The Desktop Battle - Vista and Ubuntu -
About a week ago, my good friend of PolishLinux posted a thread (Yes it is now a thread, like in a forum) about Ubuntu (Gutsy Gibbon) and Vista (Business Edition), in the battlefield of Desktop Oriented Operating systems.
He stated that:
It may be a brave opinion but I predict that Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista are going to be the two operating systems that will take over the largest chunk of the desktop OS market during the next couple of years
And then he made a side by side comparison of some aspects he thinks are the most important for the "John Doe" user.
I am not going to say if he is right in the final punctuation:
Ubuntu 4:2 Vista
As I have never used Vista regularly and I have stop using XP some three years ago. (BTW, I am happy I could), but there are two things he is actually right.
Ubuntu, and not because it is the best Linux distro (There is no best distro for me) but because all the marketing and money involved, and because they are giving the final user what he wants (They say in Marketing that you have to identify what the market want and then gave them exactly that) and Microsoft Vista are going to be the two Operating Systems fighting for the biggest slice of the market in the future, maybe they are already doing that.
Another thing he was right (if you see the comments of the original post) is that is going to be a battle, it is actually a battle between the users of one system and the other, and should not be that way.
Actually I think that Linux users are not doing any good to Linux (and I also used to do it before) in saying Windows is not good, or saying Linux is better than Windows. Yes Linux is better than windows for me, but not for my brother (Electric engineer who uses lots of AutoCad), so it is a matter of what you expect from your PC or Operating System, and there is no winner or looser here, for Michuk Ubuntu is better, but maybe not for you, or me.
It is not also good for Linux that we (Linux users) are fighting about which Distro is better, I like better Debian than Ubuntu but that is me, and there is not actually a real reason for that, at least not one I can explain maybe it is just because there is not a big company behind Debian, because Debian is more "free", but I also use Ubuntu. And Mandriva as someone suggested in the comments is really a great distro too I also like Fedora a lot, and some days ago I started with Sabayon and Gentoo and like them both, Sabayon better, well coming back to the point, we the Linux Users need to be together if we want better support for hardware, and a better experience with our Linux Operating System, we need to more people using Linux, so the hardware vendors start supporting Linux, and if we start fighting between us, we will not go anywhere.
So let the battle occur in the Marketing area, and stay away from it, do not attack Microsoft (We deserve our right to self defense how ever) and even more important, do not attack other Linux Distributions.
Note: English is not my native language so, please forgive my grammar.
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indeed, it always struck me
indeed, it always struck me as odd that a lot of the community fights over relatively trivial matters like who's distro is better when we should be banding together to work on unifying the whole thing. Personally, in regard to Windows, it is my opinion that the worst possible thing we could do as a Linux community is to attack Windows in the same way Microsoft did in the past. What we should be doing is showing off what Linux can do and let that be the reason why people switch if they wish. Live cds for one, we can show people a glimpse of what Linux really is without needing to install anything, that's a unique talent that most OSes don't have.
Totally agree with you my
Totally agree with you my friend, thank for coming.
Guillermo Garron
Why not a battle between the
Why not a battle between the users? Personally I don't see a problem with that.
It's not a real fight, no one gets hurt, and I think the battle is more fair then the ones between the companies.
Besides that, I'm having way to much fun when I'm discussing GNU/Linux Vs. Microsoft with my cow-orkers. :)
Yes you are right it is
Yes you are right it is funny, but I think it distracts us from important things, and polemic creates more polemic, If we want to attract users, it will be IMHO easier if we show a peaceful community, where we take help each others, what do you think?
Guillermo Garron
All the big newbie
All the big newbie distros(SLED, openSuSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS) should combine to create 1 main desktop newbie distro.
But why not fight against M$? That is where mot of our users will come from
Sounds good but it will be
Sounds good but it will be really difficult because of the interest of big companies behind like Canonical or Novel.
And yes most of our users will come from Microsoft, but it is easier to "catch" them if you do not attack the Operating system they are using now, either because they have no option or because the chose it.
When you attack something someone is using, he can take it personal, and start defending himself, so at least for me that is not a good way to convert people, or at least not using phrases like:
"Windows sucks", "Windoze" etc. yes they do not fight fair, but we better show a better attitude, more civilized :)
Guillermo Garron
In my experience, most often
In my experience, most often it is the Windows users who trash-talk Windows. The majority of them complain about it constantly. They know that it sucks, they just don't know what to do about it. They worry about it, they stress over it, they are afraid of the harm it can cause with their finances. It is so bad that many non-technical people do not mentally separate the computer from the OS. They just think that ALL computers are crappy. They don't know that there are alternatives.
To them, choosing their OS is like an election with only one name on the ballot. And they're unaware that they can write in something different.
You don't need to talk bad about Windows. You only need to listen and nod your head. And then you offer them an alternative. You'd be surprised how many people are receptive. I only trash talk Windows to people who trash-talk Linux. Mainly because they don't know what they're talking about.
A friend of mine recently
A friend of mine recently completed a course in IT, and told me that he was taught that the only way Linux could succeed it the marketplace is if we get rid of all but the 3 or 4 top Distros. I told him that the ability for anyone to develop their own Distro is the main reason that Linux is as successful as it is! Such diversity encourages the free-thought and innovation that made Linux what it is today.
As for bashing MicroSoft - Don't waste your time and efforts tearing down something that's already falling apart. Being Pro-Linux is a better direction to invest your resources.
I think we as Linux users
I think we as Linux users need to do everything possible (within reason) to deter anyone from using Mirosoft products and stop the spread of the spyware that is Vista. If we do not inform end users as to the position they put themselves in by choosing to use products from Redmond they'll just keep going right back to what they know. Microsoft is an evil company with evil intentions and I for one will spend every moment I can spare educating the world as to what they do.
As to disto cooperation - sure we could use more of that so why would a for-profit company take an already perfectly functional OS (like Debian for instance), rename it to something else that conjures up images of free love and heart-felt goodness and proceed to make packages that are not compatible w/ Debian? I think I can tell you why. If those packages were compatible w/ Debian then the 'other' distro would still just be Debian so there must be some other reason for setting the other distro apart from Debian and I think it's one of the oldest motivations known to man - personal gain or "more money". Tell me I'm wrong.
Considering that Canonical
Considering that Canonical (I'm assuming thats who you're talking about) is just trying to make money from other corporate entities (via support contracts), I don't have a problem with it. As for their package compatibility with Debian, I dunno enough about it to be positive, but I think that the reason for the lack of compatibility is that Debian is a little slower to incorporate new packages and therefore doesn't have the dependencies that many Ubuntu packages require. Ubuntu is moving along at a much faster clip. Gutsy packages aren't usually compatible with their earlier versions, such as Dapper, Edgy or Feisty... and usually its the dependencies that stop it. I think thats pretty much the case with Debian. I could be wrong, but I really don't think that it is some maniacal moneygrubbing scheme.
There are three prime time
There are three prime time players in linux based distros. Redhat, Novell, and Canonical. Thats probably the way it will stay. What I call a one man distro will not make it in the big market. I'm not saying it won't be around or inactive but it just won't be prime time as far as use goes. As far as Microsoft goes, Vista is not a good operating system. XP is usable. I cannot recommend a system for a person's computer that has to have a ton of security programs running to even be able to go on line. As far as programs like Autocad only running on Windows, that is not the operating system, that is the vendor causing that problem and that will change. If vendors don't change then that will be a bad business move on their part. As far as users of linux distros fighting against each other, thats going to happen. That is human nature. Good or bad is the opinion of an individual and how they feel about things. I won't fight Vista, there is no point in it. When all is said and done an os will have to stand on its own merits.
Thanks, Eddie
I agree with you about
I agree with you about AutoCad, it is the company and not Linux, but the more people using Linux the faster AutoCad will have to create a version for Linux, no free of course, but we do not want it to be free, we just need it to run in our machines, as well as, some other applications, that I can not recall now.
Guillermo Garron
I do not think of it as a
I do not think of it as a fight. I really see it as an information campaign so that the customers learn who they are doing business with. Why not start with renaming Microsoft's products with the right names and then publicize them as much as possible? That could give users a hint about such products. Here is my proposal:
Windows Vista -> Virus Vista(TM)
Windows XP -> Virus XP(TM)
Next, people has to learn that when they buy Virus Vista(TM) or Virus XP(TM) they are buying defective and pricey products and that Microsoft is now selling patches for them under the name of "Windows Live One Care".
The articles that shows
The articles that shows those things in an informational way, and showing facts, and proves are OK but if one just say something with no proves, will create polemic, but as an information campaign and respecting everybody, yes, I think the obligation of every human to try to teach others about something he/she knows and not the rest.
Guillermo Garron
"I agree with you about
"I agree with you about
Submitted by ggarron on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 13:57.
I agree with you about AutoCad, it is the company and not Linux, but the more people using Linux the faster AutoCad will have to create a version for Linux, no free of course, but we do not want it to be free, we just need it to run in our machines, as well as, some other applications, that I can not recall now.
Guillermo Garron"
The autodesk company (autocad) already has ported many of its programs to linux.
Hi everyone, A good
Hi everyone,
A good comparison between Vista & Ubuntu at http://itcomparison.com/OS/vistavsubuntu/vistavsubuntu.htm
Enjoy the beat,
VMGuru007
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