justo

I use Linux a lot. I like it but will it replace Windows any time soon? Many people use a computer and do not want to become a computer tech. They just want to do somethings that you need a computer to do. So if they use Linux they do not want to go to a school to insert a driver or add a program. I just use a Linux version that works on the computer I want Linux on. That is easy for me because I have other things to do often. I see Linux has improved a lot in the last three or four years. But to become mainstream it has more improvements to make. The average computer user/buyer will not do this to get wireless going.> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=201902 Those who want a certain version of Linux on their computer often must do a good deal of study. Less than before but still it takes a lot of time to fit Linux to some hardware. Many like to do it for a hobby. But MS knows that most will buy a system that takes less study to get it working.I give Linux loaded PCs to people.They run into a problem and want to load Windows because most things can be fixed with a CD loaded with a driver or a program.

TheMatt

Hi,

I doubt Linux will completely replace Windows because it is hard to learn for the novice user who is not farmiliar with Windows but wants to use one.

However, for you, if you can do everything or almost everything in Linux without booting into Windows, then formating your Linux partition as ext3 for extra storage space would be productive.

If Linux distros do start coming preinstalled on computers with all the necessary configurations made, then it does have a fighting chance, however Microsoft is paying PC manufacturers so much to preload Vista that getting Linux preinstalled on the computers is the hard part.

justo

I hope you come by more often to help these folks who want to geek Linux in to a computer that has conflicts in hardware.One is down there trying to put a Windows driver in Ubuntu. I never even try.I change cards or loads.

Bartender

I'm not sure I want to see Linux overtake MS...

justo

Why Bartender?

alohanema

When I ask a question in Yahoo! answers: "Will Linux have future?", and got a question: "Will windows survive?", and I try to find out, I've got a post the reason why, see it here: http://linuxscreenshot.blogspot.com/...s-because.html

Bartender

Not sure I can put a finger on it...
But it seems to me that if Linux were to make 15 to 20% of desktop computer users happy, that might be enuf to see continuous improvements in the OS and enuf people involved so that you could find help.
As long as Windows sits in the throne and the sheep continue using it, all the bad people would continue trying to break into Windows, not Linux. I know Linux is less vulnerable, but I don't want to have the creeps start turning their eye toward our nice little alternative OS.

Fox

Yeah, but Linux is an inherently more secure operating system- almost none of its users run as root constantly, whereas almost every windows user's active profile has admin priviliges.

Since installing Debian on my newly purchased (used from craigslist) Dell laptop, I have been using it pretty much 100% of my time spent on a computer. If I can, after using Windows my entire life, switch operating systems this easily, anybody can do it.

I don't think it's a matter of ease of use- in my opinion, Windows is as difficult an operating system to deal with as any other. It's just that people are used to it.

My perspective in this is pretty unique, because this isn't my first experience with Linux. When I was 13, I installed RedHat 5.2 on my family's older computer. It had very minimal functionality, and to me was just an idea of what might be in the future of Linux. And now, seeing modern distributions running the way they do, I can honestly say that it seems like most of the dreams of past linux sers have been realized with the present kernel and available software.

The biggest problem for the future, as someone mentioned in a previous post, seems to be driver compatibility for deivces like wireless cards. I'm not an expert on this, but I've heard that most of these devices were designed with only windows in mind, and that in order to be used with Linux, they have to be run under some sort of device driver wrapper, much like some windows programs are under WINE.

But I think the future is much brighter. More and more people are seeing the benefit of learning to use Linux, and indeed I'm seeing an increasing number of users at my university who have (save for a windows partition for gaming) completely switched. Hardware developers can't continue ignoring these people, and by nature, the market will begin to sway in the favor of a more open standard.

justo

That was interesting reading on the site up there comparing Windows with open systems.I would agree that Linux may be better for us not being in the number one place.I wish some bright guy would get things to load to Linux on CDs.Drivers and programs that require all the command line operations.Even a standard for termonolgy would help.Another thing that seems to be a problem is if a guy wrote a good instruction manual then it would not cover very many versions and become obsolete in just a few months.I look in the library and find Redhat or Ubuntu books. Fitting hardware. For example.I want to use Sabayon Mini. I have a Netgear MA 311 wireless card.It works on most Linux versions .Now there is a kernel update on Ubuntu related Linux so my card is affected. Why does the Sabayon site not have an easy to find wireless card list? With a post like this > These wireless cards work.< Or <these printers work <.. If Linux gets to be more popular it will have to make things more simple for ordinary people.Not all ply the same trade as the geeks.Some may be in unrelated fields that take as much or more study as operating systems.

justo

Darn.I missed the Pa guitar picker when I posted this morning.I came back by and saw him up there just now. I think the problem of drivers is because those who develop hardware have to fit it to Windows because Windows will come on most computers sold to the public and MS makes them do whatever they want done to make sure their drivers work with Windows.The people who make ad-on cards like sound and wireless are supposed to submit their device to MS for test since XP came out but many just test their products and say on the package to not worry when the sign comes up that the device is not digitally signed by Windows.But what ever the reason for Linux to jump the kernel number up every few months has caused much of the problem of fitting drivers.Kind of like pinning the tail on the donkee . I do not understand why the kernels need changing so often but a driver that worked on a previous Linux will not work on one that had the kernel raised to a larger number. Compiling kernels is something I want to avoid.If I was going that deep in to Linux I would just design a new version of my own . Redneck Linux.(The plain English version) ......................... I dropped by to post this which I posted on another board where I might not become very popular afterwards .----------------------------------------------------------> Some few years ago the experts would advise people that the reason their computers ran slow was that you need to delete browser history, cookies and temporay information? Then defrag and set error correction program? I think the German guy who invented Spybot found some things the experts missed and bug smashing became the rage on Windows systems.So I loaded an XP for a person just so he can enjoy the ritual of rounding up bugs to smash. I went back to a persons house a month later to see how the computer was running. He said it was very slow and did weird things.I said did you run the scanners? There are about four scanners to run maybe once a week like I told you before? NOPE! Says he. Well I ran the scanners myself and found some very serious problems then I asked do you use Firefox? He said no, I use Explorer. Did you update the scanners? No.He said. Do you want me to load a Linux beside XP so you wont have to tend to scanners? No.Because it is a Mickey Mouse operating system. Then I got to thinking.No wonder why computer geeks charge big bucks to these people for doing simple things.

TheMatt

Fox is right, but Bartender has a point. Why are viruses written for Windows? Because everyone uses it.

Linux is more secure, but no OS, not even *nix, is perfect. There will always be a way to write a virus for it that will be able to perform some kind of annoying or harmful action.

justo

Oh,I know there are bad people in the world who like to cause a lot of problems for anyone if they can.But I think Gates has attracted a lot of people to challenge all his PR about how secure Windows is plus Gates has earned a reputation as a sort of a virus himself.He may be a better person than he gets credit for around the world but he built an empire that tends to point toward unethical conduct on his part.

K-B

Same here, I was a Windows addict (and power user), and I've broken totally free from Windows!
You know, I read once that if a person that never used a computer before was taught using a computer running Linux, he'd have a hard time switching to Windows. So the only reason Linux is "hard" to learn is because everyone's used to Windows.

justo

Speaking of virus.I have one myself.But not in my computer. I will be back when I recover. Don't take any wooden CDS.