Ubuntu Update (Linux)

This is a screenie (screen pic) of my desk top on Ubuntu , that is , the screen you see when you've finished logging in. The top left are some menues (applications, Places , System) and some icons for common applications.

Rather like the start menu on windows, but they moved it up there instead.

Bottom are currently running applications ( such as a music player and the firefox web browser) top left , is your date and time , and the exit.

So , what do I think of ubuntu ? After having it a few days.

If you're just a simple user, doing some word processing or spreadsheeting or what not , it's great. The stuff works "out of the box" with no modifications required. Under the applications menu, at the bottom , is add/remove programs, and this lists a large number of applications out on the internet that you can install just by pushing a button and typing in your password. (The list has obviously been vetted so you're safe from virus's, and nothing happens unless you enter your password, so there is no such thing as a automatic install , or a drive-by install, such as what plagues windows so badly. )

Once you get past the standard user packages however (if you ever do , what I've described is enough for half the users out there ) and start trying to get cute, then you run into problems.

You are sitting on Linux, after all, despite the nice friendly desktop environment (It's called Gnome) , and you try to run an FTP server or share files or anything like that , you're now in a world of hurt. There's forums to go to for help , but you're going to need technical knolwedlge to partake in that. I'm still struggling with my FTP server , access rights problems are preventing me from uploading / downloading to it.

I remember my old school days, and one job, where we had to telnet into a Linux or Unix server ... guess what ? Terminal , off the Applications >> accessories menu, does exactly that. If you're a student (or are raising a student) who's using unix / linux routinely, throwing ubuntu down on a $300 refurbished computer is probably a wise investment. (ps : was out and about a few days back ... went to a computer store to get my kvm switch , best investment I ever made ... saw the price on some refurbushed computers. A system with the same stats as my old clunker thats running ubuntu runs 239$ Canadian, no monitor)

My opinion on ubuntu ?

The actual operating system is quite stable on my old clunker. The free packages , some of them are great , some of them are dogs that should have been shot, totally useless. Well, they are free, what can I tell you ? Uninstall it and move on to the next one.

Would I go back to windows ?

Thats a toughie.

My answer is that my current set up is probably the best you can get in the modern world. Two computers sitting side by side on your desk , and a kvm switch to switch the keyboard / video / mouse back and forth. The windows machine runs your store bought applications (like World of Warcraft) that no one puts out on linux. And the linux machine is for getting real work done. In my case , trying to write a novel.

what was that I said ? Why the linux machine for work ?

Bottom right , see those three squares ? Those are "work area's" , screens with applications open. You can open two or three text files in one, a browser or two in the second , two or three more text files in the third , and at the click of a mouse switch between them. One for writing , three or four for notes, a browser or two for looking things up , and everything can copy and paste back and forth. The "work areas" are a (currently) Linux only feature that renders this hobbiest machine into something that serious work gets done on.

That and the total immunity to virii.