[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Don't Fear the Penguin: A Newbie's Guide to Linux here

[RickBeckwith]

Actually, MS Office 2007 can read ODF documents via a plugin from sun.com.
Just go to sun's website and search for "ODF plugin" or something similar, download and install, and then you're good. Just one more cool feature to add to the list of cross-platform compatibility.

[puterdood]

I have had this belief for many years about a lot of things - software, audio CDs, video DVDs, etc. If they had only priced their products reasonably from the beginning, software companies, such as Micro$oft, and the various music and movie companies would not be in the shape they are now. If their prices had been more reasonable, people would be more willing to pay for their products instead of bootlegging them or finding cheaper alternatives. I would much rather have original copies than copies of other copies which are lower quality and have problems. I would have gladly paid $5 for CDs, $10 for DVDs, and $25 for software. Companies like Micro$oft have priced themselves right out of business.

[Evildave]

Well, how much more reasonable a price than FREE?
Windoze is coasting along on a lot of inertia, but the other OS choices are beginning to have an effect. Just slowly grinding that 'insurmountable' lead down will take time as long as so many fools are being separated from their money.

[jalbertini1]

Why don't your articles (all of them) offer a quick & convenient way to print them.
It is a royal pain to load each of 3 pages and have to print the whole pages with a bunch on stuff we don't need or want.
It is a major waster of time and resources (paper & ink)!!!

[TheBigOldDog]

My biggest issue with Linux is installing applications. It's still too complex for the average user. Having to jump through 10K hoops to load codecs to be able to watch youtube videos and other embedded rich media, etc is a major pain in the butt.

[dragon69]

well TheBigOldDog i will have to agree with perspectoff as now a days with ubuntu it is far easier to install most stuff in unbuntu then vista ( well win 7 beta is getting back into the swing of things a great improvement over vista in my humble opinion) while it may have been to true in the past but ubuntu and most distros of linux's have made great strides in their installer packages ( and yes like he states the older ways are still their for some user's and or some packages)
good point evildave (ie a fool and his money are soon parted) and if micro$oft wants to stay competitive then they will have to price win 7 more reasonably then vista was (ie instead of increasing prices they should stay the same or even lower them)
everyone says that vista was so good ( or is a great success) yet it only has twice the users that mac has (ie 9.93 % mac vs 20.67 for vista according to net apps and yet win xp has 3 1/2 the amount of users that vista has after vista has been out for more then 2 years ) yet one good thing has come out of all this ( i mean ubuntu limited success and vista's great failure) is that at least now micro$oft has started to listen to the customers
i still see the many distros of linux's as a waekness as they have over 100 live versions and maybe over 500 installable version of linux's and people complained when vista had over 7 but it also can be seen as a strength of linux . . that you can get so many different version that could possibly run on just about any computer made past or present
just my two cents on this subject
gl and tc

[rkinne01]

" If their prices had been more reasonable, people would be more willing to pay for their products instead of bootlegging them or finding cheaper alternatives."

I couldn't have put any better myself. In these tough economic times people are going to be VERY tight with thier money. CD's, DVD's, and games should be priced to reflect consumers low
savings.

I also agree there are too many distros of Linux. I have to laugh when people say there are too many versions of Windows.

[CombiVerde]

well, might be "simple" to you...to me, it's not worth the time invested...

[LindaA]

I've been considering switching to Linux if (and maybe when) that day ever comes that I'll have to say good-bye to XP :(. Fortunately, that day hasn't come yet, and I've been having second thoughts about Linux because I've read that it's very geek oriented and I'm no geek. I'm just your average computer user. Of course the gang at PC World is going to say Linux is easy to use, after all, they're geeks. However, from what I see of Linux's interface in this article, it does look fairly familiar. Well, we'll see. Time will tell.

[Evildave]

Um, software installation in Ubuntu is pretty darned simple. I don't see how you could consider it 'trouble'.

1. Go Applications->to Add/Remove...

2. Search for the application you want.

3. Click a check box on each one you want (you can install as many as you like and go get a cup of tea).

4. Click 'Apply Changes'.

And unlike Windows setups, it's all automatic from there. Nothing to keep you glued to the computer prompting. If you installed a bunch of stuff, you can wander off and get lunch or do something else.
A trusted source, authentication, download and setup all rolled into one automatic package manager.
The only 'complexity' comes in when the software you want isn't already packaged. Then you have to follow SIMPLE step-by-step directions to download and install it, and it's the same couple of variations of installer repeated ad-nauseum, so the 'learning curve' is pretty shallow for most people.

For administration, you can get a list of all installed packages AND
feed that list back from the command line, so you can write a simple
scripts to configure workstations and just walk to the next one. Even the 'complex' setups can be scripted so you don't have to sit in front of the computer pressing 'OK' like a pigeon being fed peanuts through a slot.

[bbvammy]

If install applications in Ubuntu is hard then I don't know what is easy. Evildave hit the nails on its head about installation. Right now is the perfect time to switch to Linux.
1. Security ( worms free )
2. Price ( free )
3. Desktop ( GUI )
4. etc.
everyone can fill in the rest.

[SpaceGhost]

At least run the live cd with your cd drive and see what you think. If you like it install it. Or...better yet...If you ARE "Tech Savvy" shrink your partition using Ubuntu's built in partitioning tools. Reboot. Then install it on the same hard drive for a dual boot system (or triple) that ROCKS!!! Great lifesaver for crashes too!

[emmerc]

I have used Ubuntu for four years. I got it from a friend who gave me the CD installer of Ubuntu 5.04 when my PC clon running Windows XP got a permanent blue screen due to a faulty HDD. Then I knew NOTHING about linux but, out of need, I managed to install it. I ended using it on a machine with a faulty HDD and faulty ram memory for almost 6 months! Writing papers for my PhD classes. Wow! Now I have three laptops and two of them (Asus eee pc 900 and Toshiba Satellite 6100)run on Ubuntu full time! These four years I have learn a lot about linux thanks to the dozens of forums and thanks to google! Let me tell you, Linux is a friend who will NEVER let you down or alone! Try and enjoy it!

[bradf52]

ok you all maybe right! MAYBE!
But Ubuntu and the rest of the distros have serious problems with networking them! Try getting a printer and a printserver connected to ubuntu! I have to hook printers up on another machine (windows) share it out over the network then connect ubuntu to it. Why not through my printserver!NOT! Dual Boot Yea RIGHT! NOT!!!
Furthermore software for linux of any flavor is either crippled or stripped down to basics. Then they want to charge you for the full version. So where is free? So the ones that say the software for linux is free is full of hooey! I'll stick with XP for at least a few years more. The ones saying Win 7 is an improvement over vista are having delusions. It's in beta for one so wake up people! I'm beta testing it and it's far from better. They have along way to go to surpass XP!!!
MY TWO CENTS!

[waldojim]

ok,

1. Cups is a free print server, designed to share a single printer quite nicely... Samba can even be used to share with windows users.Cups How-to

2. The software is as complete, or incomplete as the developer wants to make it. If it does not have the "features" you want, It might just be because the developer did not want it there. Ever think of that? Perfect example: cdparanioa - the best damned cd ripping program I EVER came accross, yet has nothing to speak of for features. Hell the only thing it does is rip, no compression. If you want to compress - find another app. Do I blame the developer for not having a compressor in there as well... hell no! It does such a damned good job that I cannot complain.

3. I would love to know what software you are paying for in Linux.... As I have run Linux now for damn near 10 years, and have never bought any software for it.

4. I have no idea what your issue with dual booting is - as everyone of my machines is set up to do so - except my HTPC which is a 100% full time mythbuntu box.... and they all work well, so......

5. Yeah Windows 7 is beta, but so far on my laptop - boot times have been cut, and it seems to run a touch smoother as it does not waste all of its time prefetching crap... I can't wait to see how the RC's turn out....

[waldojim]

BTW guys - why such a negative thought about choices?

I like thinking that I can say - nah I don't care for xxxx in Ubuntu, I kinda like Mint better.... or saying I don't like debian package manager (don't know why I wouldn't like it... but still it is a choice)

I also like the choices for office apps.... I don't like waiting on OO.o to start - so for most of that I use abi-word....

Heck - if it weren't for choices, I wouldn't have some of the cool distros running that I do.... I have 486's running DSL, light weight Pentium 233's running Xubuntu, and so on.... choice helps fill niches... So I am curious; why choice is frowned upon?

[HerbertWest]

"But Ubuntu and the rest of the distros have serious problems with networking them! Try getting a printer and a printserver connected to ubuntu! I have to hook printers up on another machine (windows) share it out over the network then connect ubuntu to it."
Just to play devil's advocate, Ubuntu plays nicer with my network printer than XP. Last time I made a major change to the network, I spent all day trying to figure out why my XP box couldn't find the printer, whereas Ubuntu only took about 5 minutes to get set up. Not saying Ubuntu is always better, as I still feel the need to dual/triple boot my personal PCs, just wanted to give a different perspective on the networking thing.

[LindaA]

OK, all you geeks out there, here's a dumb question from a non-geek. Could I install Ubuntu temporarily, just to try it out, without disrupting my XP OS in any way, and without having to partition my hard drive? Hard drive partitioning is way to geeky a process for me!

[RickBeckwith]

LindaA,

I actually just did this myself. There is a free program called Wubi which will install Ubuntu onto your machine automatically, with an option to boot into it at startup. Wubi installs Ubuntu just like any other Windows application. It can also be easily removed. You just choose the installation size, username and password, and desktop type (ie: Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu - these are just different interfaces for the look and feel of the Ubuntu core.) Wubi will download the required files and install automatically.

You can find Wubi at www.download.com and search "Wubi". Then just run the program and presto, at startup you can choose to boot into Ubuntu Linux using the keyboard arrows to select and press enter.

The system will reside on your C:/ drive in a folder called "ubuntu". If you choose to uninstall, there is an uninstaller in that folder. Run that and then simply delete the ubuntu folder and you're back to just Windows.

Again, I just did this whole process over the weekend and found it very helpful in safely exploring Ubuntu Linux a little more than simply a live boot from CD.

Any problems, just post back here and we'll see what we can do.