Comment 1540 for bug 1

Before starting this long comment, I MUST say that I'm a *huge fan* of Ubuntu and I will do ANYTHING to make more and more people discover Ubuntu and how much better it is at things like: security, speed, never slowing down, no need for anti-virus programs and so on. It has saved me so much stress, aggro and time - compared to constantly troubleshooting Windows, defragging Windows, reinstalling Windows over and over again and so on and so on and so on. Ubuntu has been such a "lifesaver" for me that I use it all the time - and in return, I feel it's my duty to help improve it and make it more popular. I am so grateful to Mark Shuttleworth for creating Ubuntu and giving it away for free. I really wish he could be reading this.

Let's focus on the newbies to Ubuntu and the world of Linux: I'm sure these are the type of users we are trying to "win over" from Windows? The "advanced" stuff like customising the firewall etc. would be performed by experienced users, not newbies. I believe my advantage here is that I *DO* see "everyday" computer users and "home" users who struggle with even the simplest things on computers and if they were loaned a computer with Ubuntu on it with Unity, they would be totally bamboozled! Trust me on that.

Imagine you have never used or seen Ubuntu in your life, then you are presented with it. Ubuntu looks new and scary. Here's a few ideas which would help such users like that...

To help avoid this comment from becoming too long, I'll summarise:

*Newbies to Ubuntu
These users are different to advanced users who know how to edit configuration files, use the Terminal and change their GUI etc. Setup everything for newbies... start with a firewall integrated in Ubuntu (and variants of Ubuntu) that passes the "Shields Up" test on grc.com – advanced users can remove these things or tweak them, but newbies won't know how.

*Upgrading Ubuntu can sometimes break things
I've seen a netbook get upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10 and its wireless stopped working. This is why upgrading Ubuntu is not always ideal, but as Ubuntu gets upgraded more often than Windows and these upgrades are free, then it is *IMPERATIVE* that the upgrade first runs in a "test" mode to see if ALL of the hardware devices will work AND the power saving modes too. If one of these fail, then the user should be directed to upload a bug report, without having to register with Launchpad first. Then the installer should not prompt the user to upgrade until the affected problem has been fixed (but the upgrade could still be manually performed via the "Update Manager" if desired, albeit with that option hidden in another tab there.).

*Unity vs. taskbar
Unity would be good for touch-screen devices, but the "Lubuntu" bar at the bottom of the screen on desktop computers would make newbies use Ubuntu as if it were Windows. I agree that GNOME, KDE and other shells can be used if preferred, but the focus here is on newbies who have been using Windows for many years and suddenly use Ubuntu - changing the operating system for newbies is scary to them, so keeping it familiar would mean newbies see that Ubuntu is so much better, faster etc.

*The "restricted extras"
You must still install the "restricted extras" in Ubuntu (and its variants) after installing Ubuntu, regardless of the options to install the 3rd-party software during the installation. Yes I know Ubuntu can't legally include Flash Player and the rest, but offering the "restricted extras" and reminding users this option exists is not illegal. If the person installing Ubuntu forgot to install these, remind the user these are available (and give them the option to not be reminded again by means of a checkbox/tick box).

I could type forever in my quest to help Ubuntu, so I better stop. :P
Thank you for reading. :)