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Let me tell ya'. I downloaded the Ubuntu desktop http://www.ubuntu.com/[^] and burned the .iso file to a CD. It's designed to let you boot/run from the CD, giving it a test-drive, and all without modifying of your own system. This means your work won't be saved.
It was a delight.
I used the (include) word processor and found it extremely Word-like, but better. The spreadsheet used noticeably different syntax than Excel, so there's a learning curve to consider.
It seems just about everything was included - and free. Including a desktop guide .pdf.
As far as a replacement for Windows goes, it is not at all a leap to consider that a normal user (let's not think about us) would feel quite comfortable. Dropping the price of the system (assume buying PC w/OS + apps) by a couple hundred bucks doesn't hurt, either.
Some time ago, when Linux was really getting publicity (about when RedHat went public), a commentator was asked who will ultimately win the battle between Windows and Linux (with the consumer). His answer? The consumer doesn't care what's under their desktop. The consumer will take whatever is offered, so long as they get the applications and familiar appearance they're used to. He's probably right, but no one's marketing Linux boxes to the home consumer. Probabably because they're not enough of the popular games! If I recall, there was a short period of time when Walmart marketed Linux boxes (cut-rate systems, of sorts, whilst maintaining their profit margin).
What does this all mean? I don't know for the life of me, but just a little more look-and-feel cloning and we may have (the start) of a horse race.
Balboos
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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Balboos wrote: but just a little more look-and-feel cloning and we may have (the start) of a horse race.
And there is the rub. It doesn't have to clone Windows or Mac OS X look-and-feel but it needs to be a bit more polished. I am impressed by Ubuntu but in daily use find it to be just that little bit clunky.
As a user in the year 2007 I don't want clunky.
It is on track though and will start to displace Windows and OS X. No doubt (as you said, couple hundred bucks is going to convince many.)
regards,
Paul Watson
Ireland & South Africa
Shog9 wrote: And with that, Paul closed his browser, sipped his herbal tea, fixed the flower in his hair, and smiled brightly at the multitude of cute, furry animals flocking around the grassy hillside where he sat coding Ruby on his Mac...
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Balboos wrote: It was a delight.
Ubuntu was a delight. Now it no longer recognises my scanner, Gaim won't log into MSN etc. etc. I'm heading OSX-wards.
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Windows (NT) on one of my systems to refuse to install Macromedia Flashplayer - quitely running the installer over-and-over without a complaint. Nothing to uninstall, no folders around. I've browsed the registry. Something's unwell in Gatesylvania. Meanwhile, a few websites, here and there, won't open (IE) or crash the broswer (Mozilla) because of it. The point being, problems are, ultimately, a way of life. Few for many of us, and legion for the hords. Ubuntu lost your scanner? An opportunity for learning? (as I invoke some rare positive spin).
This, of course, doesn't impact your going OSX-ward. One could innocently imagine that even that O/S bumps and groans . . . but its followers are affeccianados - and may not whine so openly.
. . . hey - it's a computer, after all. The surest way to properly and unambigiously diagnose if you have a problem is to see if your unit floats in salt water. If it sinks, it was probably in need of replacement. If it doesn't sink, the box is empty - why should it surprise you that it doesn't work correctly?
Seven More Shopping Days Until Springtime!
Balboos
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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Balboos wrote: Ubuntu lost your scanner? An opportunity for learning? (as I invoke some rare positive spin).
*Steve grinds his teeth* I've been through all that trying to get SuSE to recognise it. I changed to Ubuntu because it recognised it out-of-the-box. It's only stopped working recently. The scanner and Gaim problems are widely reported on the forums but nothing has been done to fix them.
I bang my head against computers all day, when I get home I don't want to have to do the same again. I want something That Just WorksTM. Linux may be very good for servers, but it is simply not ready for general desktop use.
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What can I say that change your opinon.
After alot of years with antivirus, junk spam, trojans and all other strange animals.
I switched from XP -> openSUSE 10.2. It worked stright away. My AMD64 got full attention.
All my hardware was found and works. Even after updating the repostory all my movies works.
Even my banking, vpn and remote desktop works.
Yes there is a differense. No they dont use MFC nor visual studio.
But I can at home use my machine and connect to work and use them 
We demand different things. I want to use open free software with open source.
I can develop and will develop the software. Can you?
Where do you want to go today?
Cheers all the best
ZXY.SE (Open Source, we love it).
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You don't have to change my opinion. Several posts ago. I suggested a Linux distro.
I like open source.
I like access to the entire O/S.
I like the attitude of the community.
I like the price.
Balboos.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
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I would pretend it does not exist if I could. In the mean time it is just like any other MS OS, you design for the now or resent past with an eye on the future. You do not design programs that depend on the latest version of the OS unless you are bent on suicide.
A friend once told me he was going to a school that would teach him everthing about programming (multiple languages) within a year. I Laught and several years latter I am still laughing. 
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra
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How far did he get to learn the multiple languages?
WM.
What about weapons of mass-construction?
"What? Its an Apple MacBook Pro. They are sexy!" - Paul Watson
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I do not know, because we lost contact after our pool team broke up. I only laughed at what he said because to truly know a language you have to use it in the real world for a while.
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra
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Exactly my idea, I had a good laugh when I read your previous message  .
Let's hope he wasn't serious about it.
WM.
What about weapons of mass-construction?
"What? Its an Apple MacBook Pro. They are sexy!" - Paul Watson
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But not now. I feel Vista is still a bit too fresh for working with it. Maybe after SP1. But I'll mosdef try it at some point just to get the feel for it.
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I will when my customers all move up to Vista. Considering the last one finally just upgraded from Win98 to XP it could take a while.
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Certainly, I agree! Only ~15% of my customers will move up to Vista this year.
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