[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Has Ubuntu Reached the End Of the Line? here

[CentiZen]

Cross as many lines as you want, Ubuntu will never reach the popularity that windows has. Don't get me wrong, I love linux, but it will take alot more than this to become the most popular OS

[llemm]

Oh yes they will

[keirthomas]

As mentioned in the article, it's very easy to build Gnome Shell by following the instructions at the project website, You'll even be told which packages you'll need to install when you run the initial build script. The only thing not mentioned in the instructions is that you'll need to add /home/username/bin to your $PATH. To do so, open a terminal window and type PATH=$PATH:/home/username/bin
Replace username with your own username, of course.
Note that Gnome Shell won't work unless you have composite graphics drivers. This means that it won't work if you're using a virtual machine such as VMware.

[NoSmokingBandit]

Until it gets the huge application base of Windows or has something to compete with iLife it will be going nowhere. Linus himself said that nobody uses the OS, they use the apps that run on it. Ubuntu may be a great OS, but it lacks in the app department unless you are a programmer or scientist.

[madman21904]

Huh?
Ubuntu has over 26000 programs available, many of them in the graphics, multimedia, internet, and office categories. How many do you need???

[NoSmokingBandit]

Show me something that compares to CS4. NOT GIMP, because any professional will tell you its not even close. How about something that compares to Logic, or even Garageband for that matter? What if i want to edit video? Nothing can hold a candle to Final Cut or Premiere. Are any major games ported to linux? Most linux games are clones of UT or Doom or cheap copies of 2d games.

[madman21904]

Now you're comparing apples to oranges. Of course noone is going to re-write their software for an OS that has such a small user-base. You said Ubuntu lacked a software base. That was my argument. There are lots of programs available. Is Linux of any color for everyone? Absolutely not. But it (and what's available for it) does work for many.

Cheers

[lexon]

If Ubuntu is ready for the masses, can
the masses view a commercial DVD without working under the hood? With
9.04 Beta I could not and went back to Mint 6 where I could.

Lexon

[ricegf]

"OpenOffice.org was inspired by Microsoft Office"
Oh, really? Let's see, Marco Börries began work on OpenOffice.org (then called StarOffice) in 1984 for a Z80-based CP/M computer by Amstrad. Microsoft released their Office in 1989, only 5 years later.
OpenOffice.org acquired the name (and open source license) in 1999, when Sun bought out Marco's company - but if you trace the code lineage, it was OpenOffice.org first, then Microsoft Office.

[spaceboy909]

I haven't been brave enough to try UJJ yet; still using Ibex, but I'm sorry to say, Linux is no where near 'ready for the desktop'! And I'm no greenhorn when it comes to computers and technology.
Unfortunately, articles like these are an all too common reflection of the disconnect between the linux developers and groupies, and the real world end user (workstations with on site tech support don't count as desktops, btw).
Of course, as with any product, if you don't run into any problems then you'll think it's great. But the reality is, there is a sea of potential problems just waiting to crop up for the new user, whether it be install/driver issues, resource issues (flash, xorg, codecs) or just shoddy, amateurish applications, which comprise a significant chunk of those '26000' apps.
I have pulled my hair out trying to get my tv tuner card running. I have given up, and now resort to booting to windows so I can watch tv! (yes, I've been to linuxtv.org)
And for the 2nd time on my notebook, I'm troubleshooting a non-functional wifi.....I'm on day 3 now.
That's just a fraction of the time consuming, hair pulling issues I've had to deal with from Linux over the years.
Here's what I think is the bottom line: When it comes to free E-stuff, like music, movies, software, legal or not, people swarm to it in the blink of an eye.
We will all KNOW when Linux is ready for the desktop, because new users will stay with it instead of cussing their way back to Windows. And, they will tell all of their friends to get it too.
When it is finally ready, it'll be an overnight phenomenon, so to speak.
Perhaps an easier way to track the success of the Linux Desktop is to just check Microsoft's share price every day. If it drops by 50% in one day, then you'll know Linux is up to something. Until then, MS is where it's at.

[madman21904]

All too true. As I stated before, Linux is absolutely not for everyone. For "low-end" users who don't do much besides surf, e-mail, and mild multi-media, it's great. For seasoned 'hackers' like myself who came from the era of manually configuring DOS and early versions of Windows, it's fun. But at least half the people I know that use Linux (including those on the forums) either dual-boot or virtualize with Windows. Hell, I wouldn't even go that far. If Linux didn't do everything I wanted, I'd just use Windows. EOD.

Cheers

[madman21904]

Well actually, installing dvdcss codecs in Ubuntu is a far cry from "working under the hood". Try it with Slackware once. :^0

This is where you get into the 'politics' of Linux and FOSS, which makes absolutely no sense. So many decry distros that include the proprietary software that does the everyday tasks (like Mint and Puppy), yet they have to jump through hoops to install them on their own distro of choice if they wish to do the same.

[Grr8008]

I am not a Total technology geek. However for me, Linux suits my needs just fine. Besides, I can run hardly anything else on my 12 year old computer.

[madman21904]

"Linux suits my needs just fine."


And mine, as well as those of several of my friends, some of which are the most computer-illiterate people on Planet Earth. :^0 But as a member of an online forum where I see the problems many have just getting it installed or configured for their particular hardware, as well as how many that need to keep Windows because the Linux version of a software program is nearly unusable, I'd be a hypocrite to say it's for everyone.

[Evildave]

I'm using Ubuntu. I must admit to using VirtualBox to run Adobe CS software. Only for Flash CS3, though, since I receive CS3 documents, and Flash 8 won't open 'em. Otherwise, I'd just use Flash 8+Flex3/AIR. It's good enough, and runs in WINE just fine.

I'd say Adobe CSx is a fine example of everything that is wrong with PCs.

CS3->CS4 have relatively few new features, but every version grows geometrically in system demands. CS3 and CS4 both come on a stack of DVDs. With BOTH of these products, I had to rip the disks and mount them with ISO mounting software in order to install it, the installer is so frail and unforgiving, and literally takes HOURS to install... and if there's an error - IT COMPLETELY UNINSTALLS and makes you start over. They take up an enormous amount of space on the drive, even with a very miserly and selective installation.

CS2 with Flash 8 runs well on a Windoze 2000 VM with half a gigabyte of RAM. Flash 8 and some other Adobe products install and run just fine in WINE.

CS3/CS4 want XP and over a gig. CS4 has a LOT of performance issues, no matter how much RAM it has. Premiere CS4 is GARBAGE. Get Premiere CS3 and wait a few years for computers to get fast enough to run Premiere 4, or use some other software.

When I launch Photoshop, I get up and get a fresh drink, because it's going to be loading (and loading, and loading) for a while.
When I launch the GIMP, it pops right up and is ready to go. The GIMP is pretty good. Hey, look. I get paid to make games. I use the GIMP. Money comes to me for time spent in a graphical editor. That makes me an ACTUAL professional, by definition. I'd sooner do that pixel pushing and trimming that I do in the GIMP than Photoshop. I recommend ImageMagick, too. Especially if you have a pile of images to do something to. Like converting a pile of PNG files to a GIF, or ripping a movie clip to PNG files, or cropping, format converting, etc.
When I go to 'Add/Remove...' in Ubuntu and grab an app like 'Audacity', I can't help but notice it takes seconds to download and install, versus Adobe's 'SoundBooth' that takes longer just to load off the hard disk. Again, like Gimp vs. Photoshop, Audacity wins over SoundBooth easily just for IMMEDIATELY opening when I launch it. And between Photoshop and SoundBooth, it's nearly a thousand dollars versus Gimp/SoundBooth are FREE!

I'll never go back to windoze. At worst Linux is a 'gateway drug' to OS X for me. A bridge. Whatever you like as a metaphor. After all, Linux and Unix aren't that far apart. Most of the same shells and tools all run on either one.

Actually, I think I might run the Adobe software in a VM even if I bought a Mac. After all, I've gotten quite comfortable developing in a virtual environment customized to the tools I need for a given type of project. The virtual machines back up nicely, too, so it's easy to keep a development environment stored away on a backup drive with all the tools and project files ready to go in an instant, should I need to change something. I always end up making a Windoze-mode build because I have to hold clueless people's hands.

Oh, and configuring a LAMP server is HARD??? PLEASE! It's a difference in experience. You do a web search, find a step-by-step 'howto', and you're an instant 'expert'. An extra few hours' work to set the thing up, versus COUNTLESS hours saved not staying up 'till oh-dark-hundred to diagnose/reboot a Windoze server at least once a week.

Every scripting language except the proprietary crapware Micro$uck puts out comes to Linux first. Someone got around to porting those scripting languages to Microsoft's lousy platform just to be 'nice', so Windoze luzers could learn how to do things 'right'.

You want to understand how bad Microsoft sucks? Look at Winsock. I mean REALLY look at it. For all the faults of BSD sockets, a select loop is very easy to write in Linux, and in Windoze it's a sad, sick joke. Specifically, look at the fdset structure, and then review FDSET/FDISSET macro, compared to any POSIX implementation. Windoze is full of B.S. like this. One call to select() SHOULD allow the whole application (or thread) to sleep until SOMETHING HAPPENS. Even if there are a million open sockets. If there's just one, the thread is completely idle. The most handles Windoze can ever 'Wait' for is 64. All Windoze socket loops are polling, or doing something much, much worse than simply polling.

Now consider what happens when someone ports a network library or scripting language that makes strong BSD Socket assumptions. They will naturally use the BSD-like things in Windoze. The software will end up sitting in hard, tight little O(n) loops iterating over HANDLEs that should have been an instant O(1) indexed lookup the way selece is SUPPOSED TO WORK. Consider a thousand socket connections. Gosh, guess you better get a bigger server, and a second one, too, just because Microsoft can't follow a standard, and can't invent a new one even remotely as good.

If all of that was over your head, consider maybe there's a REASON that techie people loathe Windoze. I mean besides all the clueless dimwits begging for help to fix malware pouring out of their Windoze machines that are totally insecure no matter how much 'anti-' software they bog it down with.

[maco]

I'd guess the reason gDesklets aren't included is because they're awful. Their version of transparency is to just show the desktop image. Screenlets at least do proper transparency when Compiz or xcompmgr or Kwin compositing or Metacity compositing is enabled.

[fattcatt35]

It is now time to finish development of printer and scanner drivers. That is the greatest problem in using Ubuntu, or any other Linux distro, for the average user.

[maco]

What's wrong with printers in Ubuntu? As of 8.04 you can just plug in and after a second it'll pop up "Configured HP PSC 1610"...and that's all the work it takes.

[maco]

Yes, you can. Go to shop.canonical.com and buy the DVD codecs. This is legal problem, not a technical problem.