Linux on Desktops? Not in YEARS

Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Technical

I recently tried Kubuntu, which is basically Ubuntu Linux with KDE. In short, it’s a nightmare. Let me start with the biggest problem: QTPartition (correct me if I got the name wrong). It had severe bugs: deleting the wrong partition. So I’ve got an extended partition with 3 logical drives. I wanted to “delete” one NTFS partition, add two for Linux, one to mount root, one to mount swap. I double checked to ensure my other partitions were untouched. Sadly, clicking “commit” shows a different picture. Sorry for not having a screenshot, but frankly, that’s what happened. It’s like, you choose to remove E:, it removed D:. Thanks a million! I could only recover some of my files. Some pictures were gone.

Next problem, it turns out that Kubuntu, is a very light distribution. There’s so little applications, not even Firefox. Jeff said other distros come in multiple CDs, but hey, Knoppix had Firefox and a bunch of other apps. Okay, I can bare with that. But, one thing Linux has yet to improve is the installation process. I followed the online instructions to install packages for mp3 support. Instructions were easy enough to follow, but in the package manager GUI app, I tried to select “install” for certain packages, like libxine-extracodecs, it showed BREAK. The installation breaks something, dependency or whatever crap. Nevermind, i saw Bluefish, tried to select it for installation, same result. I havn’t tried “double clicking” on a .deb file, but .rpms sure as hell don’t work.

And now on the mp3 copyright issue. Now I’ve know this issue for quite some time, but put yourself in end-users perspective. You (referring to Ubuntu) claim you cant include mp3 support in Ubuntu for copyright issues, but the you post clear instructions on your site, to enable such support (which didn’t work for me though), so what’s with the friggin’ copyright issue?? If other Linux distributions can bundle with mp3 support, why can’t you? I mean, introduce Ubuntu to your non-tech inclined friends. Go see the look on their face when you say can’t play mp3 without additional package installation.

Linux will never be successful in the desktop market. Never. It’s the same reason why Sun doesn’t want to open source Java. There’ll me so many incompatible “distros”. Such a… “uncoordinated attack at Windows’ domination”. I mean, who doesn’t like a computer that powers up, and can be used immediately without much configuration? Who doesn’t like software “that just works”? Hence, you won’t see many Foobar users.

Jeff said, ask Jinny lah. She’s a Mac user, you expect her to say “Linux is user friendly wut”?! Jeff, I know there are quite a number of people using Linux, but please, face the facts. More than 80% users are on Windows. Numbers don’t lie Jeff. Before you start flaming me, I’m not debating about Linux on servers ok??

Even the technically inclined, say programmers. You want to spend hours configuring your OS, or doing actual coding/debugging? Nobody likes to do configuration. Mind you, people do configure the visual aspects to suit preferences, but not configuring for basic functionality. There’s a link on Digg too, about one guy’s experience in usring Linux for web development. C’mon, he spent 2 months on it. So if you don’t mind spending at least several weeks to get Linux working, be my guest.

So Linux on dekstops? I would say never. From an end-user’s persepctive, I don’t see any improvements in Linux (in general) from SuSE Linux 9.0, which was like, 3 years ago. In fact, SuSE Linux had a much better installer, didn’t screw up my MBR (FC3 did), didn’t delete the wrong partition (Kubuntu did). Come to think of it, Kubuntu gives you the option to resize your existing partition. Having such an experience with it, I doubt I’ll try that.

So few things I have to remind myself: each Linux distribution is different. Having a good experience in one distribution, doesn’t mean you’ll have a better experience in a newer one. In fact, experience tells me it’s worse.

I think it’s pretty sure for me now. Mac Books are pretty competitively priced. Just around RM 500 or so more than Dell Inspirons. So I guess they’re priced somewhat like HP/Compaqs. I’ll be aiming for a Mac Book. Hopefully, in about a year’s time, I’ll have enough money to get a slightly better model ;-)

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Permalink | September 15th, 2006

3 Responses to “Linux on Desktops? Not in YEARS”

  1. noor hidayat Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 10:57 pm

    I’ve never used Ubuntu, so I don’t know how to comment on that, but I do know that Red Hat and Mandrake (now Mandriva) is very easy to install & user friendly too. RH & Mandrake doesn’t seem to bug you so much about dependencies unless you change it yourself. Only problem I think with *nix system is that normal end users will find it a pain to update their drivers if they need to.

  2. Jinny Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 9:21 am

    rpms don’t work in ubuntu for one fundamental reason: rpm = redhat package manager. it works on redhat and maybe some redhat-based distros like mandrake or suse. ubuntu, use .deb - or actually, use .deb for most debian-based linux. I prefer to use apt-get as it will fetch, resolve dependencies, configure, compile and install for me ad i need to update it, it does that too, to the latest version.

    and for 3-4 years I ran linux exclusively on my desktop as my main machine.. linux is not fool-proof. even then also, I won’t deny that linux did not give me any trouble over the 3 years before I got my Mac :) For instance, I once had my MBR corrupted no thanks to a buggy distro.

    btw, break doesn’t mean it just broke something or will break something. Break means it encountered an error in the compilation and had to halt. (Read: C programming)

  3. Florian Maeder Says:
    November 13th, 2006 at 8:07 am

    Hi Jonathan

    As Junny already pointed out: If you want to install your applications via RPMs get a Red Hat distribution. If you use a Debian dist. use .deb files…

    And you miss firefox? Just type “apt-get install firefox” and you’ll have it. It’s almost the same for hundreds of applications. Maybe you’ll have to activate the “universe” packages to find an application of your choice. I personally like to install the apps on my own. Rather than - as it seems from your article - on SuSE where my partition is spammed with nonsense at the OS’s installation.

    And what’s that shit about configuring the OS for 2 month? I have my KUbuntu and all necessary applications installed and configured in a matter of hours.

    And what about user friendly? Almost all the hardware of my new notebook is supported out of the box. Also Plug’n'Play works fine!

    The only reason I still have a Win32 on my machine are the games.
    So maybe what you are missing is the will to really try something out. Not just have a quick look at something and judge it accordingly….

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