tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post7254309024854571190..comments2013-11-08T14:51:45.262+09:00Comments on Okii Living: Is Linux ready for the average user? My wife thinks somvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01830822639156509402noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-41816114083729541962009-01-09T06:31:00.000+09:002009-01-09T06:31:00.000+09:00Very nicely done. Several years ago now, my wife ...Very nicely done. Several years ago now, my wife had an old computer with a 400 MHz processor and not that much memory, maybe 128 MB, if that, and she ran Windows 98 on it.<BR/><BR/>Often, she would use my 1 GHz system that was running Linux software, and she would use my Web browser to access Gymboree and other sites for children's clothing. This was in the 2001-2002 time frame, so it was years ago. I maintain that Linux was usable even then.<BR/><BR/>In the fall of 2004 I was working as a teaching assistant in an elementary school to weather a technology downturn in my area. I got pneumonia that fall and was out of work. I had a second job managing a mailing list for an international prayer ministry. I had to stop doing it for a while, but my computer was in the cold basement, so I was not supposed to even use it.<BR/><BR/>My wife logged on to my Linux system, navigated to the Web browser, found the person in change of the ministry and contacted them, then sent follow up notes, all from my Linux desktop system. She had no problems using it at all.<BR/><BR/>She also frequently uses the Pidgin (formerly GAIM) instant message and chat Internet application, even on Windows. She can most certainly handle it.<BR/><BR/>Just last night I found out that the company where she works now uses OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. There really is not much preventing her from going to Linux full time.<BR/><BR/>My two children, ages eight and ten, both routinely use Linux for their Web browsing and game playing. <BR/><BR/>The younger of the two, a boy, is so smart that he figured out how to create himself a Yahoo account and he created himself TWO Yahoo Mail accounts. He frequently runs Vector Linux, sidux, SimplyMEPIS, PCLinuxOS, and Linux Mint, and he wanted his very own system instance. I made him one with Vector Linux and he is very proud of it!<BR/><BR/>The ten year old girl is much simpler in her use. She plays games and watches video clips on Youtube. The only time I have heard either kid complain is when they come across Shockwave games that won't play, due to a lack of a Linux Shockwave plugin. Other than that, they seem to get along well with Linux and they use Firefox just as easily, if not more so, than Internet Explorer.Brian Masinickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06328692313376102421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-53605614348321919272008-12-25T19:48:00.000+09:002008-12-25T19:48:00.000+09:00in ubuntu there is add/remove ...my 2 cents: don't...<I>in ubuntu there is add/remove ...</I><BR/><BR/>my 2 cents: don't try the remove feature or you'll loose the graphics environment on most occasions. For some reasons it's considered a dependency for most programs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-89371906125283042302008-12-25T06:03:00.000+09:002008-12-25T06:03:00.000+09:00I think 8.10 in ubuntu in particular has been a bi...I think 8.10 in ubuntu in particular has been a big milestone. I have installed it on 2 laptops and a desktop and everything worked flawlessly after the install, wireless, sound, gfx, screen res, flash and even the touch screen hot keys on one of the laptops. Just by installing ubuntu over XP on my laptops I get about 40mins extra battery life, and for the months I have been using it, its never once crashed and is super fast.<BR/><BR/>So far ubuntu is perfect for my needs, even though I'm a heavy photoshop user, if I need it I have virtualbox on another workspace in seamless mode. Absolutely brilliant. Like someone before me said, photoshop is just that one thing I need windows for. I dont know if adobe will be releasing a linux version of Photoshop, but I sure hope they do, they seem to be going in the right direction with adobe flex and air, they work with no problems.<BR/><BR/>@SHANKONEER - in ubuntu there is add/remove and if your a bit more computer literate synaptic is just as easy to install apps as it finds all dependencies for you. About the one click update, ubuntus updater is easy peasy, it pops up every week or so, you click update and thats it.. not hard. Also there is plently of .deb files available that are double click to install just like exes.<BR/><BR/>It can only get better..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-38320859880433773512008-12-18T02:19:00.000+09:002008-12-18T02:19:00.000+09:00here is my responsehttp://techspalace.blogspot.com...here is my response<BR/>http://techspalace.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-is-for-your-wife.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-45393966421889733312008-12-17T21:22:00.000+09:002008-12-17T21:22:00.000+09:00I put Xubuntu on the old (and I mean old) computer...I put Xubuntu on the old (and I mean old) computer of my 74years old grandparents. And guess what after getting the wlan work, they had no problems since then. They surf the web, send emails and storing their pictures.<BR/>I agree. Linux is ready for an avarage userAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-45636380758866451302008-12-17T06:09:00.000+09:002008-12-17T06:09:00.000+09:00All night trying to get things to work? Try months...All night trying to get things to work? Try months. I've spend almost a year trying to get some things workingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-61466732612640937332008-12-15T23:37:00.000+09:002008-12-15T23:37:00.000+09:00Anonymous wrote one December 14, 2008 11:34 PM:tha...Anonymous wrote one December 14, 2008 11:34 PM:<BR/><BR/><I>that's the fault of Adobe to be too short sighted to offer their apps as native Linux.</I><BR/><BR/>Linux desktop market share is less than 1%, Adobe is not making a bad decision for postponing development for Linux.<BR/><BR/>Secondly, as a former linux software developer I can tell you that it's a nightmare to write software for Linux. The documentation is pretty much non-existing, the different linux distros have different bugs which need to be taken into account and you need to constantly debug after major updates or your software becomes unstable.<BR/><BR/>Lastly, the Linux community isn't the fluffy happy community that it's portrayed to be. There are a lot of arrogant people who make support a living hell. To get an idea, check out the evolution of the conversation in <A HREF="http://braid-game.com/news/?p=364" REL="nofollow">this thread</A> ... and that's just for a small development environment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-4766863919178288552008-12-15T23:31:00.000+09:002008-12-15T23:31:00.000+09:00Moved my wife to Ubuntu 8.10 from Windows a week a...Moved my wife to Ubuntu 8.10 from Windows a week ago. She has no complaints and loves how quickly her system performs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-65785029692966642702008-12-15T19:34:00.000+09:002008-12-15T19:34:00.000+09:00Yup, bring it on man, bring it!Yup, bring it on man, bring it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-44307199666795479762008-12-15T16:34:00.000+09:002008-12-15T16:34:00.000+09:00My wife ran Ubuntu on her laptop for a couple mont...My wife ran Ubuntu on her laptop for a couple months, and got along well with it. There was only one small sticking concern, but it's a legitimate one -- she is a pretty heavy Photoshop user, and even though we got it running under Wine pretty easily, it just doesn't "feel" right. The integration with the OS isn't as natural as it should be, but that is no fault of Linux, Ubuntu, or Wine. No, that's the fault of Adobe to be too short sighted to offer their apps as native Linux. The day they pull their head outta their butts and sell CS4 for Linux, is the day she'll never go back to Windows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-6816421442210457082008-12-15T10:30:00.000+09:002008-12-15T10:30:00.000+09:00What's all this fuss about all your wives using kl...What's all this fuss about all your wives using kleenex for wiping windows clean? I wish my lazy Carla would clean our windows, let alone use kleenux for that! All she'd ever do is sit in my laptop all day long, squeezing the joystick with all her might, or make me do nasty things to her on our desktop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-66020411144776808192008-12-15T09:54:00.000+09:002008-12-15T09:54:00.000+09:00I converted my main pc to linux 2 years ago. My ca...I converted my main pc to linux 2 years ago. My cat and dog don't even know it be changed. I have to say though both the cat and dog do have trouble using the keyboard and, um, the cat does tend to get preoccupied by the mouse cursor on the screen and go after that. But they have never looked back.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-42909845234598983082008-12-15T06:21:00.000+09:002008-12-15T06:21:00.000+09:00I've been a Linux user on and off for a few years,...I've been a Linux user on and off for a few years, but I usually end up drifting back to my windows xp.<BR/>I've heard alot of good points and arguments for and against both sides, but it really comes down to personal taste.<BR/><BR/>Linux is eye candy, plain and simple. More customizable than windows can ever hope to be, and easy to use, especially for a new pc user, plus, you can use almost any windows app on it, or find a replacement for them rather easily.<BR/>Though on the other hand, the command line can be a scary thing if you don't know how to search around on forums for instructions.<BR/><BR/>Windows, on the other hand, has that 'comfort' feeling, and holds your hand through every install and problem with countless wizards, and automatic.. everything. Everything works with it, or can be tweaked to do so.<BR/>The down side being that you can't leave your antivirus or firewall off for more than a few minutes without catching something that can kill your system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-84181647098442986102008-12-15T04:53:00.000+09:002008-12-15T04:53:00.000+09:00First to Kasio, stop being an idiot!Secondly,I'm g...First to Kasio, stop being an idiot!<BR/><BR/>Secondly,I'm glad your wife is enjoying linux. However, I don't think linux is quite ready for the mainstream public. I only say this because you did most of the difficult things for her. Such as setting up your printer, openoffice, etc. Most people don't have a tech person in the house to do this for them but, it was a great article!kr00lplatinumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12965706533510742482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-72571239226227102582008-12-15T02:44:00.000+09:002008-12-15T02:44:00.000+09:00When are you going to get it? LINUX SUCKS! It's ri...When are you going to get it? LINUX SUCKS! It's riddled with viruses and spyware, and it is REALLY SLOW. Windows is much better, and has cooler effects.<BR/><BR/>P.S. Switch round Linux and Windows :DKassimBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01897897986711732661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-3520016518229582272008-12-15T01:54:00.000+09:002008-12-15T01:54:00.000+09:00I agree with a "but". I've had all my kids using ...I agree with a "but". I've had all my kids using Ubuntu for the last 3 years - mainly because I got tired of constantly ridding Windows of malware. An old IBM T20 hums along on Puppy Linux and home built Asus P4P800se(P4)runs Ubuntu. <BR/><BR/>"But".. until the Linux community can convince manufacturers to cough up the source code for their hardware, things like webcams, printers and such, getting those relatively easy things to work (for Windows) will continue to be a crapshoot. A normal S3 suspend to RAM is a major challenge for Linux on most hardware because they're refused access to the BIOS's source code. It's tragic to because Linux actually recognizes more hardware out of the box than any flavor of Windows. But printers, webcams, and a simple thing like "suspend", which Windows users have taken for granted since Windows 95, continue to plague Linux.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-69890824049534971462008-12-15T00:41:00.000+09:002008-12-15T00:41:00.000+09:00Hmm,there's some great disinformation goin on here...Hmm,<BR/><BR/>there's some great disinformation goin on here. Interested people should read over the past posts and make a check on the following:<BR/>these linux distros work ... if an experienced user set it up and configured it. For some reason everyone is comparing their standard version of windows with a version of linux that has been finetuned and personalised. That's not a fair comparison - doing the same with windows takes less time and can be done by the laymen, no experts needed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-14365570631295716262008-12-14T23:11:00.000+09:002008-12-14T23:11:00.000+09:00That seems like a bit of a confusing interface rat...That seems like a bit of a confusing interface rather than a bug that stops you from adopting Ubuntu?<BR/>Are you sure you posted the right bug?<BR/>Also you know there are many other distributions at the same quality of Ubuntu, right?xsachahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05783025524346320352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-60951525832507854952008-12-14T22:54:00.000+09:002008-12-14T22:54:00.000+09:00Linux isn't any different then Windows when it com...Linux isn't any different then Windows when it comes to it's userfriendlieness when properly configured by somebody with knowledge of either.<BR/><BR/>My mother has been working on my 7 year old pc with Ubuntu for 6 months where the only problem had been a failing HD that had to be replaced. The only complaint she has is that her friends keep sending her 'funny' mails with attachments that she can open, but don't exactly look or sound right like her friends describe. At that point I remind her that at least every two weeks, she hears about how her friends are having problems with their computers, so she doesn't mind that much.<BR/><BR/>The only real problem for linux distro's is still lack of hardware support and bug-resolution.<BR/>On my own pc, for which I did some research to make sure all the components run linux, there were some issues during network file transfers, this problem appears in all versions of ubuntu and all the other distro's I've tried have several other problems.<BR/>And before you ask, yes I did search for a solution and reported this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/147464.<BR/>I will probably check at some later time wether the new kernel solves this, but allthough I love troubleshooting and solving problems, getting stuck every 5 minutes makes it very hard to troubleshoot as you have to do a hard reboot.<BR/><BR/>Due to this I had to install Vista, which also had it's fun set of problems (BSOD due to graphics driver). Two weeks later, a driver update solved that, while the bug which completely stops me from using Ubuntu is most likely still present.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-44841111984853019412008-12-14T22:46:00.000+09:002008-12-14T22:46:00.000+09:00I am the wife of a technical guy who's been runnin...I am the wife of a technical guy who's been running Linux for years. I ran Mandrake a few years ago, but this year purchased a Dell Ubuntu desktop. I am thrilled with it. While I do not consider myself technically illiterate, I do need my husband's help for the commands I need to run in Terminal, etc. He set up WINE, which has me running my old versions of Photoshop and Quicken seamlessly. But for many things, I'm fine on my own, even installing fonts, etc. I think it's already there for most mainstream users who only need open office-type capabilities, browsing, some great games, browsing their photos, etc. The upgrade to Intrepid has been slightly more hairy with things like printing issues, but overall, I'm thrilled. So long, MS.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-30480818547967468492008-12-14T19:45:00.000+09:002008-12-14T19:45:00.000+09:00I'm sorry to spoil the party.The computing world w...I'm sorry to spoil the party.<BR/><BR/>The computing world will not become better.<BR/><BR/>The old problem "Microsoft" will be gone in a few years.<BR/><BR/>The new problem "Google" will become obvious.<BR/><BR/>It's not about the unhealthy OS monopoly anymore.<BR/><BR/>It's about our very private user data trail that Google (and Facebook, etc.) collect about us.<BR/><BR/>And that is way more dangerous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-85339796950419112682008-12-14T19:33:00.000+09:002008-12-14T19:33:00.000+09:00Gettinig your wife/girlfriend to use Firefox over ...Gettinig your wife/girlfriend to use Firefox over IE isn't that hard. Just install adblock plus and go to an ad-bloated site on both the browsers, put them side by side, show her the difference and just remove her IE-shortcuts ^^Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00143399605231832216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-24399289023007179302008-12-14T18:07:00.000+09:002008-12-14T18:07:00.000+09:00good article, keep spreading the word but just one...good article, keep spreading the word but just one thing.Some websites one has to use -e.g. banks - work only with internet explorer. <BR/>What then?Wim Wolters https://www.blogger.com/profile/07127699122821236848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-21206136432926800112008-12-14T17:31:00.000+09:002008-12-14T17:31:00.000+09:00I tried ubuntu for awhile about 6 months ago..the ...I tried ubuntu for awhile about 6 months ago..the things i appreciated about it were its speed and lack of bloatware. However that being said, I came back to Windows for a few reasons: <BR/><BR/>1.Things (especially drivers) were tough for me to install and I was often typing in command lines into the terminal that I didn't understand and had to copy and paste from some forum<BR/><BR/>2. I had limited success with wine and crossover using MS Office, and when I used openoffice instead I discovered many documents had slight changes when opening them using MS Office..this was a concern when sending important documents to others.<BR/><BR/>3. Often times more obscure programs that I came to rely on in Windows were incompatible with linux and equivalent linux programs were either difficult to find, didn't exist, or weren't exactly what I was looking for.<BR/><BR/>In conclusion, sure Windows has its problems, but with a little tinkering it always gets the job done just how I want it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-334731186350948953.post-87850793354567585972008-12-14T17:14:00.000+09:002008-12-14T17:14:00.000+09:00I agree that Linux is a platform that is mature en...I agree that Linux is a platform that is mature enough for daily use by an average user.<BR/><BR/>However, I am not an average user and therefore I am stuck to Windows due to my games.<BR/><BR/>If I would get a netbook (I'm thinking about it) it would be with a Linux distro, as I don't think I'll play any game on it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716971068389584689noreply@blogger.com