the students at my univ and they go spread Linux to those willing to try, most senior citizens out in my neighborhood are on Linux thanks to them. Just a small way to spread the word, most of my friends and relatives are on Linux as well, that of course is the power of persuasion.

 

Wow, that's amazing. I am surprised that there are willing students who do that. Or perhaps I am more surprised that you have such a relationship with your students that they are willing to do this. It's almost like preaching a religion, and we know how most people feel about that!

I am also amazed that most of your friends and relatives are on Linux as well. Most of my friends and relatives would not prioritise learning a new OS very highly!

By the way, you must teach me this power of persuasion some time!

 

As an educator, you should also understand that there's a difference between intelligence and possessing specific factual knowledge.

Hand a test written in Sanskrit to an English only speaker and they will have a problem obtaining a grade above 0. That's not because they lack intelligence, it's because they lack some specific language skills and context. The situation here is no different when you get to the root issue.

If someone hands you a PC and a CD which simply won't work on that PC to get you to a familiar machine state, you may or may not be able to get off square one. That's all that happened here.

Blue

 

Actually thats the difference, I don't preach, I demonstrate when and if they show the desire and then leave the rest to them, have been very successful so far with this method. Most of my friends and relatives came voluntarily to Linux after checking it out at my house. A recent convert switched to it because I saved all his locked out Data from his laptop with Ubuntu Live CD, he checked it out and harassed me till I installed it. Now he is a happy camper.

You can persuade something only if you truly believe in it and practice and apply it yourself. To be honest, switching to Linux was not a bed of roses, initially, not due to linux's fault, many hardware wouldn't work, there would dearth of programs, webcams etc. but slowly we learned to work our way around it and today's linux is a viable alternative for those who are willing to try, most hardware work and there are some real good software alternatives as well but one does have to come with a clean slate of mind, no Windows mentality. Windows is in itself an excellent OS with few weaknesses. I have always liked Windows XPx64 which was based on their solid 2003x64, even Windows 7 is a far better offering than the ones from recent past namely Vista. However now I feel linux offers a totally working solution for those willing to try and even though Linux will never ever replace Windows or even come close to 50% of market share, it will still make a good amount of impact worldwide specially in regions where US$200 means a lot of money.

 

That's exactly right. I think linuxforall was just unhappy and showed us he was unhappy because he loves and truly believes in Linux.

 

In the same breath, you would agree that if you hand a Windows PC to a Linux user, the situation then is reversed. Sadly the case if far more common for a Linux user than for a Windows user in a world dominated by Windows but it never ever gets highlighted, OTOH, when it concerns Windows, the media goes into a tizz. My nephew has used Linux since he learned how to use the PC, now he is fourteen and sometimes complains on the attitude he faces elsewhere in a world which runs Windows mostly.

Also let me ask you, you are going to a college to learn stuff thats far more complex than an operating system, its not as if she was handed a CLI laptop by Dell. Instead of having an open mind which is quintessential for a so called wannabe student, she blamed and used it as an excuse to drop out of college, thats just not fair. In the same sense, my nephew should drop out of school as his comp science teacher only uses Windows and wouldn't even hear the mention of the very word Linux.