Windows may not be the solution for Lauren, but neither is a Mac
Microsoft has a new ad that’s basic point is, “PCs are cheaper and more plentiful than Macs.” It features a girl, Lauren, who goes computer shopping, can’t afford a Mac, and is pleasantly dazed by the selection at a local BestBuy, ending up with a $700 HP Pavilion.
I agree (although I’d like to point out that PCs minus Windows plus Linux would be even cheaper).
But now a Mac Fanboy to the nth Power is offering Lauren his MacBook, free of charge,
saying, ” My only concern is that I feel the computer “Lauren” chose will not provide an overall positive experience.”
I’m afraid of that too–the software on Lauren’s computer probably won’t “provide an overall positive experience.” And I, as the resident Linux fanboy, am willing to change that. So I’m offering to send Lauren two CDs: Ubuntu 8.10, and Kubuntu 8.10. If she does the right thing, that computer will last her until it disintegrates, and will remain as fast and satisfactory as ever. And on that day when it does disintegrate, a new one will only cost a few hundred dollars.
My own experience has led me to believe that Linux is as good, if not better, than Mac OS X for the majority of the population, so I’m sure Lauren will be a happy camper. And for all the Mac fanboys about to slit my throat, I have a challenge: Explain to me why Mac OS X is $500 better than Ubuntu*, or loan/give me a Mac to try and convert me. I promise I won’t install Linux on it.
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* Yes, Ubuntu. No more “I don’t like RPMs,” or “Fedora in the ’90s was awful.” Ubuntu.
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I got a new iMac (9,1) in March. The fresh out of the store on a brand new iMac OS X crashed on me twice while I was downloading and burning the Ubuntu ISO. That’s 2 more times than Ubuntu has crashed on me in 2 years.
I agree with you. Mac’s are basically Linux, only $500 more (or more) Mac is based off of a Linux kernel, so technically with Linux, you’re buying a free version of the Mac OS. Although, Mac does have it’s advantages. Such as it’s features. And it’s ease of use. But, personally, I run Linux, and I’m very happy with it.
Personally, I use both Mac & Linux and I like both. My opinion is that Mac is more intuitive and that’s what makes it attractive. I know that Linux is very powerful provided you’re an advanced user. The learning-curve is steep and demands a thorough knowledge of the cli though much can be done by pointing and clicking in the more popular distros.
Having said that I have Ubuntu for two years now & I would never consider using Windows while there are great user-friendly releases like: Jaunty, Pclos and Mandriva about not to mention Puppy, Slitaz and Damn Small Linux.
I suppose someday I’ll graduate to Arch, Gentoo or Slax but for the moment I’m sticking with Ubuntu and OS X and I have to say that on the whole, I think, the Mac GUI is better.
Is she a computer hobbyist or saavy computer user?
If she installs Ubuntu on her new HP, will she be able to call HP for help if she does something wrong and can’t boot or log in?
Does she have computer support anywhere else?
It seems to me like these discussions always assume the end user is at least *somewhat* technical.
I’ve introduced friends and family to Linux and the like it a lot. But, it was on hardware I salvaged from the junk bin – AND I support them directly…
Unfortunately, these “which is better” questions aren’t always so simple…
Anyone who is going to cross the chasm from tech geek, to IT manager/executive needs to understand that.
Not everybody likes having to do “stuff” to make their computer “work” (even if it means a better or more powerful computer)
Some people just want to run their apps, check their mail, and update Facebook.
Please donate your old boxes to a church-group or some needy student in these hard times! To comply with the law, and with Microsoft’s leasing policy, you can now replace Microsoft OS with the free (download from the net) Ubuntu OS, which can be set to erase the hard drive of all traces of the “illegal to give away ” Microsoft system and your private information, before donation! Now, explain to your lucky recipient that all the manuals they will ever need are available for free on the internet! Just ask for them in Google! OpenOffice, which is installed already is plenty adequate for homework assignments and with a little exploring, everything else can work well too! Happy computing!
@Caleb
OSX Is NOT built on the Linux kernel it is built on top of Darwin which is an open source apple funded project based on BSD and uses a microkernel architecture which is fundamentally different than Linux which uses a monolithic kernel.
BTW I am a Linux enthusiast and not a Mac fanboy. Get your facts straight.
I’ve used linux and other *nixes extensively both professionally and personally over the last 12 years (prior to that, I grew up using windows). Around January I decided to switch the last computer I had left running windows xp to linux. The computer is a fujitsu lifebook which I use primarily for surfing the internet and media consumption. For almost any other purpose I’d install openbsd or sun solaris since I have not been historically impressed with the stability of most linux environments. However, this was a laptop that I wished to watch movies on and I wanted it to just work without me having to spend a lot of time configuring it and tweaking and compiling custom packages. After experimenting with a few media-geared linux distros I settled on linux mint, an off-shoot of ubuntu. I am extremely impressed with how far the ubuntu tree has progressed since I last used it in 2005. Mint especially is considerably more usable than most unix environments. It is not, however, yet to the point of os x or even windows.
The first issue I had was that my USB speakers emitted a rapid high pitched digital “flapping” noise consistently whenever the computer was on. The problem turned out to be easily fixable by reconfiguring and recompiling the kernel, but can the average user really be expected to do that? Ubuntu provides no easy-to-use tools for kernel configuration. Most users don’t even know what a kernel is, let alone where the configuration files are and how to edit them. The source isn’t installed by default, so we have to find it on the internet. Then they have to learn how to /compile/ software, and that takes hours! Most non-computer literate users or even computer-literate users with no linux background would be looking for greener pastures at this point. Now I have to be careful when using mint’s auto-update feature not to accidentally download and install the latest kernel build or I’ll have to do it all over again.
Songbird just got automatically upgraded from 1.1 to 1.2 and no longer plays any sound. I suspect it’s trying to use ALSA directly now instead of PulseAudio, or maybe it’s the other way around. I wasn’t expecting to go poking through the configuration or the source code of my media player today, but with linux every day brings its own surprises. I had to modify my x configs in order to run google earth without crashing the display. You get the picture.
There are only two situations in which you should be running a *nix environment on your desktop, either you have an experienced system administrator to set up and maintain your environment for you or you are an experienced system administrator (or you’d like to learn to be one).
The main problem with using linux is that with no centralized authority and no clear plan moving forward everyone is forced to fix all the same problems seperately over and over. Many distros fix many of the problems, but no distro currently succeeds in fixing all of them.
Linux and open source software is great and getting consistently better at an alarming rate, but let’s not kid ourselves, the reasons we use open source software are grounded in principles, not in superiority. Linux is NOT the operating system your grandmother should be using unless you are willing to set it up and troubleshoot all her problems for her. Trying to convince non-technical users to switch to linux at this point will only hurt open source software as people become frustrated and disillusioned with it.
When I am dealing with non-technical people I usually point out the superior open-source applications, such as firefox and pidgin, that they can install on their windows or macintosh computer. I point out that osx is based on freebsd and teach them how to use some of the powerful features that unix delivers. Sometimes I install virtual box with an open source environment for them and teach them how to use it to accomplish tasks. I do not, however, suggest they wipe their hard drive and install an operating system that will only make them hate me in 3 weeks.
@Nic Stevens:
Thanks for clarifying that. I was about to go into a huge rage with a number of sources that all explain how Mac has its roots in BSD with its Darwin kernel rather than any form of Linux kernel. In fact, BSD v. Linux is like apples v. oranges. Some software may be the same, but the underlying code is fundamentally different because the kernels are different.
That’s almost like saying the code for an OS X machine with a PPC chip is the same as the code for an OS X machine with an Intel chip… They’re completely different animals!
“Is she a computer hobbyist or saavy computer user?”
Is Linux only for computer hobbyists and savvy computer users? No.
“If she installs Ubuntu on her new HP, will she be able to call HP for help if she does something wrong and can’t boot or log in?”
Probably not, no.
“Does she have computer support anywhere else?”
Lots of places. ubuntuforums.org, Linux Questions. She can get support from Canonical. OEMs are not the only place you can get support for your operating system. And a lot of OEMs ARE offering Linux now. Dell is an example.
“It seems to me like these discussions always assume the end user is at least *somewhat* technical.”
No one is assuming anyone needs to be technical to use Linux except you and a lot of people who actually believe the myths about Linux.
“I’ve introduced friends and family to Linux and the like it a lot. But, it was on hardware I salvaged from the junk bin – AND I support them directly…”
And most new hardware is well supported as well. Linux has way more drivers than Windows has. What’s more is that Linux will frequently have way more hardware work out of the box than Windows.
“Unfortunately, these “which is better” questions aren’t always so simple…”
Nope. It sure isn’t that simple.
“Anyone who is going to cross the chasm from tech geek, to IT manager/executive needs to understand that.”
Who is trying to cross this chasm in this discussion? If you’re trying to imply businesses don’t use Linux you need to do some research.
“Not everybody likes having to do “stuff” to make their computer “work” (even if it means a better or more powerful computer)”
Yet more arguments for Linux and against Windows. Have you even installed a retail copy of Windows on a machine, then installed LINUX on the same machine. Compare which one has the most working, if not everything, workign out of the box. My experience is always that Linux was 100% up to speed the first time it boots, whereas Windows will struggles to even recognize to or three of your devices. Linux hardware support is way beyond windows hardware support in my experience.
“Some people just want to run their apps, check their mail, and update Facebook.”
All three things you can do on Linux. Easily. With Firefox and Thunderbird, even.
Have you even USED Linux? I don’t think you have,
[...] Cup finals (Go Pens!), and I just saw a new Microsoft ad, in the same series as the one with Lauren. I missed the girl’s name–it was something foreign and politically correct–but [...]
Although your logic appears sound on the surface it fails on at least two points:
1 – Some of us just plain don’t like Ubuntu, possibly for the same reasons it’s often offered as an alternative to Windows. I do have Ubuntu on my Mac for testing but it’s coming off again.
2 – I’ve yet to see a high resolution laptop screen on a non-Mac that isn’t hard on my eyes (I’m far from young). So for that reason alone I’ll stick to my Mac.
3 – Anyone who has to work in a Windows world runs into problems with either Linux or Mac. I keep a Windows virtual machine on my Mac for all those things that either can’t be done natively or are just too much trouble. e.g. I need to work with Microsoft Access databases and compile using Visual Studio.
Sure I’d like to see everyone move away from Microsoft but unfortunately it’s not as simple as we would like.
@Dustin Boyd & Nic Stevens:
yhbt hand.
Lulz
I share a desktop with my two children (10 yr. and 6 yr.) They get around fine in our kubuntu/ubuntu/xunbuntu installation. They prefer using it to the XP on the same computer. Neither of these children are ‘uber geeks” and nothing special has been done to the Linux install. It is an everyday install of 9.04. Everything works and the educational software that is FREE absolutely rocks. On the AMD 64 laptop, we wiped out the vista install and completely replaced it with the 64 bit Ubuntu……..it is my son’s laptop and it was done at his request. He complained of vista taking too long to do anything.