Note:  "ptoye" makes some valid, and strong points. Every user will have a
different experience and one aspect will be the type of equipment that
person is using.  How many of us "shop" for Linux friendly computer
equipment ?
Four years ago my system of choice, for Ubuntu was an AMD 64 based mobo.
With full intentions of dual-booting. Ubuntu was great, forget Windows at
that time ! And the first wireless, WiFi card installed was a real
challenge.
Ubuntu and Canonical are ethical in the extreme, no pirated drivers, or
proprietary software, yet we use said drivers, how does a "newbie" figure
this out. All distos are not the same, some will simply use purloined
drivers and software.
Is Ubuntu the right choice for a new Linux user ? Perhaps. We know it works,
the word is   ''robust".
What is needed, on occasion is telephone support, on a volunteer basis. And
I strongly support Canonical's pay to use support.
see:  Canonical Global Support Services |
Ubuntu<http://www.ubuntu.com/support/paid>
Allen

On Feb 12, 2008 4:05 AM, ptoye <email address hidden> wrote:

> I regret that I have to agree. I've been in IT for about 40 years, and
> have just decided to have a play with Ubuntu Linux on an old system box.
> No problems installing from the downloaded CD, but things just don't
> work out of the box.
>
>
> "Video mode not supported" on my monitor during the boot process (I think
> there's meant to be a splash screen there). That I can live with, but would
> scare the unsophisticated user.
>
> "Failed to construct test pipeline..." on when trying to get my USB
> sound card to work. The forums (fora?) are very useful here, but again
> the "normal" user would be completely at sea. With Windows, it just
> worked.
>
> And looking through the  forums and help files, getting a wireless LAN
> to work needs a couple of doctorates. I've not dared try. Again, it just
> worked with Windows. (That ndiswrapper isn't included with the distro
> doesn't help - how can one download it without access to the net?).
>
> The forums are very helpful, but the solutions usually tell the user to
> issue commands as a sort of magic spell, without any guarantee of their
> success, or how to regress if they fail. Personally, I'm very cautious
> about issuing commands (especially with sudo) unless I have some
> understanding of what they do.
>
> For any Linux to get a foothold, things just have to work out of the
> box. If this needs manufacturer support in providing drivers, that's
> where effort should go. Although this forum is dedicated to Ubuntu, and
> it's the only one I've tried, I suspect that many of the problems occur
> with other distros.
>
> To sum up, Microsoft.Windows has many faults, but manufacturers are
> prepared to invest effort into overcoming them, which makes it possible
> for unsophisticated users to buy a box in the knowledge that most things
> will work OK. Linux is still too geeky to make this possible. Some large
> customers can afford the effort to use it. Small ones can't, so they
> won't.
>
> --
> Microsoft has a majority market share
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ichthux - Linux for Christians: Confirmed
> Status in JAK LINUX: Confirmed
> Status in The OpenOffice.org Suite: Confirmed
> Status in Launchpad Translations: New
> Status in Tabuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Source Package "bum" in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in Source Package "casper" in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in Source Package "djplay" in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in Source Package "firefox" in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in Source Package "ubuntu-express" in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in The Breezy Badger: Invalid
> Status in The Dapper Drake: Invalid
> Status in Baltix GNU/Linux: Confirmed
> Status in Source Package "linux" in Debian GNU/Linux: New
> Status in Tilix Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
> This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.
>
> Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry,
> restricting access to IT to a small part of the world's population and
> limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential,
> globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
>
> Steps to repeat:
>
> 1. Visit a local PC store.
>
> What happens:
> 2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software
> pre-installed.
> 3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.
>
> What should happen:
> 1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like
> Ubuntu.
> 2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and
> benefits would be apparent and known by all.
> 3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.
>



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