Ubuntu to challenge Mac

A noble task.

Could be tricky though as it will require in-depth cooperation between opposing camps.
 
Yay for Mark Shuttleworth!

Mark Shuttleworth...the MS with a heart. He has my vote for "Patron Saint of Information Technology".
 
Good - a little competition is always a good thing.
 
Oh, great, more bloat. I was just getting used to the idea that you could accomplish most of your tasks via the console.

The most they can hope to do is improve on KDE - as far as power and common-sense functionality go, it's a few steps ahead.
 
I use Ubuntu daily, and OS X irregularly - and would be the first to admit that Ubuntu has quite a way to go. Some or other console based maintenance is pretty much a weekly event.

The nVidia/GL interfacing is a bit of a sticky point. I don't know if OS X users would enjoy the mixed bag of third party Linux apps (quality-wise). There are, of course, highpoints - e.g. Amarok, OpenOffice.

But good luck to Mr Shuttleworth!
 
Wogan said:
Oh, great, more bloat. I was just getting used to the idea that you could accomplish most of your tasks via the console.

The most they can hope to do is improve on KDE - as far as power and common-sense functionality go, it's a few steps ahead.
Click to expand...

This is Linux we're talking about, people will come along and optimize the bloat out of the eye-candy, corporations can't afford to do this but a community can :D
 
Wine, E-Mail, Games

If they want kids to jump to Linux, they should make it easier for kids to install games that runs natively on Windows. That process should be stream lined. It is possible to do it with Wine 1.0.3 (last I saw), but the process is still a bit sticky for those that grew up without the idea of a console. If I take a look at my brother which is 12 years younger than me. He doesn't care if he has got windows XP or vista on his machine. He just wants the fastest settings for his games. command prompt? Huh what's that he asks. Cracks for WinRar, illegal copies of anti virus on their machines. Format their machines regularly because of the outdated anti virus couldn't save them from their recent lan party. They don't know and care as long as it is the latest and greatest looking. Piracy is a problem because of Software asking too much, bandwidth being too expensive.

They want to pop in the cd/dvd and use the autorun. Click next and move the games icon to a special folder so that their mom can't see that games are installed. My friend is a high school teacher, educating kids about Java and how it could possibly run on multiple OS. But nobody actually seem to create Java software that is OS independent. Funny enough GNU uses C/C++ that is portable to almost any OS. Microsoft gave away licenses to schools, to feed kids junk and know that is all they will ever use and the nobody wants to go through a higher learning curve after they have left school and feel they "semi" mastered Microsoft.

Get the games to install far more easier, get them to setup networks easier in Ubuntu for sharing of files and working with those kids that are still on windows. Maybe a local lan torrent is a better idea. The more they see they can do this the legal way, the more we will see kids shifting to open source.

</rant> :eek:
 
Well lets see How they pull this off kde 4.1 is a disaster
 
chubster said:
If they want kids to jump to Linux, they should make it easier for kids to install games that runs natively on Windows. That process should be stream lined. It is possible to do it with Wine 1.0.3 (last I saw), but the process is still a bit sticky for those that grew up without the idea of a console. If I take a look at my brother which is 12 years younger than me. He doesn't care if he has got windows XP or vista on his machine. He just wants the fastest settings for his games. command prompt? Huh what's that he asks. Cracks for WinRar, illegal copies of anti virus on their machines. Format their machines regularly because of the outdated anti virus couldn't save them from their recent lan party. They don't know and care as long as it is the latest and greatest looking. Piracy is a problem because of Software asking too much, bandwidth being too expensive.

They want to pop in the cd/dvd and use the autorun. Click next and move the games icon to a special folder so that their mom can't see that games are installed. My friend is a high school teacher, educating kids about Java and how it could possibly run on multiple OS. But nobody actually seem to create Java software that is OS independent. Funny enough GNU uses C/C++ that is portable to almost any OS. Microsoft gave away licenses to schools, to feed kids junk and know that is all they will ever use and the nobody wants to go through a higher learning curve after they have left school and feel they "semi" mastered Microsoft.

Get the games to install far more easier, get them to setup networks easier in Ubuntu for sharing of files and working with those kids that are still on windows. Maybe a local lan torrent is a better idea. The more they see they can do this the legal way, the more we will see kids shifting to open source.

</rant> :eek:
Click to expand...
Those were the most valid and true words I have heard in a long time... If Ubuntu wants to have support from the masses, they should definitely look at windows application compatibility. It should be streamlined and effortless. When they achieve this, I can promise you they will receive a gigantic new fanbase. Most people only stick to windows because of the apps they use, including me.

;)
LuMiNOuS
 
Not that I really have a problem with what Shuttleworth is doing.. but I sometimes feel it's not really OSS as such, it's more like "charityware" or something.
I mean he is paying people to develop software. This is not how OSS normally works.

What I wonder is whether he actually gets any returns on it? Sending out free disks, paying developers all this costs money. If he is not at least breaking even on it then it means his "contributions" to OSS are only going to last as long as his money? I mean I know the guy has a lot of it but surely it can't last forever. :p

The only thing I really don't like about Shuttleworth's approach is the mentality he is creating concerning Linux, I've read people making stupid statements such as "Ubuntu is a free version of Linux" also people seeming to think that Linux owes them something.. i.e., "If Linux wants my support it must do/be X"
The "real" OSS model is more like "by the people, for the people" it does not care about market share, as long as it does what it's creators want it too it's good enough. i.e., it's fully self-sustaining.

*This post is fully IMHO :p ;)
 
I think there should be four kinds of computer (ie, hardware & software) out there.


  • *A developer-centric machine, with emphasis on being able to do cool stuff like take apart your core libraries and recompile them in real time.
    *A gamer-centric machine, with the Mac "It Just Works" mentality.
    *An office-centric machine that can handle documents and realtime collaboration.
    *An idiot-centric machine that's essentially a browser with music player and antivirus plugins.

The problem with all of this is that everyone's trying to invent the swiss knife of OSes, and in the process, they're losing all perspective. That's really what Microsoft is good at - creating a singular tool that can perform a myriad of functions (bloatware). I'll rest my case on Vista.

Shuttleworth may get Ubuntu to look _really_ good and perform _really_ fast, but it'll never be able to please everybody. Is there anyone out there that's even considering creating purpose-specific OSes?
 
Last edited:
redarrow said:
I've read people making stupid statements such as "Ubuntu is a free version of Linux" also people seeming to think that Linux owes them something.. i.e., "If Linux wants my support it must do/be X"
The "real" OSS model is more like "by the people, for the people" it does not care about market share, as long as it does what it's creators want it too it's good enough. i.e., it's fully self-sustaining.

*This post is fully IMHO :p ;)
Click to expand...

Nice redarrow, and I completely agree. :)
 
redarrow said:
Not that I really have a problem with what Shuttleworth is doing.. but I sometimes feel it's not really OSS as such, it's more like "charityware" or something.
I mean he is paying people to develop software. This is not how OSS normally works.


*This post is fully IMHO :p ;)
Click to expand...

It is how the big projects are working though. OpenOffice.org - sponsored by Sun, amongst others. Mozilla - sponsored by Google, amongst others. Developers paid for to work on OSS projects.
 
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