On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 06:13:02PM +1000, Toby Corkindale wrote:
Indeed, any sane person would *expect* it to work, but then, sane people probably go out and buy machines with OSX or Windows pre-installed.
dunno about sane. ignorant, or uninformed, perhaps.
This is why I don't try and persuade friends, family or even random strangers to use Linux on their desktops any more. There's always
i still tell people to use linux for security-sensitive stuff like internet banking if they run windows. has to be dual-boot. a linux VM isn't good enough. any keystroke-logger running in the host OS can still capture your login and password details.
something that doesn't quite work. Ubuntu have gone a long way towards trying to integrate the work of third-party binary drivers into a system which normal users can cope with, but stuff is still miles away from being reliably usable on 99% of modern systems :(
you exaggerate. if you mostly want to run MS Windows programs (like games), then it's a PITA. most programs work OK in wine (sometimes even better than they do in real windows) but there's too much stuffing around for it to be a viable option for non-technical users. if all you want to do is basic office type apps (wp, ssheet, etc) and web browsing on pretty nearly *ANY* desktop PC, then a linux based system Just Plain Works. And does so *many* times better, with far less stuffing around and PITA geekery (i.e. sysadmin type stuff that ordinary users shouldn't have to fuck around with) than Windows would on the same hardware. Installing and upgrading software on linux is easier (and safer) than on Windows. pretty nearly any app you might need to run is available in your distro's repository, so you don't have to go hunting for it (and risk being conned by some malware site into installing their bogus app). There's a consistent method and user-interface for all apps - whether you like command line with apt-get or aptitude or GUI with synaptic or whatever; you can bulk-install a whole bunch of related apps and addons at once rather than have to tediously sit there and download each program and run it's own individual installer. and if/when you upgrade your hardware the system will keep on working without accusing you of criminal acts or refusing to run just because you've changed "too much" on your system at once. support for laptop-specific stuff (graphics switching, etc) on linux is still problematic. If you choose your laptop carefully, it works great. But if you just buy one without researching it thoroughly, you'll probably be disappointed. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> BOFH excuse #439: Hot Java has gone cold