Is Linux Only For Techies?

[Mike Lonewolf]

Metalmania, WHAT are you going to use if Windows stays on it's current path of moving to the tablet/smart phone arena? Even here with Win 8 DP you can see by disabling the Metro UI that it is just Windows 7. I'm sure Microsoft will stay with the ability to update the O/S for 5 years. BUT then WHAT? If what I am saying will happen, WHAT will you be USING as a desktop O/S?

I have to disagree that Linux and all it's versions are not just for techies. While Ubuntu and Linux Mint are certainly more user friendly there are still a lot of software that's not installable through the gui and requires the command line. Not to mention driver compatibility issues that can arise on older hardware.

 

[Metalmania31]

Well, I don't think MS will abandon PC desktop. But they need to compete so that is what metro is supposed to do. I agree once you strip metro away it's basically win7. So I don't think win8 is revolutionary or huge draw to upgrade. I think it'll be used by people who are just replacing a pc or those of us who want all OS's at our disposal. I'll continue to use Win 7 for the time being and maybe get an oem win8 for my laptop. As for the far future. I have no idea what any OS maker will come up with. For all we know some software maker could come out of nowhere and cause an exodus of Linux and windows. But realistically I will probably be a windows user for long time to come, while using other OS's for other purposes.
It's an interesting question. What's your opinion?

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

Basically I see it as how I said earlier, Microsoft's roadmap seems to be heading to the tablet, and smart phone arena. People are just to much on the go. NOT alot of us old timers sitting down in front of a monitor, and keyboard/mouse and Microsoft is seeing that as well.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Basically I see it as how I said earlier, Microsoft's roadmap seems to be heading to the tablet, and smart phone arena. People are just to much on the go. NOT alot of us old timers sitting down in from of a monitor, and keyboard/mouse and Microsoft is seeing that as well.

Mike,
I think there are a lot more old timers, sitting down using their desktops/laptops than you think.
My wife and I live in a Senior Community with 6,000 homes where sitting down is a way of life for most of these folks.
Us baby boomer's are their bread and butter!
Hence, MS would be making a big mistake not including these items in their road map.IMHO
THW

 

[Mike Lonewolf]

THEN you know this is the way it will go, we were the out with the old, and in with the new generation. BUT then again we planned to live forever and change the world as well. We baby boomers were also the ones that had disposable income, and lived the high life in our youth too. FUNNY now, today's young think we should sit in front of a 640 x 480 analog TV, and let them run the world. LoL

 

[whs]

Yesterday I was fighting with Ubuntu all day. The fact that it is running in Virtual Box did not make the task any easier. Somehow I had lost the flashplayer and reinstalling it took me 2 hours. The bugger did not want to install when downloaded with Chrome. I finally found it in the download center where it worked.

But I also found a nice feature. You can set the font type for the system (a big choice), bold it, set italics, font size, etc. And that for desktop, documents, applications, etc. seperately. I wish Windows would have something like that.

On the other hand, I have not yet figured out how to change the cursor size. That's for tomorrow.

 

[The Howling Wolves]

Yesterday I was fighting with Ubuntu all day. The fact that it is running in Virtual Box did not make the task any easier. Somehow I had lost the flashplayer and reinstalling it took me 2 hours. The bugger did not want to install when downloaded with Chrome. I finally found it in the download center where it worked.

But I also found a nice feature. You can set the font type for the system (a big choice), bold it, set italics, font size, etc. And that for desktop, documents, applications, etc. seperately. I wish Windows would have something like that.

On the other hand, I have not yet figured out how to change the cursor size. That's for tomorrow.

WHS,
Read this nice list of things to personalize your computer.
http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/144081-changing-font-size-type-globally-win-7-a.html

Some of the things would benefit you with your eyesight problem.
THW

 

[whs]

Thanks Dennis.

 

[Vertex]

There are several Linux distros that make life a bit easier. E.g. Mint is a nice one. But once you want to dig a bit deeper into the system, you always end up on the command line. And that is certainly not easy to use.

For someone who has his Linux all set up and does only mail, webbrowsing, some picture processing and music, operation is OK. But if you want to go beyond that, Windows is easier.

Yeah Mint is a nice one. The UI is more friendly than Ubuntu for Windows migrants. I have used Linux Mint 9 for more than a year or so. I used it to a great extent that at some point I was using it more than Windows 7 on my dual boot machine, I removed it when I installed WDP. But overall, it boots and shuts down faster than Windows 7.

It has louder sound output than Windows which I like if I'm listening to music. I used an emulator called Wine to make Windows applications work in it. I even installed MS Office 2007, Photoshop and CCleaner and they worked at that time. Its also a good video player cause I can play videos from Firefox's Internet cache straight into my music player so I don't have to revisit those videos from Youtube quite often. I use the Software Manager to install new applications without having to go to the Terminal command line.

I also used it a lot in removing viruses and worms from USB flashdrives since Linux is immune to most malware. I would just set it to show hidden files and bingo, a lot of randomly named files appear with weird extensions which are actually the malware files. I would then delete them, rearrange the other files in the flashdrive and the problems are gone. I still have Mint 9 and Mint 12 on my CD's. I just used Mint 12 on a CD yesterday, booted it into my machine then used it to remove malware files from someone else's USB flashdrive that the antivirus couldn't handle and I was able to rid off like 40 malicious files in there. Quite nice to be still running my Linux Mint on a CD.

There are things I like doing in it better than doing it with Windows so my verdict is that Linux is NOT ONLY for geeks and techies but its for everyone who can learn it and use it well.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Linux IMO will never make the OS mainstream -- there are too many distros etc etc. There's no reason for enthusiasts and hobbyists to abandon it but for your old "Mom and Pop" forget it.

There are still hobbyists running old IBM mainframe software on PC's via the Hercules emulator -- good luck if they want to but joe public won't follow suit. It's your choice --you can run whatever you like on your PC but don't expect it to become mainstream.

Here's a link if you want to try some old IBM stuff on your PC. !!!!!

The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and z/Architecture Emulator !!!!!! for old timers who remember IBM MVS/370 etc.


As a SERVER solution LINUX is almost PERFECT. Whatever MS may say (and Windows 2003 server was -- and still is an EXCELLENT product) around 85 - 90% of the world's servers are running some type of Linux -- probably a big corporate supplier like Red Hat.

A desktop OS needs to have a CONSISTENT interface and should be easily maintainable. Android is probably the only OS that could at some future date get a desktop feel to it -- people are used to the standard interface and used to seeing it on tablets and smart phones.

OS updating shouldn't depend on which of the 6 million variants of Linux you are runnig --each with their own repositries and different methods of system mintenance.

Android isn't ready for the desktop quite yet but it has more chance of competing with Windows than any version of Linux.

(Don't get me wring - I LIKE Linux -- but it's not and never will be taken up by Joe public at large).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[whs]

for old timers who remember IBM MVS/370 etc.

This is interesting. I was not aware of this emulator. Since I was one of the developers of Rel.1 of MVS/360 in the early 60s, I might have a look at it. Maybe I can recognize something.

 

[vrosa]

Android isn't ready for the desktop quite yet but it has more chance of competing with Windows than any version of Linux.

i would be a nice war for the future