Comments on: Has Vista opened the door for Linux? http://tips.vlaurie.com/2008/04/has-vista-opened-the-door-for-linux/ News, commentary and tips for safer and easier computing Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:15:10 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Vic http://tips.vlaurie.com/2008/04/has-vista-opened-the-door-for-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-4742 Vic Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:43:11 +0000 http://tips.vlaurie.com/2008/04/01/has-vista-opened-the-door-for-linux/#comment-4742 <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1641" rel="nofollow">Adrian Kingsley Hughes</a> says Ubuntu is becoming the generic Linux. Adrian Kingsley Hughes says Ubuntu is becoming the generic Linux.

]]> By: ewing http://tips.vlaurie.com/2008/04/has-vista-opened-the-door-for-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-4741 ewing Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:34:32 +0000 http://tips.vlaurie.com/2008/04/01/has-vista-opened-the-door-for-linux/#comment-4741 Linux still has a basic problem that is exemplified by these new systems. It is that most of these new computers come with new, and different, Linux implementations. There are no support organizations for these many different implementations to provide support and upgrades for the OS and the applications that are included with these systems. This is exemplified by the large number of purchasers of the Asus EeePC computer (currently the most popular Linux-based personal computer) whohave removed the version of Linux on the system and replaced it with Ubuntu Linux. Users of the Asus EeePC forum have instructions on how to do this. They did this because Ubuntu Linux has an excellent support organization, with a user forum, and frequent upgrades of the the OS and applications. There are also several excellent printed Ubuntu books. The group seems to provide major Ubuntu upgrades every six months. The manufacturers of these systems seem to think that users would never want to upgrade the software, or the applications, on their systems. Upgrading is difficult on these systems because of the uniqueness of the hardware. The hardware manufacturers seem to have the impression that the user should never upgrade the OS or the applications. This is a real disservice to the purchasers of these systems as it means that these systems will quickly not be able to keep up with the rapid changes in technology. I think that Microsoft has recognized this basic problem and has introduced a special version of Windows just for these systems. The only problem is that this has caused significant increases in the prices of what were initially low-cost systems. Sol Linux still has a basic problem that is exemplified by these new systems.

It is that most of these new computers come with new, and different, Linux implementations. There are no support organizations for these many different implementations to provide support and upgrades for the OS and the applications that are included with these systems.

This is exemplified by the large number of purchasers of the Asus EeePC computer (currently the most popular Linux-based personal computer) whohave removed the version of Linux on the system and replaced it with Ubuntu Linux. Users of the Asus EeePC forum have instructions on how to do this. They did this because Ubuntu Linux has an excellent support
organization, with a user forum, and frequent upgrades of the the OS and applications. There are also several excellent printed Ubuntu books. The group seems to provide major Ubuntu upgrades every six months.

The manufacturers of these systems seem to think that users would never want to upgrade the software, or the applications, on their systems. Upgrading is difficult on these systems because of the uniqueness of the hardware. The hardware manufacturers seem to have the impression that the user should never upgrade the OS or the applications. This is a real disservice to the purchasers of these systems as it means that these systems will quickly not be able to keep up with the rapid changes in technology.

I think that Microsoft has recognized this basic problem and has introduced a special version of Windows just for these systems. The only problem is that this has caused significant increases in the prices of what were initially low-cost systems.

Sol

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