@Max: they can look pretty hot, too.

Phoshi

Unfortunately for the world, Linux is maturing as a desktop OS at human pace rather than Internet pace. At age 17, off-the-shelf distributions like Ubuntu are much like a typical 17-year-old: adult-like in appearance, generally able to function on their own, but still need their parents (users) to step in sometimes to get them back on the right track.

Max

Pity, it won't be able to vote in this election.

//Linux is totally a Ron Paul supporter.

t3knomanser

@John_T: What happens when Linux hits 21? WINE will get weird visual effects, and start bringing home questionable OS-es :)

lacrimaeveneris

@Max: Wow. That's a rather on point analogy! Rather depressing as most teenagers don't really "get it" for another 4-5 years but oh well, that's not to long of a wait. My question is what happens when Linux hits 21 ;-p

John_T

@t3knomanser: Or Dennis Kucinich!

Too bad that that guy didn't get much attention. /tear

Sensai

@Max: Not only is this analogy apt, but as a 17 year old who uses Ubuntu, I find it quite chilling...:P

Maisiema

@DavidC: They don't play many games now, and they're doing pretty well in school, so I think they should get a good job :)

Phoshi

@Max: Great analogy, let's just hope this child doesn't turn into one of those that hangs out playing computer games in their parent's basement until they're 40.

DavidC

So linux is is not legal yet? Damn linux told me it was 19.

ZeroCoolFool

Just a couple more years and it'll be bloated, chock full of obsolete trinkets from yesteryear, needing more and more resources to keep it chugging and as slow as treacle...

No wait, that only happens to one OS.

imagia

@ Max:

Well, as far as Ubuntu being like a real 17 year old goes, you might be correct. But given the alternative "off the shelf" OS's, I'd take a feisty(no pun intended)17 year old teenager over a retarded 23 year old who is good for nothing but playing songs and wasting their parents resources or a 24 year old who thinks they they know and can do it all but gets consistently outperformed at work by their younger, more adept peers.

crouton976

Oh Linux, how I'd love to use thee as my sole OS, though I don't see that happening.

There's too many forking problems!

Sound is a mess. So many incompatible APIs. What's the solution to that? Forking and making more APIs *sigh* The problem is unfortunately getting worse as time progresses.

Driver APIs aren't standardized making driver development a PITA for developers. Meanwhile the same driver can conceivably work on 2000, XP, and Vista. 98SE even with minimal work.

GNOME and KDE are both bloated. Though somehow there's a myth that Linux is leaner than Windows. Even though Ubuntu consumes more RAM than Windows.

OS obsolescence happens way too quick. It's a pain to install FF3 or Wine 1 on my less than a year old Ubuntu 7.10 box.

Software, if not available in your repository for your specific release / version, is a PITA to install.

And of course there's 75395 half assed knockoffs of each real program.

What happens when I try to bring up these issues? People tell me

Yay... wobbly windows...

and of course the self righteous Linux zealots. People want an operating system, not a religion. Intellectual property protection is important to companies... they can't give everything away.

Most of the major advancements in Linux is thanks to huge cash infusions by companies.

There needs to be more focus, less forking, more vision, and less religion in Linux.

In other news Apple proved it is possible to make a *NIX based operating system that truly is user friendly.

johnsmith1234

@crouton976: I don't know. That older overweight guy who only has the job because he's the boss's son does pretty decent work in spite of himself, and the company's partners all insist on working only with him.

Max

johnsmith1234:

I can't really recognize the picture you're describing there. I started using Ubuntu 1/2 year ago, I'm not a techie but it works fine. Not flawless, but most of it is related to Microsoft monopolies and closed source. And the people on the forums are friendly and helpful. It runs much quicker than when I used XP, even though I have a lot of compiz eyecandy turned on.

It's not completely ready for my old grandma yet, but it's getting there. Already between Ubuntu 7.04 and 8.04 alot have happened.

SO I think you're the religious one here, john...

EmilBB

@johnsmith1234: I'd like to point out several things you're complaining about have nothing to do with Linux. It really infuriates me the degree to which people equate Ubuntu with Linux these days. Especially the things about upgrading programs. I've been running the same install of Gentoo for like 5 years now, and I can still update things just fine.

urukhaifive

Linux is ok butt, I cant get Fedora 9 to install on my alienware for the life of me

AvisGadha

My first experience with Linux was probably a couple of years after it was released. There was an ad in Byte Magazine for some mysterious operating system that sounded like something my inner geek would enjoy. I ordered the OS and it turned out to be Linux.

I don't remember what the distro was called and I've been trying to find the old ad for years just for the sake of interest. Anyone know what it would have been?

BigKingFun

Thanks Linux. You saved my data when Windows crashed.

AsaEpopeus

Then what does that make Windows? The 30 year old who still lives in his parents basement and who has no chance of getting back on track? Windows is an adult and has the beer gut to prove it. PS - I know Windows isn't that old but you include DOS, it's approaching 30.

LeopoldAhriman

Been a happy Linux user for 6-7 years now. Doing all those typical computer things - multimedia, e-mail, surfing, games, office stuff. It just works. And works. None of the malware that used to plague me in early WindowsXP-land. No worries about buying some piece of software to accomplish some tiny task.

I sit here right now looking for some sort of Bluetooth freeware for a Windows machine I use here at work. If this was a Linux machine I'd been up and running an hour ago but no, this is some offbrand Bluetooth dongle that I don't have a driver disc for but several companies surely want to sell me some software. No thanks. I'll just buy a new one that comes with some sort of driver disc. The built-in Windows software is certainly limited.

Hey if Linux doesn't work for you, then stick with your store-bought software. I'm really happy with my community-software and all the stuff it does for me. We were counting up where we have Linux in our lives the other night. We've got 6 devices and four computers running it. Linux has been very good to us.

joeaverage

@joeaverage: Where does this idea that ALL software for Windows must be purchased come from? There is a huge amount of free (some as in beer, some FOSS) software. It's a model that actually works quite well. For some tasks a good quality free/ open source solution does not exist on any platform (eg: Photoshop for professional uses, AutoCAD, etc). For these tasks you can purchase software, for everything else you can get free software.

And, many multi-platform open source projects (eg: OpenOffice, Firefox) have more users on Windows, than all of Linux.

And of course as far as the Malware goes, as mentioned on Lifehacker if you know how to use a computer it isn't a problem.

johnsmith1234

About a year ago, i was using my vista, and got so annoyed with all of the file permissions, i looked up a fix for it, and an ad for Ubuntu popped up. I clicked on it, burnt the ISO, tried it, and never went back. I Dual-Boot Ubuntu 8.04 and Vista, but i never use vista. It took a while to get the sound working on my Lenovo Y510 due to the sub woofer, but other than that, I love Linux!

Exilm

@urukhaifive: So I'm not talking strictly the kernel, but these issues impact to some degree all distributions. I gave a couple examples with Ubuntu. Why? That's the latest distribution I've played with and it's supposed to be oh so popular. And generally the more popular a distro, the more active support forums will be, the more likely software or drivers will be ported over. Let's recap:

Sound APIs Even if Gentoo only uses one sound API, the fact is all the forking means app developers must try to code their app to run on several APIs. So instead of spending all your resources supporting one API well, you support a handful mediocre. This is why Flash on Linux sucks.

Driver ABIs Driver ABIs change with slight kernel revisions. That makes it hard for hardware developers to write drivers. That means instead of writing one driver really well, and have it run on all systems, developers are spending time checking different kernel versions, and distros. Thus resources are spread thin (and most don't have huge Linux budgets anyways)

GNOME / KDE Regardless of distro, these two desktop environments are touted as being THE ANSWER. These two have always been extremely bloated. This is not a Ubuntu specific problem (though Ubuntu does have XUbuntu, though the support isn't as great as (K)Ubuntu.

OS obsolescence This one is particularly bad on Ubuntu, and varies by distro.

Software installation If it isn't in your repository it is a pain to install. Regardless of distro. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you don't.

Multiple half assed knockoffs instead of one quality product: Instead of having synergy of people working on the same project, you get more, poorer quality projects. Think quality over quantity. This impacts the quality of software on all Linux distros.

Linux zealots These exist on all distros.

OS obsolescence is one that may affect Ubuntu more so than others, so that's 1/7. Please feel free to point out the "several things"

johnsmith1234

@Exilm: Oh, one has to deal with file permissions Linux-based OS's (in fact, that's the main reason operating systems running a *nix kernel are so relatively secure - NOT obscurity, as so many detractors like to say). The only difference is that Vista implements file permissions in such a poor and annoying manner that you'd never guess the idea came straight from the Unix playbook.

tech10171968

@Sensai: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. Now THAT would have been a debate!

tgrantt

What I like most about Linux is the freedom... To be honest Windows always worked for me too, but I hated the constant vigilance against malware and the EULAs and the corporate meddling.

Linux hasn't been completely plain sailing either - but it does seem a whole lot more *worthwhile* to meddle with - and there are plenty of features that do work better than Windows too.

dorkomatic