I used to be of that mindset... I mean Slackware was my first distro way back when... like '95 or so. Anyway, the more I showed people Linux, the more I explained to them that I'll no longer be necessary to clean off viruses they kept getting on their Windows machines... it was great.

For a while.

Then the questions started coming in because they were poking around bits of the OS and/or lacking stuff they knew was only a double-click away in Windows, where most of those double-clicks meant a new virus, but I digress. This was the days before Ubuntu was as friendly as it is now...

Anyway, people that just treat computers as a tool to entertain them and they don't take the time to learn how to install, admin or even spell Linux (don't ask how many times my spellchecker was about to explode because of their misspellings), it hit me. You could liken these people to the same kind of folks that own a nice car but have never lifted the hood. These are the types that don't know how to change the oil, let alone service the car.

So after a while, I started being more tactical to whom I'd show Linux to. The questions lessened... those folks that I introduced to Linux started to ask better, more intelligent questions and later they started to tell me things that in some cases, even I didn't know - I don't play games really, so that was always a place I learned.

Now? My mother called me and told me that her Ubuntu Linux 10.04 machine that she built was running circles around her older Linux machine and she's kicking booty. Not bad for a person that has used Linux and computers only for the last couple of years.

But with that said... the aforesaid stories are tragic. Not all computer users are created equal, but they seem to be equally stupid when they don't know any better.

I had heard of Linux but thanks to my n900 and smokus sixaxis app decided to donwload it.

I must say my PC is pretty ancient and only has around 256 Ram, I think, so Ubuntu doesn't run quite as nice as Windows 7. I think with a purchase of some more RAM ill be making the switch to Linux

But will your girlfriend not also run faster (away from you)? :P

I think the reply to the teacher was a little arrogant and bigoted.

YES - You can "DUAL BOOT" your machines and it is very straight forward!!!!

Ubuntu will split your hard drive in half . . . leaving all you files intact . . .. Then when you start your computer you will be asked if you would like to start up Ubuntu or Widows.

You download the ISO image of Ubuntu (thats the hardest part simply because it takes awhile) and then you can either burn it to a CD or Create a Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive

You dont even have to install ubuntu to try it out and use it on your laptop . . . simply select TRY IT and you can run Ubuntu straight off your CD . . . you can browse the web and even browse your hard drive (perfect if you need to save your files like pictures ect before a install) ALL WITH OUT TOUCHING YOUR COMPUTER IN ANY WAY!!!!




Linux is customizable you can make it look and feel like ANYTHING YOU LIKE . . . from WinXP to Win7 to Mac OSX or a creation all of your own . . . every part of Linux is customizable . . . and their are tons of free apps . . . (Alot more than Maemo) . . . And the can all be install with a click of a button from the Ubuntu Software center . . . .


If you are new to linux and want the EASIEST WAY to install it from inside windows you can use a little program called WuBi!!!!

Wubi will install Ubuntu just like an other windows App . . . you can dual boot your Wubi Ubuntu/Linux install right along side your current version of windows . . . Simply choice the size you want for your linux partition and click install . . . deside Linux isn't for you . . . you can uninstall it in the Add - Remove program section of windows just like any other Windows App . . . The only down side to Wubi is thier is no other to Uninstall Windows After you discover Linux Rocks!!!!


You can download Wubi Here . . . http://wubi-installer.org/

Enjoy.

I just heard Michael Jackson has died =O

I would have found this incredible to believe (teacher & linux discs), but last Sunday, while at a lunch, I was talking to a Bank Manager and showing off my N900. Somehow the fact came up that I use Open Office Org suite for writing etc. he suddenly started saying that i was condoning piracy, I mean really getting cross with me.....When I gently explained that actually it was a free program he changed to accusing Sun Systems of plagiary on Microsoft office, and how I was then using illegal software and that Microsoft should sue Sun Systems!!! I was gobsmacked that a person of his calibre could be so incredibly ignorant. I did finally manage to shut him up with the obvious explanations but I could see that he wasn't convinced!

My Mother in law can't understand that I give my themes away. Every time my wife tells her something about maemo she said I don't understand that he doesn't get paid to do it?

wow.. corporations already bought a people minds so far.
Hope more Linux based mobiles will bring back some people from Matrix.

Yup I followed this story a while back; probably when it first surfaced.

There was more; the guy went on tweeting about it. Eventually the Teacher actually tried 3(?) distro's on her home computers; had the HeliOS guy go over and set them up for her and show her how they all work, etc.

It had a happy ending.

Get a load of this story that circled around a while back:

http://www.wkowtv.com/global/story.asp?s=9667184
http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9682258
http://addins.wkowtv.com/blogs/troub...o-ubuntu-story

Which of course spawns things like this.

I'd have to say; for all of my love of Linux - I'm not impressed by the fanboys it attracts.

Also; RE: converting people, I used to have to clean out my Sister in-law's computer of Virus' constantly. She always managed to break something on windows. I finally (between my wife and I, yes, the wife uses Ubuntu too) got her to let me load Ubuntu on it so she can toy with it for a while. I told her I have no problems re-loading it if she can't handle it.

Haven't heard a complaint. In fact; every time I ask her about it she talks about how much she loves how much faster it is than her old windows. She needed instruction on how to do some things (rip her cd's) - but that was it.

Wife's family asked me to provide one of my spare laptops to her brother for his birthday. I set it up with Ubuntu first and told him I'd load Windows on it if it doesn't for him and his College stuff. 2 years now and he's using it fine. (He complained not being able to move documents from his system to his wife's (windows) - we have since corrected that).

Linux is definitely not just for the geeks of the world.


@Livinmalife - Ubuntu should take less resources than Windows 7; not more. I suggest going into your Visual Effects and disabling the fancy stuff.