Linux has been an emerging operating system for quite some time now, but its use has been limited mostly to back office servers, embedded devices, and geeks. More recently, Ubuntu linux has taken the lead in the desktop Linux area. Many enthusiasts hope that Ubuntu will revolutionize the way we use our computers. Unfortunately, with all the hype there are a lot of misconceptions about Ubuntu and Linux in general and I thought I’d take some time to expose them.
Linux is just as easy to use as Windows
False. Ubuntu is easy to use relative to other distributions, but it’s not easier than Windows. Windows users are guaranteed to have all of their hardware work, with very few exceptions. In Linux hardware support has gotten better, but it’s not what it could be quite yet. A lot of devices are supported in odd ways such that you can use them, but not to their full potential. I can think of two good examples. Let’s take a look at these hardware support issues, then we’ll get into some other problems you might encounter if you switch.
Hardware Support Issues
The first one that comes to mind is a variety of ATI cards and how they act when using an OpenGL (3D accelerated) application. You’ll often see snippets of the windows behind it in between frames, or it will drop frames entirely making the video choppy. Those are just a few of the problems with ATI cards, but don’t get me wrong – many cards work flawlessly in Ubuntu. Sometimes the issues can be resolved by using a more updated, restricted driver from the manufacturer, but it didn’t fix the problem on my laptop which has an ATI Radeon xPress 200M integrated card.
Another example of how hardware is harnessed in odd ways is with most Broadcom wireless cards. You have to download a restricted driver which takes the firmware from the Windows driver and extracts it with a program called FWCutter. This allows Linux to access some of the features of the card, but they don’t all work right. You won’t be able to make an ad-hoc network, and your network speeds will be noticeably slower than if you were using a native driver.
I know I said two examples, but there’s actually a third. If you’re lucky and your integrated sound card works, it may not fully support all the ports. I can’t use my microphone, which sucks because when I Skype I’m forced to use the mic on my Creative Live Video IM Ultra webcam which quite frankly sucks.
So while hardware support has gotten better, it’s still not quite there yet. You’re also not likely to get support for Linux from your vendors or manufacturers unless they sold the computer to you with Linux on it. Dell and Pystar (among others) are two manufacturers who sell Linux desktops.
Software Issues
Bottom line here is most mainstream software doesn’t work on Linux. It’s an entirely different OS which means it needs to be compiled specially to work on it. OpenOffice (by Sun, now Oracle) is a very robust office suite which will allow you to open Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files (and others too) but don’t expect 100% compatibility. A lot of the advanced features in Microsoft Office don’t translate to OpenOffice. You can try Open Office on Windows before you make the switch to Linux by downloading it at http://www.openoffice.org/.
I might as well list the remainder of the issues with the most popular software before I move onto talking about Wine (the Windows Emulator):
- Skype has a Linux version, but some of the features are missing and it also requires that your hardware is working properly which it may not be.
- Google Video and some of their other features don’t work under Linux, which is ironic considering their commitment to the open source community.
- Most Java programs don’t work, or don’t work well unless you use Sun’s version of Java. Ubuntu doesn’t come with that because it doesn’t fall under the GPL (General Public License). You have to install that and make it the default JVM for your java apps to work. Eclipse is a great example of a Java program that doesn’t work on the default JVM. Switching the default JVM isn’t easy for most average users.
About Wine (WINdowsEmulator) EDIT: Wine IS NOT an emulator (of x86…)
Wine is a great piece of software, don’t get me wrong I love it and I use it often when I need to run a Windows app at near-native speed on Linux. That being said, wine is not something that beginners or average computer users are going to find easy to use. They’ll give up almost immediately because it’s just not made for the average Joe!
Another problem with Wine is that it doesn’t support everything; it can’t emulate Windows 100% so expect some bugs and incompatibilities. I was able to run DVDShrink among other programs though, so it’s pretty cool and well written.
Video Codecs
There are a lot of video codecs out there ready to be installed so you can play all your favorite videos in Linux, but you’re going to run into videos that you just can’t play period. The biggest example of this is the WMV format (Windows Media Video). There is a codec for it, but it still won’t play most of them, and unfortunately a lot of websites use WMV. The Apple video formats pose similar issues.
The Bottom Line
Ubuntu Linux is an awesome distribution. They push Linux as far as they can, and try to make it as user friendly as possible. It’s a great operating system for the power user that wants to learn how to use the command line interface, the ins and outs of the OS, how to edit configuration files, etc. It’s certainly usable out of the box on a compatible system by average users as well, but if the people you communicate with on a daily basis use Microsoft Office, you’re going to hit some inconveniences. You’ll also encounter a host of other issues that aren’t easily resolved. I encourage everyone to back up their computer and at least try dual booting it. Linux isn’t going away any time soon and it’d be a wise idea to start learning about it and getting involved in the community – even if that just means trying out new free and open source software.
I actually agree with your points, even though i hesitate to say it.
I hate it when linux zealots are like “wipe all your friends and familys computer and install linux on it” like that would be a good idea or something. I agree microsoft and apple suck in a lot of ways and free software is cool, but free software doesn’t always work right and shit can get complicated really fast with linux.
thanks for the post, and the honesty. ^_^
Well, if you like linux so much you’re not exactly helping by attackin it publickly. Plus your wrong. Opnoffice staroffice and wine are great apps. And if everyone just used linux then there wouldent be a problem because everyone would be on the same page.
and your blog isn’t any gooed either.
I found your article pretty accurate but only from a nit picking point of view. I loved it when you opened with ” Windows users are guaranteed to have all of their hardware work” at what point in history was that? you seen to have conveniently / completely forgotten the Vista era. I’ll give you that Ati cards don’t totally work as well as Nividas do and Skype is a failure at this point. But with Ubuntu 9.10 and kernel 2.6.31 just a month away most of what your speaking about should/will be gone.
When you discuss software issues/features are you relating to the everyday user (95%) or to that 5% user in a specific industry that has found a specific feature he/she has fallen in love with and can’t live without? I do find your quote that Ubuntu’s not being able to render the WMV format on many Websites a total exaggeration.
The Bottom line
Rather than just saying Ubuntu is an awesome distribution why don’t you take the time to nit pick it and show all the awesome things it does for the end user rather than just glossing over them.
My final point
You like most nit picking blogers always seem to forget to mention is the value of free OS’s (Linux) and the Free software they bring to market place. I find it amusing how people who bring nothing to the table in the creation of these products or spend a nickel to purchase them can find so many faults in them.
Tom, there’s a driver for pretty much every piece of hardware out there for Windows which usually allows you to use all the functions of the device. I’m sure there’s exceptions, and yes you’re correct a lot of them fall under the “Vista era” like many print server devices.
“Rather than just saying Ubuntu is an awesome distribution why don’t you take the time to nit pick it and show all the awesome things it does for the end user rather than just glossing over them.” Ubuntu is an awesome distribution, and in case you didn’t notice I encouraged everyone to download it and try it out!
“You like most nit picking blogers always seem to forget to mention is the value of free OS’s (Linux) and the Free software they bring to market place. I find it amusing how people who bring nothing to the table in the creation of these products or spend a nickel to purchase them can find so many faults in them.” Nice over-generalization here. I happen to love Linux and I use it a lot: on servers both at work and at home, and on almost all of my computers.
Next time, read the whole post, like the last part: “I encourage everyone to back up their computer and at least try dual booting it. Linux isn’t going away any time soon and it’d be a wise idea to start learning about it and getting involved in the community – even if that just means trying out new free and open source software.”
That being said, most people will be irritated about certain things they can’t do out-of-box that they could in Windows. I do have a whole string of posts planned that glorify Ubuntu, and other distributions but I’m not going to act like you can seamlessly replace your Windows machine with a GNU/Linux one, especially if you’re an average user who won’t be comfortable using the shell.
-Dan
You know, everyday I am asked to shun plastic bags, take the bicycle instead of the automobile etc. Its harder but its for a good cause. I’m sure you know where this is going. Using Linux may never be exactly the same as using Windows. But, its definitely a change for the better. So, it will involve going through a transition period and some pain. If you’re not ready to do that — and you keep waiting for that one magic moment when everything in Linux will work, look and feel like Windows — we’re never going to get anywhere. Exactly like the cleaner envrionment analogy!
Your comments were right on the spot! Thank you for being frank and accurate in your evaluation. Until a distro can be fully configured from a point and click routine and ready to go drivers, it is pretty much just a hobbyist distribution.
I totally agree with your post. Most people shouldn’t be using Ubuntu, but it is a great OS and a lot of fun to use. Funny that the first guy who commented mentioned “linux zealots” and then Tom Drazul decided to come and ramble on about irrelevant points.
Also, you all might want to take a look at this page: http://geekfeminism.org/2009/09/23/open-letter-to-mark-shuttleworth/ where “Kirily Robert” (sorry if I got the name screwed up) writes a letter to Mark Shuttleworth. Mark Shuttleworth is a male chauvinist, he made a comment that linux was “hard to explain to girls.”
I wanted to comment on that here as well. I have a computer science degree from the University of Minnesota and I did encounter a few women in the program, though it was mostly male-dominated. I got the opportunity to work with them on projects and I must say that they were just as intelligent if not more than I, and had great, innovative and creative ideas. Mark Shuttleworth needs to recant his statement. Women are different than men both physically and psychologically, that’s been proven – but they aren’t any less intelligent nor are they less capable of understanding linux. I think we need more women in the world of technology. They are capable of thinking in ways that men are not (and vice-versa) and this could add new dimensions to the software.
Thanks for the post.
Frank
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You call my mother a power user? Ok lets face it if you are a total ignorant user Ubuntu is great. The problem starts with the medium user…
If your mother runs ubuntu also join in: https://launchpad.net/~my-mom-runs-ubuntu
Yeah, I guess you’re right. Your mother is probably a beginner computer user though right? Let’s agree on some definitions before we continue… Power user = knows how to configure every common package, knows their way around the command line, knows a lot about computers and technology in general, etc. Medium User = Goes into work and does what their sales job / other non-technical job requires of them and that’s about it. Maybe a little MySpace/Facebook. The beginner = Double clicks on hyperlinks.
How are those? Ultimately though, there’s exceptions to almost any rule and it doesn’t disprove anything I said in the post.
My boyfriend got all fanatical about linux about a year or so ago and started installing ubuntu on everyones computer including mine. I guess he was all involved in the ubuntu forums “bug 1″ which is I guess that people aren’t using ubuntu. To make a long story short everyone was pissed off at him for breaking their computers. My dad couldn’t use his ipod, he was having problems with opening documents then he couldn’t use microsoft project for work which got him fuming. Ubuntu is garbage as far as I’m concerned, and I’m an average user. Most people I know agree with me. It freezes just like windows does – actually more than that even and you can’t do a control alt backspace or anything it just locks right up.
I’m a big fan of windows xp and windows 7. I’m willing to pay for an OS as long as I can use my computer. Needless to say, me and him broke up because he was too big of an idiot and my parents hated him after that. It could have costed my dad a lot more money, but luckily he knows someone who was able to get it off and put windows back on and restore all his files and programs.
[...] Misconceptions about Ubuntu Linux Linux has been an emerging operating system for quite some time now, but its use has been limited mostly to back office servers, embedded devices, and geeks. More recently, Ubuntu linux has taken the lead in the desktop Linux area. Many enthusiasts hope that Ubuntu will revolutionize the way we use our computers. Unfortunately, with all the hype there are a lot of misconceptions about Ubuntu and Linux in general and I thought I’d take some time to expose them. [...]
I agree with your points here. Ubuntu is not a replacement for any mainstream OS. If you want your computer to be reliable, use Windows XP, (not Vista), Windows 7, or Mac OS. Ubuntu is a “hobbyist” distribution for sure, as are all Linux distros.
Also, to Tom Drazul: You entirely missed the point of this article didn’t you? The point wasn’t to nit pick Ubuntu or to promote/demote it, it was to warn people about people like you!
Kaingeo: My mom hardly knows how to use a computer. She DOES double click on hyperlinks LOL!
While you do make some valid points, I find it hard to take seriously anyone that would get the Wine acronym so horribly turned inside-out–Wine stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator not “WINdowsEmulator.”
You are also seriously wrong about the codecs issue. I rarely find a video that VLC and/or MPlayer cannot play–and multimedia is one of my specialities. Maybe you’re sourcing your codecs wrong.
This is not to say that Linux is perfect–but it’s much more usable than as you portray it, and it’s getting better every day. As someone who uses various flavors of Windows and Linux, I can honestly say that I miss Linux when I’m forced to use Windows too much.
~~ ScienceMikey
Yeah you’re right. But I use VLC and MPlayer and I’ve installed every codec I can find, even restricted ones and they don’t work for every WMV file.
“This is not to say that Linux is perfect–but it’s much more usable than as you portray it, and it’s getting better every day. As someone who uses various flavors of Windows and Linux, I can honestly say that I miss Linux when I’m forced to use Windows too much.”
So do I. But the point of this article was exactly what the headline suggests, so what did you expect? I’m doing a follow up, as I said previously, that will talk about all the great features. Also, regardless of what the acronym for wine really means, it is by definition, en emulator. Sure, it doesn’t emulate x86 (a hardware platform) but it does emulate a software platform.
Michael Rudas – You are one of the zealots I speak of. He isn’t wrong about the codec issue either, you are. Maybe there is some obscure borderline illegal codec out there not included in any of the standard repo’s but the one that it downloads for WMV movies rarely works at all. It does play the audio stream though.
I also have a hard time taking people seriously who use bold type and 1995 web design like your homepage. Maybe you missed the part about how having animated-gifs all over your geocities page is bad web design style. Obviously you’re just poor and have a lot of free time to spend hours configuring all of your codecs.
Daniel Kelly & everyone – I think you did a great job on this posting, except for one part – you forgot to mention a lot of other issues Ubuntu has as well. Here’s a couple more: DVD’s don’t work out of the box which is really intuitive, sometimes installs go horribly wrong and people either can’t boot to Ubuntu or Windows because of a problem with the installer, sometimes when I had it my computer would just freeze up entirely. Ubuntu is a crappy OS. Most of the programs and code is just borrowed from other distributions like Fedora and Red Hat, so all the things Ubuntu users brag about are usually not part of the project anyway!
Hey, great job on the article. You do make a lot of good points which I’ve experienced in Ubuntu Jaunty. I’m a pretty big gamer so I rarely use Linux except for at work and occasionally at home. I’ve had problems playing certain videos online too, even after it prompted me to install the codec (and I did) the only thing that came through was the audio. I use VLC in Windows for everything, but it has access to the real Windows codecs plus the codec pack I installed. Everything is so much easier in Windows and most people just don’t have the time to start screwing around with everything to make it work the way they want. I just want to use my computer, I don’t want it to be a big project which is why Linux is a pain in the ass.
And I’m pretty sure WINE does stand for windows emulator but I’m not sure. If it doesn’t it should, because that’s what it does, actually that’s all it really does. It’s not a virtual machine so it’s not a hardware emu its a software (Windows) emu.
I made this post using Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7 RC. I use Microsoft Office, Project, Visio, and Small Business Server. I love Microsoft products. They’ve dropped the ball in the past, just as GNU/Linux does all the time but overall it’s great and always getting better. See I have the money to pay for my stuff because I work for a living and I don’t have time to screw around with experiments on my computer. Windows 7 blows Ubuntu out of the water. The main reason is because Microsoft has a market they need to respond to, but Ubuntu really doesn’t have to worry so much since they don’t have to worry about sales. That’s what I hate most about the FSF GPL and FOSS in general, it’s all so communist. The invisible hand works magic and it’s the reason why Windows has always kicked Linux’ ass on the desktop.