Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Linux is something more people are looking at to avoid issues they might have with Windows. Linux in the home is definitely getting closer.
With all the issues surrounding Microsoft Windows, do you think the day might come in the near future where those of us in the middle ground of technology, those home users who know enough to keep our boxes up and running and to tinker here and there, might want/be able to switch to one of the friendlier distributions of Linux?
What do you think? Is the Linux community gaining enough common ground that it one day might be a viable alternative?
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Absolutely. That day is coming.
In fact, I've become enamored with one particular Linux distribution that's really caused me to believe that, for exactly the crowd you describe, that day might just be today.
But as I'm also finding out, it really depends on what you do with your computer. Some things aren't quite there yet.
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I've become a big fan of Ubuntu Linux. It installs easily, has a broad base of support, and has a good update mechanism. In fact, I run Ubuntu on a couple of machines now - one dedicated machine (an older machine I'm trying a few geeky things on), and in a virtual machine (using Parallels Desktop) on my Dell laptop.
For basic use - email, web browsing, word processing and the like, it looks like a very reasonable and workable platform for "mid range" users - as you say, those who aren't afraid to tinker a little here and there, but are still mostly interested in just getting things done.
That's not to say that there aren't issues. For one example, it was quite a bit of exploring and "geek and tweak" to get my Ubuntu install to recognize that my laptop was capable of a larger screen size than it had detected by default. That kind of thing, while out there, could be intimidating for some users.
And local area networking and sharing, already a bit of a nightmare for Windows users at home, doesn't get any easier when you introduce different operating system into the mix. In my case, I'm currently stuck with my Ubuntu machine being able to see my Windows machine(s), but not the other way around.
So why haven't I switched completely?
Well, as mentioned in my MacBook Pro investigation, Thunderbird, the cross-platform email program I want to switch to still has a couple of bugs that prevent me from migrating my inbox rules. That's not a Linux problem, but highlights the fact that migrating is about more than operating systems - it's about migrating everything you do. In my case email is a critical part of my day. I rely heavily on some of the features in Microsoft Outlook under Windows XP, and if I can't migrate those features, I can't migrate.
Similarly, I rely heavily on being able to use my Treo as a modem when I travel. That's currently only something that's available under Windows, and as a result has stymied my migration to either Linux or my MacBook Pro.
But I am finding a lot of things that, unexpectedly, work. For example I rely heavily on TrueCrypt, a data encryption program, and on Hamachi, a VPN utility - and to my surprise I now have both available and working on one of my Ubuntu installs. With surprisingly little effort, I might add.
Some software I use regularly is already open-source and cross-platform, so it's simply a mater of locating and installing the Linux versions, if they're not already there.
After that it starts to become a matter of taste.
In many cases equivalent software is available, but it can best be described as "the same only different". Open Office is a great example. For much of what folks do, it has many of the same features as Microsoft Word or Excel and family - but presents a slightly different look and feel. It can be jarring to try to switch. Other programs - the graphics program GIMP comes to mind - provide very powerful features that might match many popular Windows equivalents, but do so with such a dramatically different user interface that "jarring" doesn't seem to capture the difference.
The other problem that I do have with most open source software (which is most of what you'll find for Linux) is documentation. Not that documentation for retail products is necessarily perfect or even complete, but it typically does cover the basics for most users. Open source documentation can best be termed "spotty". There's great stuff out there, and there's ... well, in some cases there's nothing; you're on your own.
The big mitigating factor is that for most every major piece of open source software there's typically a very active user community providing some level of support. This, too, runs the range from "arrogant and geeky" to actually helpful, but there's a lot of it out there. My video resolution issue I mentioned earlier took just a few minutes of Googling to find the appropriate community and answer.
But in short, distributions like Ubuntu are definitely elevating Linux from the "geek" realm to those who I'd simply call "adventurous".
While I'm not ready to make the switch myself for the reasons I mention above, I have ordered more memory for my laptop so as to be able to run Ubuntu more often, and use it for more things, along side (or rather, within) Windows XP.
Linux is definitely, albeit slowly, becoming a viable alternative for more and more people.
Article C2774 - August 30, 2006
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
Linux has had a role in my home for over 10 years now.
Posted by: Don at September 6, 2006 8:00 AMI've been using Linux at home since 1996. My kids (aged 12, 8 and 4) use it. My parents and sisters use it. In fact, my parents have never used Windows, having gone straight from DOS to Linux, so they never had preconceptions about how things were "supposed" to work, and found Linux a breeze.
Right now, at my house, I even run the phones on Asterisk, which is a great way to avoid telemarketers (Google for "Zapateller") and do all kinds of cool things with your phones.
Posted by: David F. Skoll at September 6, 2006 11:37 AMHi,
Posted by: Justathought at September 6, 2006 11:39 AMI've been using linux for close to 8 years now. I started with a Slackware distro that a frien lent me. It installed from a set of about 20 floppy disks, but it was a lot of fun and worked very well. Since then I have tried many distributions and although I keep learning more and more about Linux, I seem to be gravitating towards the easy to use ones. I used Mandrake for a while, then SUSE for a couple of versions, but recently I decided to explore my options. I tried SUSE 10.1, including its very cool new 3D desktop. I know this 3D desktop is the future of Linux, but they need to still fix a couple of issues with it (3D acceleration is not available to applications). I tried Kubuntu, but to me it felt like a barely beta quality distro. SimplyMepis was recommended to me as "a better Kubuntu than Kubuntu", since it uses KDE and Ubuntu repositories. Now, this was much better. I was able to install the proprietary nVidia drivers for my graphics card without having to touch the command line, but I could see there was still some margin of error for someone that doesn't know what he is doing. I then tried a couple more that promised an "easier to use experience", Freespire and PCLinuxOS. Freespire is very good. Everything worked well. The fact that CNR (their package manager) is now free, makes it even more appealing. The only thing I don't like about it is their scheme of not having an active root account, but having users use su or kdesu to run applications that require root level permissions. To me, this creates more problems than what it solves. So, with one more distribution to try, I forged ahead to try PCLinuxOS. And, I am very glad I did. This distributions is the easiest way for a new Linux user to get going. Everyhting works. The proprietary nNidia drivers installed even easier than with SimplyMepis. Sound worked without problems (although I did have to disable the onboard sound card since I also have a Soundblaster card). MP3's and DVD playback was a matter of installing a single package from Synaptic (the package manager) for each one. And, well, I think it looks very nice. All in all, I think there are some very nice options for the new Linux user. SimplyMepis, Freespire, and PCLinuxOS are all easier to setup and use than Ubunto or SUSE, but I definetly recommend PCLinuxOS above them all at this point in time. Here is a nice review to check out:
http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/9123
I've been using Linux (Ubuntu) For 1 year now
and its a very simple OS for me..
I dislike the Microsoft Corporation ( For My Own Reasons ) Ubuntu has simple user interface.. I dont recommend a n00b to hop right on Ubuntu..
If you are about to make that hop, I would recommend Dual-Booting Linux With Windows ..
I said windows only because windows (XP) is the simple(st) OS for n00bs . i dont know how can you not know how to operate one, I used Windows XP 2 years ago but wasnt satisfied was looking for something harder.. I found Linux i thought it was a challenge at first but not after a while it was the best secure OS for me... But to all you n00bs
if you really want to Use Linux.. Get Linux XP Desktop search it up on google. Its compatible with alot of windows programs..
Well in conclusion Linux Rv13s..
RuCCi4/ Russian Member-
Posted by: RuCCi4/M0LD0V4 at September 1, 2007 8:24 PMD0RiN
Do people not comment on Linux anymore (last comment September 1 2007 !) Linux Ubuntu 9.04 with standard interface, and the sister Linux Kubuntu 9.04 with the worlds nicest looking interface are now available. Load wine and you can now play many, many Windows format games on Linux. Even CAD and many other software trough wine are been converted for Linux as we speak. Magazines like PC Format recomend the change to Linux Ubuntu/Kubuntu 9.04.and most, after using 9.04 even say it is better than XP or Vista.
Posted by: pieter cloete at July 20, 2009 3:46 AMpieter cloete