Fedora

Bug #1 (liberation)
Comment #790

Comment 790 for bug 1

Revision history for this message

codeslinger (codeslinger) wrote on 2008-08-11:

#790

This is a very good bug report with plenty of repros. However there are some related causes which have been overlooked.

The reason that people use XP is because "it just works" out of the box.
The reason that people don't want Vista is because it does not work, there is much that is broken with it and the user interface is terrible.

The reason that people avoid Linux is because of the perception that it is too complex and that it does not work.

Now we all know that Ubuntu with GNOME takes care of most of the complexity issues, Linux used to be too complex but this is no longer the case, the GNOME user interface is much better than Vista. Now we must educate people about how easy Linux has become.

But!!! Ubuntu still has not achieved the level of out-of-the-box "it just works" capability which XP delivers.

The following comments are based on experience with Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 and hopefully won't apply to newer versions.

Specific things that desperately need to be fixed.

1) The web browser, Firefox, which is perhaps people's number one most used app, it does not work out of the box, it will not play flash/videos/audio etc. and getting it to work is much too complex and difficult.

I know there are copyright and patent issues etc. But a person should not have to search all over the web and find lots of bad/obsolete advice in the process. There should just be an icon on the desktop that takes you to a web page with correct and up-to-date information on how to install all of the usual addon's that people want. And the process of installing should be made as simple as possible.

2) Quicktime, does not work. I have spent many many hours trying to get it to work. All my computer does is crash... other people have reported this same problem.

3) Samba should just work, but it does not!!! I simply want to click on a printer and tell it to be shared and it does it. This should work out-of-the-box but in fact the Samba Server software is not even installed only the client is installed. It is not enough to be able to access other people's computers, it must be possible to with a minimum of effort to give other Windows computers access to your Ubuntu computer. And it must be easy to do this, I never did get Samba printer sharing to work, instead I got Windows to use the CUPS sharing which was not difficult on XP, but it certainly does not meet user expectations of point and click printer install, it also a lot of research to do CUPS on Win98 and required finding and installing hard to get software. The same thing for Shared Folders, even though with many hours of effort I got Shared Folders to work with XP I still did not get it to work with Win98. I suspect this is because Win98 uses a different SMB protocol then does XP. But it is very important that this be able to work and Samba does have the ability to support both and Samb does work fine on other distros that I have tried.

4) The GNOME printer manager is mostly okay but it lacks some fundamental functionality. People need to be able to see the print queue and they need to be able to cancel/hold a print job and to put a printer on hold with a minimum of fuss. With the currently installed default software this is not possible. By installing a different program -- after much trial and error, it does become possible to view the job queue but still lacks functionality for managing print jobs. This needs to change. The KDE print manager is much better than anything I have seen on GNOME.

5) People want to be able to play movies on their computer. I did the research and found out that it is actually legal (now) in the USA to install libdecss. The courts have recognized the legitimate right to play videos that you have purchased. It is still illegal to use it to copy a movie, but you are allowed to install the software for playing the movie. It takes hours of searching the web to find this out and to find out how to install it. There should be an icon on the desktop that takes you to a website that gives detailed info about how to install it and what is known about the laws for your country.

6) WINE needs to be better, if Canonical can afford it they should put some dev resources in their direction.

Overall Ubuntu is Excellent!!!! But these are some really core issues. Fix these fundamental things and Ubuntu can take off like a Rocket!!!! But as long as Ubuntu remains as it is, it will forever be a small niche product.

By the way, I am also concerned about the bug system, many bugs seem to stay for a very long time without any action being taken.....

I hope Mark, that you will see this entry and give these things some thought. I am a new comer to Ubuntu and it has been a mixture of delight and frustration. I have been in the computer industry since the days of punched cards. And I really don't see Ubuntu as being viable until most of the issues I have outlined are addressed.

This is a very good bug report with plenty of repros.  However there are some related causes which have been overlooked.

The reason that people avoid Linux is because of the perception that it is too complex and that it does not work.

Now we all know that Ubuntu with GNOME takes care of most of the complexity issues, Linux used to be too complex but this is no longer the case, the GNOME user interface is much better than Vista.  Now we must educate people about how easy Linux has become.

But!!!  Ubuntu still has not achieved the level of out-of-the-box "it just works" capability which XP delivers.

The following comments are based on experience with Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 and hopefully won't apply to newer versions.

Specific things that desperately need to be fixed.

I know there are copyright and patent issues etc.  But a person should not have to search all over the web and find lots of bad/obsolete advice in the process.  There should just be an icon on the desktop that takes you to a web page with correct and up-to-date information on how to install all of the usual addon's that people want.  And the process of installing should be made as simple as possible.

2) Quicktime, does not work.  I have spent many many hours trying to get it to work.  All my computer does is crash...  other people have reported this same problem.

3) Samba should just work, but it does not!!!   I simply want to click on a printer and tell it to be shared and it does it.  This should work out-of-the-box but in fact the Samba Server software is not even installed only the client is installed.  It is not enough to be able to access other people's computers, it must be possible to with a minimum of effort to give other Windows computers access to your Ubuntu computer.  And it must be easy to do this, I never did get Samba printer sharing to work, instead I got Windows to use the CUPS sharing which was not difficult on XP, but it certainly does not meet user expectations of point and click printer install, it also a lot of research to do CUPS on Win98 and required finding and installing hard to get software.  The same thing for Shared Folders, even though with many hours of effort I got Shared Folders to work with XP I still did not get it to work with Win98.  I suspect this is because Win98 uses a different SMB  protocol then does XP.  But it is very important that this be able to work and Samba does have the ability to support both and Samb does work fine on other distros that I have tried.

4) The GNOME printer manager is mostly okay but it lacks some fundamental functionality.  People need to be able to see the print queue and they need to be able to cancel/hold a print job and to put a printer on hold with a minimum of fuss.  With the currently installed default software this is not possible.  By installing a different program -- after much trial and error, it does become possible to view the job queue but still lacks functionality for managing print jobs.  This needs to change.  The KDE print manager is much better than anything I have seen on GNOME.

5) People want to be able to play movies on their computer.  I did the research and found out that it is actually legal (now) in the USA to install libdecss.  The courts have recognized the legitimate right to play videos that you have purchased.  It is still illegal to use it to copy a movie, but you are allowed to install the software for playing the movie.  It takes hours of searching the web to find this out and to find out how to install it.  There should be an icon on the desktop that takes you to a website that gives detailed info about how to install it and what is known about the laws for your country.

6) WINE needs to be better, if Canonical can afford it they should put some dev resources in their direction.

Overall Ubuntu is Excellent!!!!    But these are some really core issues.  Fix these fundamental things and Ubuntu can take off like a Rocket!!!!   But as long as Ubuntu remains as it is, it will forever be a small niche product.

By the way, I am also concerned about the bug system, many bugs seem to stay for a very long time without any action being taken.....

I hope Mark, that you will see this entry and give these things some thought.  I am a new comer to Ubuntu and it has been a mixture of delight and frustration.  I have been in the computer industry since the days of punched cards.  And I really don't see Ubuntu as being viable until most of the issues I have outlined are addressed.