View Poll Results: Why do you fear using Linux

Voters
42. You may not vote on this poll
  • There is limited Hardware Support?

    7 16.67%
  • There are too many flavors?

    5 11.90%
  • There are not enough software?

    8 19.05%
  • Too Geeky?

    3 7.14%
  • There is not enough high quality games?

    4 9.52%
  • Too difficult to use/not user friendly

    14 33.33%
  • Don't care about it

    1 2.38%
Page 3 of 15 FirstFirst 1234513 ... LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 144

Thread: Why people fear Linux

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    2,231
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Arite i goin add my piece to this discussion....

    I will first add by saying that the reason i think people fear linux... at least one of the main reasons is the geeky aspect of it. Whether we like to say it or not and no matter how hard we try (well at this time period... maybe later on when ubuntu upgrades some more) linux is not made for any ol' n00b (beginner user, just want a computer to use). Reason being first of all support. Have you ever tried googling the answer a simple linux problem before? I'm not talking about searching for things like me oh323 config stuff etc... i'm talking about how to install program on linux, how to find a certain file etc. The first thing you are met upon is a heavy case of CLI. While there ARE easier ways to do things, none of the linux users particularly write about them. Everybody writes about the CLI way to do it because as we all know CLI is greatest etc etc etc.

    The n00b who comes across the website trying to learn about how to install a file on linux isnt met with "click here, here, double click here" he is instead met with "$ sudo aptitude install slapd ldap-utils ". Not only can he not understand what is being said, he cant even see what is being done. Now while we may all fight against windows all we want... the point of the matter is, windows is made for any ol person to use. You could be illiterate, retarded, super intelligent or just primary school educated, windows is made so that you should be able to solve any problems with just a few clicks of the mouse instead of 50 keyboard clicks. This is where linux loses the war. You cannot expect to gain a larger userbase when the people who are already using it SEEM to be going through hell and back just to get a simple install done.

    THe other reason we are losing the war is because linux is advertised as the following things first and foremost: secure & stable. Well the fact of the matter is, if windows is an unsecure and unstable as we techies make it out to be, then people would've switched to mac(gonna get to mac soon) or linux long ago. Techie or no, if any n00b uses a computer and finds that every 3 minutes he has to restart or reboot etc then he's gonna find an alternative. Its common human intellect. Windows does fail we know, but for the average user it fails once every 2 months, and that isnt a very bad average, thats only 6 fails for the year. MOST OF WHICH people understand may have actually been their fault!

    For the techies now, (however little of us exist) we find that windows fails every single day, and dont blame it on the fact that we are always trying to edit stuff in the registry and do some little things which we know might be detrimental towards the o/s, but we do it anyway. Dont get me wrong however, i'm not saying windows doesnt fail, it does, but alot of times its unfair to blame it as hard as we have been blaming it when we are the ones who caused it to fail. Most of the windows errors that are posted the average user (80% of the computer users in the world) would never even come across. If you all hate windows so much, why dont you all switch to linux?

    Now I saw somebody say something about max osx being a stable alternative, rubbish. The cheapest new mac you can get is about us$1000, compared to a pc that can run xp that i can get for under $500. Money is an issue to the majority and also i have used a mac quite a few times, and trust me mac has hung up on me, mac has restarted for no reason on me and mac initially was also very hard for me to understand (well... for the first... 30 minutes at least). And i am an experienced computer user, what about any ol' guy who decides to boot it up?

    Sorry for the long read guys just saying what i think. Before you come to any negative conclusions, remember i use linux myself (though not primarily) and i advocate for linux at all times. Also wrote about this in a blog i participate in linux's goals

    I could've summed up this post in a few lines.... nah maybe later

    ps: i ask teensicle, if you hate linux why dont u stop coming in this section? You obviously have no true interest in technology, which is obvious by the posts you have made on the forum. If you want to learn then shut up and pay attention, then ask VALID questions, actually add something useful to the forum instead of wasting everybody elses time. Sorry to tell you but just becuz u like cell phones, dont make you a techy
    Last edited by Skillachi; Jul 11, 2007 at 02:41 PM.
    Laptop: HP DV6700t - Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz, 3GB RAM, Nvidia 8400m GS, 250GB HDD. Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7
    Phone: Samsung Galaxy Nexus

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    6,223
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by teensicle View Post
    Ya can tell mi where ya get those pics???? Dem look hard...
    You can find some of them here: http://search.deviantart.com/?search...20xp%20startup
    .
    PC - Ubuntu 15.04 64bit Desktop
    HP Pav G60-236US 3GB RAM Laptop, Ubuntu 15.04 64bit and Win7 Home

    "So Daddy, how come you telling me stealing not right when YOU copying DVDs? How come? How Come?"


    RIP Ramesh ...

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    1,259
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Skillachi View Post

    ps: i ask teensicle, if you hate linux why dont u stop coming in this section? You obviously have no true interest in technology, which is obvious by the posts you have made on the forum. If you want to learn then shut up and pay attention, then ask VALID questions, actually add something useful to the forum instead of wasting everybody elses time. Sorry to tell you but just becuz u like cell phones, dont make you a techy
    Gosh that hurt... Its not that i don't want to learn but ppl have to understand that you can't forced something on someone (can't even remember the guys name) "anywho" LINUX interests me alot and i found myself to be gravitating towards it from sometime ago. The major problem with LINUX right now is that its not user friendly.. Now anyone can come a say yada yada yada LINUX this and LINUX that, but you have people like myself that find LINUX very difficult to use. I once installed LINUX it took me around 3 hrs JUST TO GO THROUGH THE INSTALLATION. I installed Linux Desktop edition 2006 by red hat and trust me making a partion with linux aint easy. I guess you would have to be really good with computers to really operation successfully with linux. After installing LINUX i tried installing Messenger(can't live without messenger) i found out that there wasn't a Messenger that could work on Linux.. Now that hurt ........ I wanted to install VLC player (plays everything!!!!!!) and i dowloaded the installation file for linux and trust me normally with windows i would just click twice and the installation started it wasn't so with LIINUX!!! Cut it short LNUX makes your head hurt Windows Doesn/t :P:P:P:P
    www.carhuntja.com - Buy and Sell Cars in Jamaica! - Coming Soon
    www.blackspade-ent.com - Jamaicas #1 Online Community
    www.mybbunlock.com - Instant Blackberry Unlocks Only 9.99 USD
    www.starallianceja.com - Negril's #1 In Entertainment

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    13,269
    Rep Power
    34

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by teensicle View Post
    Gosh that hurt... Its not that i don't want to learn but ppl have to understand that you can't forced something on someone (can't even remember the guys name) "anywho" LINUX interests me alot and i found myself to be gravitating towards it from sometime ago. The major problem with LINUX right now is that its not user friendly.. Now anyone can come a say yada yada yada LINUX this and LINUX that, but you have people like myself that find LINUX very difficult to use. I once installed LINUX it took me around 3 hrs JUST TO GO THROUGH THE INSTALLATION. I installed Linux Desktop edition 2006 by red hat and trust me making a partion with linux aint easy. I guess you would have to be really good with computers to really operation successfully with linux. After installing LINUX i tried installing Messenger(can't live without messenger) i found out that there wasn't a Messenger that could work on Linux.. Now that hurt ........ I wanted to install VLC player (plays everything!!!!!!) and i dowloaded the installation file for linux and trust me normally with windows i would just click twice and the installation started it wasn't so with LIINUX!!! Cut it short LNUX makes your head hurt Windows Doesn/t :P:P:P:P
    Ubunto doesn't take me that long to install. Plus it came with a IM program already installed called Pidgin (used to be called GAIM). So install was required really. Allowed me to talk to all my yahoo and msn contacts.

    Lastly, with my first time installing a linux version, partitioning was the area I read up on, a whole lot before I tried it. Didn't want to mess up my hard drive at all.

    So it sounds to me, you stepped into the deep end of the pool, when you weren't ready to swim. You almost drowned and now you don't want to go back into the pool at all. You need to start from the shallow end and work your way to the deep end.

    Start with something more popularly used, like Ubunto. Ask questions about how to partition your drive and what to look out for before installing. In fact, just use the live CD and avoid installing the linux any at all. This will help work your way into linux (the shadow end of the pool) as you get use to the interface and how to install programs, etc.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    678
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Skillachi i love the read, motivational. I don't agree with you that we have lost the, windows may have the battle, but definitely not the war. User friendliness depends on the flavor of linux you are using. You can use geeky interfaces, or just the pure old CLI (Command Line Interface), bu there alternatives. There is KDE & the gnome desktop, which are doing a very good at bringing linux to perfect user friendliness. User friendliness in linux depends on what you want and how you want you desktop to look.

    I like my pure command line interface and ncurses for administering and my computers.

    I might use a little gnome and kde now and then. OpenSuse, Fedora and Ubuntu Linux have done a great job at providing user friendliness to users, ease of use may still be a little off in terms of drivers support, but install as never been easier.

    There are Linux applications that banish the old $sudo (I love it though) for novices. There is Kompile.

    I ain't trying to force anything on anyone. Everyone have choices, it was your choice to read this post.

    I love Linux, I use aptitude or synaptic to search for application on almost anything you want to do. No hours of browsing through google
    Last edited by ferronrsmith; Jul 11, 2007 at 03:21 PM.


    As soon as you make something idiot proof, Nature makes better idiots!!!

    Think big, think smart, think linux

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    1,259
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Arch_Angel View Post

    So it sounds to me, you stepped into the deep end of the pool, when you weren't ready to swim. You almost drowned and now you don't want to go back into the pool at all. You need to start from the shallow end and work your way to the deep end.

    Start with something more popularly used, like Ubunto. Ask questions about how to partition your drive and what to look out for before installing. In fact, just use the live CD and avoid installing the linux any at all. This will help work your way into linux (the shadow end of the pool) as you get use to the interface and how to install programs, etc.
    R u psychic you know me so well yea ya know imma install LINUX again but imma read up first. Ya see why we need http://www.techjamaica.com/forums/sh...256#post330256
    www.carhuntja.com - Buy and Sell Cars in Jamaica! - Coming Soon
    www.blackspade-ent.com - Jamaicas #1 Online Community
    www.mybbunlock.com - Instant Blackberry Unlocks Only 9.99 USD
    www.starallianceja.com - Negril's #1 In Entertainment

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    2,231
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Yea i was being a little harsh eyes i'll admit to that, however i stand by some of the things i said. Learning is a process that doesnt involve useless chatter but more listening and questioning. I cannot fight your opinion, i think it was voltaire who said "i may not agree with your opinion but i'll fight to the death your right to defend it" or something to that degree. Being an opinionated person i am always open to opinions, however the way you bring about your opinions seemed quite negative and childish, which is why i had to say something about it

    Moving on, maybe this isnt the thread to do this in but. a) you dont need messenger on linux, use GAIM, with gaim u can interact with all the messangers and that solves that problem for u. If u dont want gaim try trillian.

    I have never used linux desktop before, what i would suggest you do as a linux n00b (we were all there once) is to start with ubuntu, mandriva or suse. These distro's come with great package managers that you can use to install files, without having to go through CLI.

    I guess you would have to be really good with computers to really operation successfully with linux
    Linux is all about patience and reading, start over with an ubuntu maybe (friendliest linux distro IMHO) and then try all those things u tried before (with the exception of messenger, try gaim) and u might have a better time. However if you have given up on it then thats your choice. If you really want to delve deeper into the tech world, you are gonna have to go through much much more headaches than a linux installation. I am no expert techie but from my experience i know that.

    ps: nice website to check out for linux stuff is Jamaica Linux User Group or linux questions. Techjamaica has lots of linux smart people, Jalug offers undivided linux attention and linux questions is like a worldwide linux user group so join the forum and ask away. If you know you goin giveup easily, then dont go to linux cause i can almost guarantee that you are gonna have to reinstall at least 3 times to get everything just perfect, and that goes for all programs lol.

    Also ferron, i didnt exactly mean windows won the war in that sense... but ... yea u get ma drift man cho. lol
    One of my main points was not exactly the user-friendliness, i know that linux has grown greatly in the user friendliness aspect, it was in getting support. Which is as i said confusing at best
    Last edited by Skillachi; Jul 11, 2007 at 03:39 PM.
    Laptop: HP DV6700t - Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5Ghz, 3GB RAM, Nvidia 8400m GS, 250GB HDD. Ubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7
    Phone: Samsung Galaxy Nexus

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    678
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    We can deal with our issues easily. Don't give at the first try, just try and try and try again and eventually you will love it.

    You will find during your exploration that Linux teaches a lot of things that windows (like not to be lazy).

    Developers are working to make Linux as user friendly as possible and many hardware developers are looking at windows.


    As soon as you make something idiot proof, Nature makes better idiots!!!

    Think big, think smart, think linux

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    744
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    ok.. let me start by saying...LOL
    teen doesnt seem like hes aware o wat this thread is about, but he does provide comic relief w/ his antics....
    neway, if he really wants to get into linux i suggest,
    1)Do wat archy sed, run a liv cd and tinker for a while. After that I suggest u get a small hdd, 4 gig will do and practice partitioning on it. Start in the shallow end and explore ur til u can swim.
    2)IMO the better distroes are the ones running kde, especially for ppl accustomed to using windows, the gnome is more tailored for the persons from the mac world.
    3)I wouldnt say i fear linux, i've been using it for a while now, but i still keep windows as my main os. I dont linux as much because i spend most of my time playing games on my machine, and cedega wasnt working out, wouldnt say money well spent...lol. havent gotten to test cider, but i hear its the same issues.
    4)on a personal note, i like to do coding , so i find the konsole and cli type interfaces enjoyable wen i'm usin, still not enuff to for it t take over.

    neway, my reason for using it less it the availabilty of mainstream game titles.
    i would advise everyone tho, if u hav a cpu that can run a 64bit os, GET A 64bit OS!!!,u will see a diff with the apps. 32bit runs somewhat faster and the 64bit builds run noticeably faster.
    Most linux distros hav 64bit apps in the repos and best of all 64bit oses hav legacy 32bit support.

    @teensicle.... the point o the forum is for ppl to share the knowledge they hav and learn from others wat we ourselves dont kno. questions are always welcome, assumin u used the wonderful search option first, while ignorant comments are "discouraged". welcome to techja.
    Everything can be learnt, simply by not speaking...

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    492
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Fear Linux? Is it that scary? People just don't accept it as an alternative for probably all the reasons you have in your poll, and you should have an 'All of The Above' option.

    Linux will never take over the world of desktops until they learn to play the game properly and it is such a fragmented community that getting every body to agree to a set of standards that will ultimately move into a better position to tackle windows in the desktop domain is more or less impossible.

    Microsoft runs the world not only because their OS is much easier to use (the same reason why automobiles with automatic transmissions and powered windows outsell manual transmission and manual windows) based on North American Sales, they also develop standards that everybody can easily agree on (please don't spew crap about strong arm tactics). Microsoft controls their desktop environment, the shell, the kernel, all theirs. Linux has many different people offering desktops, shells, only the kernel appears to be standardized. Linux has to change that and come to some consensus on offering one desktop environment that probably takes the best of all the available.

    Microsoft is also very helpful with how they deal with their hardware vendors as seen by the WinHEC. Microsoft allows hardware vendors to come together once a year to know what's happening with the OS they are writing drivers for, I am not sure if Linux has one, but I have never seen a Linux Hardware Engineers Conference. This too could be because you have so many distros who should be responsible for bringing hardware vendors together? RedHat? Novell?

    Also Microsoft offers a developer network that I am yet to see matched by any other competitor except IBM (not even Apple comes close to the ease of developing applications and getting help). Anyone who is a member of the MSDN just do a simple search for any topic on any particular problem you have in software development and see what assistance you get. Where do you go for Linux assistance? Where is the central repository for the Linux API? A quick search brings up this - Linux Kernel API. Now read that document and compare it to the comprehensive support Microsoft offers for their Win32 API. And as a software developer, this is one of the main reasons why I and many others do not look too hard at Linux as a viable alternative.

    IMHO the nature of the Linux movement is too fragmented to solve those problems which is why it probably will never be where Windows is, and that fragmentation seems to going nowhere fast. Look at the deal between Novell and Microsoft. Some distros don't even see eye to eye with their counterparts.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •