Comment 703 for bug 1

If Linux, Ubuntu in particular wishes to make a dent in MS's market share a greater emphasis needs to be placed on providing a better and more congenial support base. Too much variation exists in the system hardware and it is extremely difficult for first time users to get all features, often important ones, to work properly if at all. One can spend a lifetime googling, reading help forums, and asking questions on IRC channels, often accumulating more and even more difficult to resolve problems when the desire to help exceeds the ability. There needs to be a source of knowledgable help one can access for assistance in getting the primary features of their computer to function without having to weed through chats, and questions related to advanced features. If Ubuntu could make the process of getting a new users installation up and working quickly and easily, fewer would give up and just reload WinXP. It took me nearly a year to help a friend to get his wireless to work under Ubuntu and had I not helped he would now be another WinXP user. He still has problems but has learned to live with them. It should not take months or a year to resolve problems that are possible to resolve with the proper knowledge.