Very true and factual. Currently, i'm installing Ubuntu on old rigs for schools that don't have big budgets. Goverment funding or M$ agreements. As a completely "free" O/S, the lack of exposure, for me, is troubling. There is snobbery around anything non-M$. Especially anything that has Linux or Unix in its title. Again, imo, if there was a little humility from the non M$ camps. M$ would be just another player within a short period of time. My 2 cents
@GOD666: The fact is, for Windows you get any kind of apps in many variations, both Payware and Freeware! For Linux, that's much limited! and same applies for Apple's OS'es! For someone, who just use a few apps, Linux may be easy to use, the 'game' start's at the moment you'll go above that! It's all about what Apps you need to use (available or not), Freeware or Payware and, and, and! If you like to get 'your' Linux configured for your own personal use, most user's still don't know the How To .....!
If you look beyond just app titles. Everything is there and more. Some people get hung up on title names. Yes, Microsoft Office can be used inside Wine, but LibreOffice will work natively and open your Windows and Apple documents. If you're willing to look past just a name brand, you're golden and nothing is missing. In fact you'll find more.
Where did it say I knew what I was talking about? If anything I declared I was a beginner overwhelmed by the unfriendliness of Linux. For your information I searched OpenVPN in the Software Manager of Linux Mint, it stores all the packages in an online repository. Only 3 OpenVPN items showed up. I installed one, nothing happened. I installed the other two, nothing happened. There were no instructions on how to use them. There were only about 4-6 user reviews for two of the OpenVPN packages, since 2011, half of them in the lines of "this sucks or doesnt work". Really, only a handful of reviews over span of 4 years, and half of them negative? Makes me feel uneasy already about the Linux community and the quality of their software! I then had to search on google how to use them, only then did instructions appear, which I linked in the original post. Only to discover it is a complex process involving many steps to do something that should have been downright simple. There was no RPM for OpenVPN. I was not trying to do things the "manual way", there was no choice presented to me in how to use OpenVPN. I know how to read instructions, but I want instructions that do not require long command lines to achieve one simple task. I am a graphical person, do not have years to spend to learn Unix or whatever it is called.
Thanks for your encouraging comments. How did you learn total control over your OS, the FreeBSD? How long did it take? Did you ever feel like you had LESS control because you were moving to a brand new OS you did not fully understand? I was surprised someone mocked me for having Pentium M processor, I do not need strong computer, all I use is browser, office, voip and OpenVPN. Browser and office are already preinstalled and graphical. But OpenVPN and voip are difficult in Linux. They must be airtight and under complete control, to stop ISP traffic snooping which I suspect they are doing, I feel I will never have the complete control due to the unfriendliness of doing things in Linux.
FreeBSD is one of the more involved distros. Lots of manual configs, lots of manual installation. Not recommended for beginners. It takes some time to learn how to use Linux efficiently, but there are some distros around that can make the transition easier like Linux Mint, Zorin, etc. Setting up a VPN is probably not recommended for a beginner either.
Slowly I start to understand why you'd chose your Username!! Nevermind, I work on both: Linux (Debian) and Windows and also have to work on AS400 and Unix! 90% of those apps I need to use for either myself or on customers place, are not available for Linux and therefore, like it or not, it's simply useless for my work!
Isn't it that Mint and Ziron are based on Ubuntu, as many other distros too? Fact is, if you need to start to configure Linux for your personal needs, the problems are starting, special if you're a Newbie!
A VPN is essential for privacy, if beginner cannot get VPN running in Linux, what is the point of beginner moving from Windows 10 to Linux to try to get more privacy?
Your right, you'll probably be happier staying with Windows 7 or something because no one is going to hold your hand using Linux.
Worked a few years with Linux for beginners it is a kind of hell I can fairly say but if you get the hang of it It is a nice written piece of software
They didn't build linux for home/corporate users. And unfortunatelly nobody has any will to change this. Hard to install No usefull GUI, no ergonomics Hard to configure Still insisting on command line and some stupid text editors. Didn't do anything enough to get support from game developers Each distribution is different. you can't easly change distributions. Programs have different data storage location for configuration files etc. Updating is also very stupid. Each package is dependent on lots of other packages. Your computer may become full of junk, full of different versions of the same package. very stupid Almost everything about linux is hard and stupid. Linux users are very arrogant. They think like they have created the world, they know everything.
Personaly I must say is you use programs on Linux such as Webmin and more of them you can use Gui based progs and for the rest of your statements I must say I would disagree about arrogancy of Linux users I find most of them helpfully In my case
Honesty I gave Linux a try a few years ago but I always had a hell of a time finding drivers to work with the majority of my Hardware so I gave up on it.
hi , in first the most linux distro are based on debian !! like mint, ubuntu , in second it's now easy to use a linux distro , after few years you can choose applications in synaptics (automatic installation application) no need to use terminal, 70% off linux distro are stable , one of most are all debian distro , the power off linux is exceptionnal , one exemple you can create .sh file to make what you want, you can find finish bash file to use it, linux people are not arrogant , just some few people who love own belly button, i think for beginners, they should seek to apprehend and read the operating system (linux distro or windows). sorry for my very bad english.....
(Assuming that we're talking of a distro targeted at normal users) I'll have to disagree with most of the points you made. Most major distributions are extremely user friendly at install (Hell,Ubuntu for all its faults can even take care of setting itself up alongside a Windows install without destroying your data No useful GUI.. Eh,All the major distros can be used and maintained without ever heading into the shell (Although I'll grant you that some Linux Desktop Environments can be more unintuitive than even Metro *cough* Unity *cough* Unless you're going to use your machine for some really niche application, configuration is almost as easy as Windows (though some slightly dated hardware might have some problems with driver support) .. Gone are the days when you had to hunt down patches and fixes to get your audio or your TV tuner to work as intended Again, for normal users having to use the shell will be about as likely as a Windows user having to use CMD/PowerShell .. Also,please don't talk about "stupid" text editors,because this thread will become an' emacs vs gedit vs... bloodbath Can't be helped - market share drives all software development support .. Aka the same reason why games came out with such a massive delay to OSX or why for many years Android ports came with a massive delay.. Also the reason why WP devices are so bereft of so many apps Edit: Plus on reasonably powerful hardware you could always run stuff via WINE) .. Plus nowadays you also get at least some Steam support.. plus GOG for somewhat older titles Migrating between distributions from different families is hard,true.. Migrating between let's say Ubuntu and Mint,however It differs from Windows how? There's a reason why devs wake up screaming about .DLLs That said, there's a reason why normal people tend to stick to Windows and Internet Explorer - they want something that just works and there really aren't compelled to switch over to anything else Edit: And don't forget the biggest bonus of most Linux distros - you can try them out in LiveUSB mode (especially with persistence enabled),where you can use 'em for awhile, test out apps and services to see if it "fits" your usage case
It's probably easier to stop Windows 10 from phoning home than trying to get your head around Linux. PS I am not Shayne.
I have tried. The OpenVPN speeds are very slow on router. With 400mhz processor the max speed is around 4MBit, I get 8 times the speed on a desktop computer running the same OpenVPN. Unless it is a super router, we are force to use OpenVPN on the computer.