A look back on Windows XP: Success, simplicity and stupidity

English Soapbox
#21

I would agree that you can BUY support if you have an enterprise version of GNU/Linux, but I bet less than 0.5% of the Linux users do.
But there is FREE support for any issue 24x7 on Windows Lenovo products which are under warranty. And this support is offered even at strange times such as 11pm on a Sunday night via telephone with no hold times. I know this because I had a problem with my W530 a few months ago and the guy was on the phone with me from Atlanta from about 11-12am and he only hung-up after I said thanks for the help! Such support like that for Linux would cost a user thousands. I think this is the main reason for the lack of desktop adoption of Linux. What else could it be? Ubuntu is literally easier to use than Windows 7, but I can’t even get one of my friends who uses Windows, to even try it on an older system. My friend who has a 64 bit Vista laptop, from about 2008/9 era had major problems with the OS recently; I begged him to try 64bit Ubuntu and get rid of Vista. He won’t do it. What can I say? You can’t make the horse drink. Ubuntu is like XP, but unfortunately it is 15 years too late. That’s why I say, forget the desktop, just enjoy Linux and quit trying to promote it. It promotes itself.

From the Ny Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/technology/personaltech/the-many-alternative-computing-worlds-of-linux.html

#22

In this part of Europe (more countries, since i follow the situation in more of them, thanks to lingustic similarities) it’s more or less Microsoft’s racketeering. One of these countries tried to move to opensource, but they were ‘englightened’ by a local MS exposure, that training people to use different programs would cost much more than renewing licenses for Win. That, and a threat of a 200 million $ lawsuit (it had something to do with contract overstepping, forgot what it was tbh, it was a while ago). Anyway, in my countries, people into opensource and FOSS are more or less developers and enthusiasts, while for every one of them, MS has a lawyer and a lobbyist. Basically, it’s a matter of politics. To make it a non-issue as much as possible, one university mandates you save all your documents in .odt, so everyone could open them equally, and one IT Faculty uses zip instead of rar, or sth like that.

And with this i agree a 100%. I found pleasure in Linux, even though i’m not a developer or anything of the sort, love using and tinkering around the basics of my computer. I went from a complete idiot to capable of installing Arch, and fixing some issues myself. And finding my way around documentation, which was the hardest part in the first place.
Anyway, after a year and a half or so, using linux, i stopped gospelling. People take this issue lightly, though the whole Snowden affair did help, and i got more and more questions about alternatives to operating systems, web services etc. Anyway, nowadays, i talk about linux with people who initiate the conversation themselves, i’ve had it with trying to ‘sell’ the thing with people who are literraly scared of trying out something new, even though it just might work better and they don’t need windows at all.

#23

On 2014-04-10, BSDuser <BSDuser@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:
>
> I would agree that you can BUY support if you have an enterprise version
> of GNU/Linux, but I bet less than 0.5% of the Linux users do.
> But there is FREE support for any issue 24x7 on Windows Lenovo products
> which are under warranty.

I don’t think it’s naive to suggest that this support isn’t free but comes included with the Lenovo purchase i.e.
pre-paid. And even besides `enterprise versions’ GNU/Linux is not free: you pay with time rather than money.

I think this is the main reason
for the lack of desktop adoption of Linux. What else could it be?

That Microsoft monopolises OS preinstallation for ready made systems?

Ubuntu is literally easier to use than Windows 7, but I can’t even get
one of my friends who uses Windows, to even try it on an older system.

I think there are two issues here.

  1. Installation another OS atop/alongside another.
  2. Windows versus GNU/Linux.

Most PC users are already too scared of #1 before even being in a position to consider #2.

My friend who has a 64 bit Vista laptop, from about 2008/9 era had major
problems with the OS recently; I begged him to try 64bit Ubuntu and get
rid of Vista. He won’t do it.

A lot depends on the reason. If the reason is I wouldn't even install another Windows' than that's very different from I wouldn’t consider Linux’. The second issue is usually resolvable with the help of a Live media distribution, but
there’s no point even trying if the first issue is prohibitive.

> What can I say? You can’t make the
> horse drink. Ubuntu is like XP, but unfortunately it is 15 years too
> late.

I don’t understand how Ubuntu is like XP. XP introduced WPA, Ubuntu did not. Ubuntu is free, XP was not. XP was very
good for playing commercial 3D games, Ubuntu is not. XP was ideal for running Microsoft Office, Ubuntu is not.

> That’s why I say, forget the desktop, just enjoy Linux and quit
> trying to promote it. It promotes itself.

If you really mean Linux, then I agree this is certainly the case for Android. But if you mean GNU/Linux, then I do not.
There’s not even any universtally accepted name for the OS. Distributions are partitioned on the basis of deb vs rpm
packages with Qt- vs GTK- based desktop environments, and with- versus without- proprietary content. GNU/Linux audio is
a mess, graphics drivers are flaky, and the vast numbers of GNU/Linux distributions do a very good job in making the
choice intimidating to potential new users. No. GNU/Linux does not promote itself.

#24

True enough - Linux has its issues, because it was never meant to be a fill-in for a commercial OS. I have this Lenovo B590, core i3 running Ubuntu 13.1 and it outperforms the old Win. 7 which I dumped. I don’t do games, and I am not into MS Office unless I have to use it for my work. In general, Openoffice suffices and there is a good Windows version. From this vantage point, Linux is superior to Windows, but I am comfortable doing my own support. But most people are not.