MakemineVanilla Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 While there is no viable alternative for most ordinary users, they are not likely to be taught to treat their customers better. Certainly Linux is not suitable for ordinary folk, and looks unlikely ever to be. Unfortunately, despite the serious doubts about the behaviour of MS, using Windows after the travails of Linux, feels remarkably user-friendly and reliable by comparison. Moving over to Linux is just swapping one set of problems for a hell of a lot more. FUD. Try: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/reality-check sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install reality-check-linux Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 (edited) If you're in to that thing, you can use the command line. If you use a user friendly variant it's completely unnecessary for basic tasks. You never need to in Ubuntu or Mint for example, although it's obviously there if you want to. The GUI is powerful enough to do anything you can do in Windows, and does it in a much safer way than Windows (Software repository rather than downloading from dodgy websites). The only real reason to stick to Windows if you don't like it now is business PCs for which you have no say, or if you use Windows only software that doesn't play nicely with Wine, such as, sadly, most games. For casual web browsing, emails and office work, there are many Linux distros which are more than up to the job. Edited April 14, 2014 by Davkaus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 14, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 14, 2014 Indeed. I've installed (or just supplied a cd of) Linux to people from school kids to pensioners, with a huge variety of computer literacy. The only difference between the Linux users and the Windows users is that the Linux users no longer need to ask me for help. YMMV, but don't just trot out nonsense like "you have to use the command line". You don't. From your example above (on the rare occasions you need something not in the 10,000s of standard packages). Control Panel Click install software Add source Paste in ppa:yannubuntu/reality-check (the software source) Select the software from the list Enjoy the system automatically updating all the software you have from a single interface A lot easier than finding and installing software from random websites, all of which update separately, with different interfaces. If you want to see what the next version of Windows will look like, install KDE. Of course, if you don't like it, there a wide variety of window managers available. Choice is good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 If you're in to that thing, you can use the command line. If you use a user friendly variant it's completely unnecessary for basic tasks. You never need to in Ubuntu or Mint for example, although it's obviously there if you want to. The GUI is powerful enough to do anything you can do in Windows, and does it in a much safer way than Windows (Software repository rather than downloading from dodgy websites). The only real reason to stick to Windows if you don't like it now is business PCs for which you have no say, or if you use Windows only software that doesn't play nicely with Wine, such as, sadly, most games. For casual web browsing, emails and office work, there are many Linux distros which are more than up to the job. Yeah, I have to say that after I'd tried out ten distros and survived countless reboots and reformats. Had my Windows mbr over-written by grub several times. Aborted several installs because Grub couldn't be written to my chosen disk (sda). Exceeded my download-limit on a bloated distro which didn't survive its first update. Plus a few other problems. I was sat there playing Khangman, and decided it had all been worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 15, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 15, 2014 Linux was like that in 1996. It's not any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 (edited) Linux was like that in 1996. It's not any more. That has definitely not been my own experience. I find that I have tried 9 different distros adding up to 12 versions; the oldest being Ubuntu 12.04 and other distros based on 12.04. I would say that more than half of the software I have installed has not worked properly. Even my plan to install a distro with 'everything' pre-installed (pclinuxos Full Monty 2013.12) ended unhappily, because the first update made it unbootable. I couldn't quite believe that a release which had come out at Christmas required an update of 1.7gb after only four months. This was particularly disappointing because I was convinced it was the one. Edited April 15, 2014 by MakemineVanilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 15, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 15, 2014 So you picked one distro (one which I've never met a user of previously) and something went wrong? For most users, any of the common distros will not have these issues. Try mint, or ubuntu. The poster that started this just wanted something which wouldn't need him to launch three different browsers. Booting a live image will tell him if linux will do the job for him and if it doesn't, he's lost nothing but a little time. I'm not disputing that you may have had a bad experience, but it's not typical. The poster currently has a bad experience of Windows, which is more typical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 It is pretty simple really. With XP finished I was told that I never need buy another Microsoft product again and that Linux could not only do everything XP could do but could actually do it better. There are several videos on You Tube making the exact same claim and offering their own recommendations to which distros were the best replacement for XP, and I have taken a look at most of them. I believed the promises and started the process of trying to build a set-up which did everything XP could do, which I was promised would include the ability to play games, I already own on Steam, like Half Life 2 et al. Some Linux advocates even tell me I need never use the Terminal and everything can be done through a GUI. So I took them at their word and judge them by the exact same standards as they judge Microsoft. I even started a blog on this very site to record my experiences and plot my learning curve (since deleted). In the process, I have recorded every mistake by me, and every foible, glitch and failure of the distros and software, I have tried. That is the only dog I have in the fight. I haven't given up but equally it doesn't look like it is possible to discuss the process and the difficulties, without people reacting like they are defending their mother's reputation. That'll learn me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 16, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 16, 2014 I'm not defending anything. I'm pointing out that your experience isn't typical. You seem to have started from a point of needing to emulate everything that XP does, rather than starting from a position of wanting to be able to use your computer. That appears to have influenced your choices and ultimately your experience. A live CD (or USB) or mint or ubuntu will show you that you do not need to use Windows. Using 2 year old distros (which include "everything") with expectations that they'll be just like XP is a path to disappointment. There are some reasonable skins which will look like XP, but that should be an aside, not a goal, otherwise you might as well stick with XP as nothing else will make you happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't think its possible for me to use linux with Dreamweaver and the extensions i use with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 16, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't think its possible for me to use linux with Dreamweaver and the extensions i use with it. It's not. It's also not possible for you to use XP If you are locked to a particular piece of software, then you have to use a platform that that software runs on. Of course there is software for Linux which does everything Dreamweaver does, but it won't look and feel exactly the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I could use xp but not sure which version of dreamweaver i would have to use. Certainly wouldn't be able to use cc with all its added support for flexible designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted April 16, 2014 Administrator Share Posted April 16, 2014 I could use xp but not sure which version of dreamweaver i would have to use. Certainly wouldn't be able to use cc with all its added support for flexible designs. Squarespace works on all operating systems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meath_Villan Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 As I'm probably the only guy using Windows 8.1 on this forum would it be pointless asking has anyone found their computer grinding to a stop everytime it's started since the last update ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubbs Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Can't say I've seen any performance issues since the last update. Can you roll back using system restore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Stick Stardock + Modern mix on win 8.1 and it runs like a dream. I do this for all the win 8 pc's I supply - Hardly any negative feedback. - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meath_Villan Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 After a bit of a Google it could be down to the chrome browser ..will uninstall and report back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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