Comments on: Ubuntu for My Boss http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/ Channel News, Reseller News and Channel Partner Programs Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:59:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: russgift7785А? http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-2/#comment-129223 russgift7785А? Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:02:23 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-129223 <a href="http://russgift.ru" rel="nofollow">Интернет магазин Аристократ</a> - Подарки любимым Интернет магазин Аристократ – Подарки любимым

]]> By: Summer Camps http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-2/#comment-123469 Summer Camps Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:00:53 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-123469 Best you should change the webpage subject Ubuntu for My Boss | The VAR Guy to more suited for your subject you make. I liked the post all the same. Best you should change the webpage subject Ubuntu for My Boss | The VAR Guy to more suited for your subject you make. I liked the post all the same.

]]> By: cmltow http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-2/#comment-115583 cmltow Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:45:42 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115583 I just moved to a new place, when the cable guy came to hook up the internet he asked what kind of OS I was running, apparently he was impressed. I told him (Ubuntu) and of course he had never heard of Linux before. He asked a few questions. Luckily before he left I was able to find the 9.04 disc I had burned not to long ago and gave it to him. He was really grateful. He kept asking me, "are you sure it's free?" Hopefully he'll be another Linux convert. I just moved to a new place, when the cable guy came to hook up the internet he asked what kind of OS I was running, apparently he was impressed. I told him (Ubuntu) and of course he had never heard of Linux before. He asked a few questions. Luckily before he left I was able to find the 9.04 disc I had burned not to long ago and gave it to him. He was really grateful. He kept asking me, “are you sure it’s free?” Hopefully he’ll be another Linux convert.

]]> By: Lloyd McElheny http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-2/#comment-115582 Lloyd McElheny Fri, 16 May 2008 03:22:06 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115582 I needed an OS for my dedicated BOINC machines, so I got books on a variety of distros from the library, and tried various distros. The reason I'm using Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is that it installed virtually without a hitch. No such luck with 7.10 (it hangs during install), nor several other distros I tried. I think I may try the new LTS (8.04?) and see if that is worth the upgrade. Or maybe that high performance timer (or whatever) needs to be turned off. I found out about that much later. Anyway, my adoption of Ubuntu was not accidental, but incidental. I've since worked with some of the preinstalled apps, and added Audacity. Despite a few quirks, I find OpenOffice, GIMP, etc. to be very useful and highly powerful tools. Yes, Ubuntu isn't as intuitive as Windows in some ways (though a lot of that must be my familiarity with Windows), nor are software installations always as simple as Windows. That being said, the Ubuntu box is considerably more reliable than my Windows box (even though the latter has much better/newer hardware), and I can open literally dozens of browser windows and my Ubuntu box doesn't even blink. Contrast this with my Windows box that needs rebooting every couple of days and locks up IE if you open too many browser windows (because of an artificial limit imposed on TCP/IP connections starting with XP SP2). As for distro wars, I think that's just plain silly. Different distros suit different people for whatever reason, not to mention different tasks, etc. I came across a distro called "Puppy" that runs in a RAM drive (and on a very minimal amount of RAM at that), and saves its current state to a multi-session DVD (or CD, though the DVD is more efficient) every time you shut it down. Is that cool, or what? Of course, this kind of functionality probably won't ever be available on other distros (especially Ubuntu). Who cares? That's what makes having so much choice so wonderful. I needed an OS for my dedicated BOINC machines, so I got books on a variety of distros from the library, and tried various distros.

The reason I’m using Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is that it installed virtually without a hitch. No such luck with 7.10 (it hangs during install), nor several other distros I tried. I think I may try the new LTS (8.04?) and see if that is worth the upgrade. Or maybe that high performance timer (or whatever) needs to be turned off. I found out about that much later.

Anyway, my adoption of Ubuntu was not accidental, but incidental. I’ve since worked with some of the preinstalled apps, and added Audacity. Despite a few quirks, I find OpenOffice, GIMP, etc. to be very useful and highly powerful tools.

Yes, Ubuntu isn’t as intuitive as Windows in some ways (though a lot of that must be my familiarity with Windows), nor are software installations always as simple as Windows.

That being said, the Ubuntu box is considerably more reliable than my Windows box (even though the latter has much better/newer hardware), and I can open literally dozens of browser windows and my Ubuntu box doesn’t even blink.

Contrast this with my Windows box that needs rebooting every couple of days and locks up IE if you open too many browser windows (because of an artificial limit imposed on TCP/IP connections starting with XP SP2).

As for distro wars, I think that’s just plain silly. Different distros suit different people for whatever reason, not to mention different tasks, etc.

I came across a distro called “Puppy” that runs in a RAM drive (and on a very minimal amount of RAM at that), and saves its current state to a multi-session DVD (or CD, though the DVD is more efficient) every time you shut it down.

Is that cool, or what?

Of course, this kind of functionality probably won’t ever be available on other distros (especially Ubuntu). Who cares? That’s what makes having so much choice so wonderful.

]]> By: Lance Stuetzle http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115581 Lance Stuetzle Thu, 08 May 2008 20:15:07 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115581 For Linux to grow in popularity it's going to need at least one distro that people can start to really appreciate in large numbers. The strongest things about Ubuntu are it's package management,excellent forums,commercial backing,and focus on polished simplicity. Ubuntu is free software so how can anyone call it a monopoly? Sure other distro's are great and very suitable. But often they seem to miss the mark such as with SuSE's behmoth Yast manager and Fedora's slow repositories. I've used and tried them all since 1997. To me Linux is ideal as an internet workstation and ease for update/installation is very important. People can use what distro they like but don't knock quality. For Linux to grow in popularity it’s going to need at least one distro that people can start to really appreciate in large numbers. The strongest things about Ubuntu are it’s package management,excellent forums,commercial backing,and focus on polished simplicity. Ubuntu is free software so how can anyone call it a monopoly? Sure other distro’s are great and very suitable. But often they seem to miss the mark such as with SuSE’s behmoth Yast manager and Fedora’s slow repositories. I’ve used and tried them all since 1997. To me Linux is ideal as an internet workstation and ease for update/installation is very important. People can use what distro they like but don’t knock quality.

]]> By: Lantesh http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115580 Lantesh Thu, 08 May 2008 17:35:20 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115580 It never ceases to amaze me how fellow Linux users get into these stupid "My distribution is better than your distribution" arguments. The article was a great example of yet another PC user brought into the Linux fold, and it's a shame to have it tarnished by a few idiots. Different users have different needs, and as far as I'm concerned having so many wonderful distros to choose from simply makes the Linux experience all the better. It never ceases to amaze me how fellow Linux users get into these stupid “My distribution is better than your distribution” arguments. The article was a great example of yet another PC user brought into the Linux fold, and it’s a shame to have it tarnished by a few idiots. Different users have different needs, and as far as I’m concerned having so many wonderful distros to choose from simply makes the Linux experience all the better.

]]> By: Phil http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115579 Phil Thu, 08 May 2008 04:22:44 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115579 It has become a sin to make Ubuntu your distro of choice. You can herald any other distro though... Mandriva is great....*cheers* Fedora is great....*cheers* PCLinux is great....*cheers* Ubuntu is.....SHUT UP!!! *^@^@& UBUNTU USER!!! You got folk swearing up and down any and every other distro is better despite Ubuntu having more users. If something else works well for you the congrats. But don't hate on the people that find Ubuntu as their best fit and want to talk about it. If you want more popularity for your distro (I hate the idea of "your distro"...I use multiple) then I'll tell you how to get it. Start putting together some quality forums and blogs and start answering questions. I should not end up finding the answer to a Fefora question on an Ubuntu related forum 7 times out of 10. Thats what lead me to Ubuntu from Fedora in the first place. If I was going to be on their forums researching then I might as well run what they're running. And as it turns out it worked out better for me on my computers. I had less problems. If you want the people then help the people...thats a start. The next step is to quit bickering as if market share matters between distros. It was a big turnoff to be on the Fedora website and end up in a blog where someone was taking a shot at Canonical over not having major kernel contributions. Maybe Canonical is more focused on polishing the end product and aiding the user so that these major kernel contributions are worthwhile to more users. Maybe thats why their in the position to be receiving shots instead of taking them. Nobody if forgetting that Debian is putting the real work into Ubuntu or that Fedora is pushing the cutting edge and advancing the technology. Some folk are just more concerned with ease of use and availability of support...nothing more nothing less. It has become a sin to make Ubuntu your distro of choice. You can herald any other distro though…

Mandriva is great….*cheers*
Fedora is great….*cheers*
PCLinux is great….*cheers*

Ubuntu is…..SHUT UP!!! *^@^@& UBUNTU USER!!!

You got folk swearing up and down any and every other distro is better despite Ubuntu having more users. If something else works well for you the congrats. But don’t hate on the people that find Ubuntu as their best fit and want to talk about it.

If you want more popularity for your distro (I hate the idea of “your distro”…I use multiple) then I’ll tell you how to get it. Start putting together some quality forums and blogs and start answering questions. I should not end up finding the answer to a Fefora question on an Ubuntu related forum 7 times out of 10. Thats what lead me to Ubuntu from Fedora in the first place. If I was going to be on their forums researching then I might as well run what they’re running. And as it turns out it worked out better for me on my computers. I had less problems. If you want the people then help the people…thats a start.

The next step is to quit bickering as if market share matters between distros. It was a big turnoff to be on the Fedora website and end up in a blog where someone was taking a shot at Canonical over not having major kernel contributions. Maybe Canonical is more focused on polishing the end product and aiding the user so that these major kernel contributions are worthwhile to more users. Maybe thats why their in the position to be receiving shots instead of taking them.

Nobody if forgetting that Debian is putting the real work into Ubuntu or that Fedora is pushing the cutting edge and advancing the technology. Some folk are just more concerned with ease of use and availability of support…nothing more nothing less.

]]> By: Joe Panettieri http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115578 Joe Panettieri Thu, 08 May 2008 00:24:46 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115578 Hi Sid, Thanks for offering perspectives on openSUSE. Since Works With U is a relatively new web site (less than a week old, in fact) I just want to clarify the following for our readers: While we are striving to help readers master Ubuntu, we are not suggesting that any "one" operating system is best for "all" users. I've covered Novell (SUSE's owner) since 1992, and I continue to write about Red Hat and other distributions for our various sister Web sites (www.thevarguy.com, for one). So, while Works With U is All Ubuntu, All the Time, I didn't want readers to think that this site somehow believes Ubuntu is perfect for everyone. Hi Sid,

Thanks for offering perspectives on openSUSE. Since Works With U is a relatively new web site (less than a week old, in fact) I just want to clarify the following for our readers:

While we are striving to help readers master Ubuntu, we are not suggesting that any “one” operating system is best for “all” users. I’ve covered Novell (SUSE’s owner) since 1992, and I continue to write about Red Hat and other distributions for our various sister Web sites (www.thevarguy.com, for one).

So, while Works With U is All Ubuntu, All the Time, I didn’t want readers to think that this site somehow believes Ubuntu is perfect for everyone.

]]> By: Sid Boyce http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115577 Sid Boyce Wed, 07 May 2008 22:54:52 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115577 I have 2 complete novices using openSUSE. One 68 year old and the other 80+. These guys are using their PC's for digital camera work, burning CD's and DVD's, surfing the web, and in addition the 80+ year old heavily uses skype for international calls, OOo for wordprocessing and spreadsheets, kopete for Yahoo IM to one daughter and a few friends, thunderbird for email and lots of other stuff. When you consider the 68 year old only had a few months previous experience with W2K on an old P166 and the 80+ year old had never used a keyboard of any sort before and had to be shown the keys and what they did - I even had to explain the spacebar and backspace keys, that speaks volumes. These guys have found out many things by themselves since. People typically have no choice when they buy a new PC, Windows is what they get. For the 68 year old, I put together a new PC with just openSUSE installed, for the 80+ year old, we collected a new PC, put in a 80G hard drive to replace the Windows drive, installed openSUSE and he was up and running. I haven't installed other than openSUSE and SimplyMEPIS for new users and they are at home with using these distros. Based on experience, I don't see any reason why I would swap out openSUSE for Ubuntu on any of them. By the way, I have a laptop running Kubuntu and I have Kubuntu beta and 8.04 running under KVM and VirtualBox here, pity that it chooses to hide "Apply" under the task bar when trying to alter settings in KVM and VirtualBox. The notion that only Ubuntu is usable for newbies, is a total falsehood. I have 2 complete novices using openSUSE. One 68 year old and the other 80+. These guys are using their PC’s for digital camera work, burning CD’s and DVD’s, surfing the web, and in addition the 80+ year old heavily uses skype for international calls, OOo for wordprocessing and spreadsheets, kopete for Yahoo IM to one daughter and a few friends, thunderbird for email and lots of other stuff. When you consider the 68 year old only had a few months previous experience with W2K on an old P166 and the 80+ year old had never used a keyboard of any sort before and had to be shown the keys and what they did – I even had to explain the spacebar and backspace keys, that speaks volumes.
These guys have found out many things by themselves since.
People typically have no choice when they buy a new PC, Windows is what they get.
For the 68 year old, I put together a new PC with just openSUSE installed, for the 80+ year old, we collected a new PC, put in a 80G hard drive to replace the Windows drive, installed openSUSE and he was up and running.
I haven’t installed other than openSUSE and SimplyMEPIS for new users and they are at home with using these distros. Based on experience, I don’t see any reason why I would swap out openSUSE for Ubuntu on any of them. By the way, I have a laptop running Kubuntu and I have Kubuntu beta and 8.04 running under KVM and VirtualBox here, pity that it chooses to hide “Apply” under the task bar when trying to alter settings in KVM and VirtualBox.
The notion that only Ubuntu is usable for newbies, is a total falsehood.

]]> By: Hugh E Torrance http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115576 Hugh E Torrance Wed, 07 May 2008 21:00:58 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115576 Lovely article with interesting comments...its nice to confirm that I am not alone and pretty much average in my own outlook...I have around ten distros on four computers + five xp,s...I love them all even my 6.06 Ubuntu which I just can,t delete even though I have 8.04.I like trying whatever live CD and I have at least one BSD (desktop) on a hard drive. Finally,Open Solaris Indiana wont boot up on any of my boxes and being a member of that collective for a while I am not surprised,pity because I really like the sound of Ian Murdock and Debian is a favourite... Lovely article with interesting comments…its nice to confirm that I am not alone and pretty much average in my own outlook…I have around ten distros on four computers + five xp,s…I love them all even my 6.06 Ubuntu which I just can,t delete even though I have 8.04.I like trying whatever live CD and I have at least one BSD (desktop) on a hard drive.
Finally,Open Solaris Indiana wont boot up on any of my boxes and being a member of that collective for a while I am not surprised,pity because I really like the sound of Ian Murdock and Debian is a favourite…

]]> By: K http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115575 K Wed, 07 May 2008 17:43:14 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115575 Well, I'm in the age range of your boss and can't get into Ubuntu at all, though unlike him I know all about Linux and open source and have installed Ubuntu a number times, only to uninstall it within less than a week. I can tweak along with the best of them, but when I was doing these installs, Ubuntu seemed to be a little ahead of itself, with the promises not matching up to the performance. I hope that's changed with the current version. I'm not sure which animal I started with (I think it was the badger), but I think I've tried out three different versions. The ones earlier than 8.04 (which I haven't tried yet) were about average in the time they required to hunt in forums, use the command line to fix what a gui wasn't getting straight, and so forth. So for the distro itself I have to say I'm only moderately impressed so far. On the other hand, what I do like is Mark Shuttleworth and his company's approach, which is a nice combination of business smarts and humanity. For Linux to thrive you need both sides - a distro that works well, and a company that knows how to promote it both for individuals and for businesses - and make some money while doing it. But I'm composing this on a non-Ubuntu, non-Windows machine, and probably will continue to do so for the forseeable future. I'm not going to mention any names, because I didn't write this to flame anyone or to get into a shouting match. Just to voice a dissenting opinion. Well, I’m in the age range of your boss and can’t get into Ubuntu at all, though unlike him I know all about Linux and open source and have installed Ubuntu a number times, only to uninstall it within less than a week. I can tweak along with the best of them, but when I was doing these installs, Ubuntu seemed to be a little ahead of itself, with the promises not matching up to the performance. I hope that’s changed with the current version.

I’m not sure which animal I started with (I think it was the badger), but I think I’ve tried out three different versions. The ones earlier than 8.04 (which I haven’t tried yet) were about average in the time they required to hunt in forums, use the command line to fix what a gui wasn’t getting straight, and so forth. So for the distro itself I have to say I’m only moderately impressed so far. On the other hand, what I do like is Mark Shuttleworth and his company’s approach, which is a nice combination of business smarts and humanity. For Linux to thrive you need both sides – a distro that works well, and a company that knows how to promote it both for individuals and for businesses – and make some money while doing it.

But I’m composing this on a non-Ubuntu, non-Windows machine, and probably will continue to do so for the forseeable future. I’m not going to mention any names, because I didn’t write this to flame anyone or to get into a shouting match. Just to voice a dissenting opinion.

]]> By: Mel http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/comment-page-1/#comment-115574 Mel Wed, 07 May 2008 17:19:43 +0000 http://www.workswithu.com/2008/05/05/ubuntu-for-my-boss/#comment-115574 [quote] > Nice article, i never realized that people over 50 would use it for some reason. [/quote] I am 70 and use Ubuntu everyday. I only go to windows to keep it updated. Most of the people I have introduced Linux to are over 65 years of age and I even put it on one mans computer who is 86 years old.Our Lug is comprised of seniors none of them under 60. Mel [quote]
> Nice article, i never realized that people over 50 would use it for some reason.
[/quote]
I am 70 and use Ubuntu everyday. I only go to windows to keep it updated. Most of the people I have introduced Linux to are over 65 years of age and I even put it on one mans computer who is 86 years old.Our Lug is comprised of seniors none of them under 60.
Mel

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