Wow that's cold. Tinfoil hat people can be fun too, if they want to roll their own OS and surf with Lynx then who are you to judge ?
Tinfoil?.. they can put a stainless-steel colander on their heads for alI I care.. I only judge what's just...
it is a bit sad, actually, members throwing opinions on the table here and jumping to conclusions..unhindered by facts. who are we, to judge, you say. well, this is supposed to be serious discussion, and we are in it..people are not clowns for our amusement.
Subliminal Advertising, James Vicary...AFAIK an experiment done in the 50s already. Eat popcorn and drink coke, NOW!!! Lol....hmmm I could try to display ads every 60th frame when browsing MDL...
@Superfly: There's a distro that prevents you from uninstalling the "offending" programs. If you do, you'll crash your machine. I've seen this tactic used by cell phone cretins (uhh...carriers) Delete one of their pre-installed apps and the phone is bricked (The LG Venice, to be exact). The problem is that the average user doesn't have a clue as to what gcc or make is or does. If they did, they'd also understand C and C++ well enough to go through the source, remove whatever, and recompile. Linux people are used to this. Many of them are tweaking the OS and rebuilding anyway, so, it's trivial for them to troubleshoot it and fix the distro. Or is it?.... Windows user do not, nor will they ever have the ability to rebuild the current OS. The average windows user is lucky to know how to clean up their machine, much less tear it apart and rebuild it. If that wasn't true, there'd be no need for tech support or this forum.
ok.. so.. after reading the hole crap topic I have the feeling that the discussion is not about the difficult to move from windows to linux, but its about child war about what "one" think its better for everybody else... linux is better than windows in many aspects, but for the normal user (the dumb per say, as its the majority of computers users around the world), if he cant play minecraft or some facebook games on its os than the os is the worst. so, linux is the worst.. and thats the fact that make people not fully moving to linux.. oh, and the lack of almost everything a windows users is used to have, like pirated photoshop, coreldraw, games, videocard drivers that really works, the windows updates (i hate it but there is no better alternative on linux), games, antivirus (yeah, its incredible that a lot of users dont get the idead that on linux you have almost none viruses to worry about so they dont need an antivirus, just to not run the de as root) and "ccleaner" (lol).. thats it..
Android has had its viruses, as soon as their is a Linux distro that is a credible contender it will become a target and will then require protection just the same as Windows, its all about market share.
Lol...it can't be that crappy since you've read the (w)hole thread and did not stop before I agree... prejudices without the will to even try are major reason not to go for something and 'childish behaviour'..not only concerning Linux...
Since 'Linux' is not 'unique' it is much harder. You can load your kernel of your choice and customize the OS and install packets you need only. Android still has had its viruses because of one unified AOSP but the real virus is 'monopoly'. The virus appears as preinstalled bloatware and system apps which are phoning home which cannot be removed without to be rooted. But if you go for root you break the security concept **cough** of the device so they say and threaten with warranty lost. Android still has no possibility to prevent apps from accessing internet without root. Instead they offer a 'security' concept which is made for their needs and comes preinstalled not removable.
Yen, again I agree with you but the level of skill you require to carry out a lot of these tasks is beyond most people, even so called experts. I don't want to rebuild and tinker with my OS, I just want it to work, I have done all these things in the past and to be honest it all bores me now, I just cant be bothered.
I can comprehend what you say. I actually feel sometimes like the same.... There is only one choice: Either one uses the products as they are or one makes the efforts to customize them for own needs. And if the direction of development of a product went a way one cannot agree with anymore one has to think about an alternative. You can get a complete product from one giant or build your own using predefined 'parts'..not different to other items.
I find the whole Linux debate very frustrating. Just about every distro does just about everything, almost, but for me it never quite gets there. I can stream media in Linux, but its tedious compared to Windows, I can edit video, but not quite as well and not as easily as I can in Windows, ripping DVDs, again difficult and with all these basic tasks the end result just doesn't cut it compared with the results I can get in Windows. Its not the distro, its the available software, I want to be a convert but I always end up going back. The recent debate about spying and security fears has put me off Linux once more, I doubt I will have another serious attempt with it for some time.
Nonsense! Kodi works better under Linux! And it works the same way, when it comes to setting it up, so to speak....
Kodi, the latest incarnation of XBMC is fairly new, it was about when I was streaming from my PC but was not compatible with the distro I was using at the time, along with half the others out there, the ones that did work were crap. I spent more time tinkering with file formats that actually playing the files. If Kodi is up to the job I am really pleased but it doesn't solve that much for me does it?
I dont think so, most of the guys on this section are "testing" this and that distro all the time, most seem to dual boot with their favorite flavor of Windows, why is that? Because Linux is bloody useless at many tasks. Linux, all flavors are play things for geeks. When Linux cant cope with a task the majority fall back on Windows. When I made the jump to Linux I streamed movies to my TV from my PC, Linux based server software would not recognize many formats, most had to be converted to MKV/MP4 to allow playback, just one of many major pains in the backside. All the other tasks I mention above also produce poor results in Linux compared to Windows based software. And what about Wine? Wine sounds good, but its NOT. The fact that Wine exists at all is proof enough that the Linux software is not up to scratch. If XBMC/Kodi can now trans-code effectively on the fly then that's great but it doesn't help much with the other dozen or so basic tasks that Linux is useless at. I really like Linux and want it to succeed but it never really makes much progress, I have been waiting a long time for Linux to step up but it hasn't, not to date. I see all the new distros being announced on this section, I look at them and they are no different to their predecessors. The only noticeable change is a silly new name, a new number and a 1,000+1 new bugs.
Not very true. I have been using Ubuntu (only, no other distros) since about 8 years ago. You are partially right in that Linux does not have as many powerful software as you could find for Windows, but most useful software on Windows comes with a high price tag. Some good examples are: Adobe Photoshop and Acrobat. They are very pricey. Now, you can fulfill 99% of the functionality of PS and Acrobat with its Linux counterparts: GIMP and PDF Studio. GIMP is free, PDF Studio is only 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost of Acrobat. For Microsoft Office, there is Libreoffice pre-installed; if Libreoffice can not meet your needs, then you have MS Office online which is free, and can be used in a browser in Linux. For video playing, you have MPV and smplayer, VLC etc that can do almost all format you throw at them. Also, MP4/MKV is only the container, not the actual video file format. Nowadays, most mobile/online video clips are in x264 or x265/HEVC format, which all these players have not problem playing at all. Ubuntu 16.04 even has built-in support for the latest x265/HEVC support after you install the extra-codecs pack with a single command line. Yes I dual-boot Ubuntu with Win10, because some niche product, such as some scientific software package, only have Win/OS X versions. But then again, serious scientific package such as MatLab do have Linux version because many Servers are using Linux. And this lack of software problem will be mitigated by the latest Ubuntu snaps installer packages, where software can be easily re-packed into Ubuntu snap format and installed in Ubuntu as a native linux software. Many games will be available on Linux via this mechanism. So, if you look at the development of Linux, especially Ubuntu in the past decade or so, you'll see the accelerated popularity increase in popular distros, particularly Ubuntu based distros. Talking about trends. We'll see how far Linux can go in 5 years. I predict Ubuntu-based distroes will take at least 3-6% desktop OS market share, up from the current 2%.
I also want it to succeed and it is succeeding - against all the monopolistic odds... It may not be as fast as most want but... Remember Linux before Ubuntu? If you do, I rest my case... Desktop monopoly by M$ is crazy and they are ready not to charge you for Winblows, so you don't strengthen the opposition and don't go over to Linux and co. And that is precisely it: if Linux gets into more machines by default (shipped with Ubuntu, that is), instead of Winblows, it means more wind to the opposition's sales and less domination for them... That is why the Win-store is now introduced and many other crap stuff, on top of all the spying and crazy controls they have over any Winblows machine nowadays, by (USofA and allies) state orders, listening in on you, taking photos, sending loadsa stuff to "da man"... In that case, a little bit of money from a laptop/desktop bought going to Ubuntu, so long as all the drivers are cool - fine by me!!! I agree with you that most apps are reduced in capability compared to the same apps under Wiblows - but those are vested interests speaking louder than words! Skype under Linux is poor by comparison, thanx to M$, not Ubuntu! And why do you think this is so? They need sources? Ahem! The same applies to many apps - BUT NOT Kodi or VLC! Here the problem, to my mind, is either Linux distro or you, honestly speaking... At my end, NFS shared folders from a Linux based NAS are working GREAT, in terms of playback over home network! No problems of the sort you mention... Linux based server SW? WTF is that? What are you talking about? Which HW is a server and which SW does it use (the server), which TV are you using as a client, which SW is in it? You lost me there... What are you doing exactly? That should NOT be a problem at all (at least not from the Linux server side!)! And if there is, I doubt it is on the Linux server side but more likely you are the source of problems... Anyway, good luck to all!!!