if you’re lucky… ubuntu’s not officially supported, but under certain hardware you can “convince” it to work…

conditional support is better than none at all… Alias is making a good first step, but if you want to know why people don’t switch, Maya is possibly one of THE most installable mainstream apps under linux (and even then it’s not easy) and it’s downhill from there….

windos users have been using windows so long they are dumbed down to the point they can’t figure out how to use programs other than what MS supplies them with the OS.
Too bad for them, they lose. Why do we care if they use Linux or not?
I use Linux to get ahead of the game.

^^ Really??
I can run all Adobe software
I can run Maya
I can run 3ds Max
I can run games, and don’t even require an internet connection to download all the stuff you require to make your OS usable.
So at the end of the day, who had the last laugh?

“I use Linux to get ahead of the game.”

Really??
I can run all Adobe software
I can run Maya
I can run 3ds Max
I can run games, and don’t even require an internet connection to download all the stuff you require to make your OS usable.
So at the end of the day, who had the last laugh?

Sure you can run all that software, but one “Sudo make me a sandwich” is one too many for 98% of the people out there.

Sorry but I must agree with the windows users (I’m a Mac user). If the software exists (even if we have to pay for it) we can use it.
Some companies can’t work without the software descrived in the cartoon.
Imagine offering you a car all electronic equiped but with no battery. Very cute but doesn’t work for me. It’s just my opinion.

Joe, I wouldn’t be so quick to say using Linux gets you “ahead of the game.” In my case, using Linux just allows me to play a different game to most people. If you need rock solid networking, server applications and security then use Linux. If you want to do graphic design and general office tasks, like a typical business, use a Mac or Windows. Refusing to consider a variety of systems for different tasks just because you have a personal favourite is a terrible mistake.

When wineX or Cedega are free, then Maybe I will go back to linux. I just don’t have the funds anymore to be paying a monthly fee for a helper program to allow windows games and such to run. Or perhaps if they ever port everquest 2, vanguard, wow, flightsim, … to linux.

I bought a laptop with Linux preinstalled. I’m not a software jock (anymore) I just wanted something that is not incumbered by sinister license agreements, is intimidating to the clueless MCSE IT department at my university, and works. I got 2.5 out of three and I’m reasonably satisfied. The SUSE 10.1 distro that came with it for some crazy reason can’t recognize the ethernet card, but the WiFi works on the one network I frequent most often and that’s good enough. Wine never even came close to running MS Office apps properly, but I found a suitable replacement in the form of Lyx and BibTeX so that’s taken care of. R and Firefox work great, and there are tons of fruity eyecandy apps I don’t really need to play with when I’m bored. Hooking up the external VGA to an overhead projector fails spectacularly, but it serves me right for even trying. Ditto hibernate. It recognizes my USB key without any bullshit. I want to kiss someone for that. Thank you, kind stranger.

Yes, someday when I have time (hah) I’ll maybe upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu (the demo DVD has given me hope that it recognizes more of my hardware than Suse 10.1 does), buy a few O’Reilly books, spend a week or two searching various bulletin boards, and get all this crap to work. Until then I have a nice-looking desktop on top of a semi-functional system that works well enough for me and at least doesn’t rat me out to Microsoft.

If I could, I’d drop several hundred bucks on a Linux distro that works as documented, out of the box, without having to configure a single text file. SUCH A DISTRO DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST, and no amount of asshats blaming the user is going to change this embarassing fact. Some of us are users, not developers, okay? For us software and operating systems are tools for doing some other job, not quests in their own right. So if you *are* a developer, thank you for your time and effort, I appreciate your hard work, and pretty please document your crap and get it to interoperate with everyone else’s crap a little better. If you aren’t a developer, STFU fanboy.

Nevertheless, Linux has made incredible strides as a desktop system since, say, the late 90’s. In this humble user’s opinion it has graduated from “broken” to “almost good enough”. Congratulations, Linux community!!!

Surely apllication support.Linux seems to have everything in thier OS but still not enough.

@blackpearl
We {linux users} do.
Maybe some people don’t know where to look but there’s plenty of applications that let you run windows applications. Like Wine for example.

… and … I bet YOU don’t have wobbly windows! =P

why is it such a big deal to change? Fan Boys…give it a rest

yeah .. I NEED to run maya and photoshop, modeling and texturing for a job doesn`t really allow you to do much else without those two programs ( yes there are others but I have learned those well enough that I can archive what I want with them.)
I really really want to switch to ubuntu studio.. but until it can run windows software, and maybe even mac software.. I can`t do it.

Joe: Linux to get ahead of the game? What game? The I use hardly functional software game?

blackpearl: what do you know, the typical Linux user. Malicious software writers don’t care about your dysfunctional operating system that no one wants to use except people that think it makes them hard core pioneers. Pretty much no one does care, most users sure don’t.

You guys come up with a million reasons why Linux should be used, because it does something better than Windows, yet Windows does so many things better than Linux. You can’t really win debates with invalid points.

Ubuntu Studio, Blender, GIMP, KINO, Audacity
Remember closed source is the the cancer. Choosing GPL is choosing life.

What has better application support and all the power of UNIX….

It’s called Mac OS X. So you really can have your Unix and Apps too.

Oh, and don’t give me that Mac’s are too expensive bull shit!

this is not correct: there is a software-piece, called “crossover” (formerly “crossover office”) with which you can run “adobe photoshop 7″ as it it where installed on your window$-box.

than “gimp” is useless.

I send you a screenshot if you wish. it is also running on my machine of course (suse 10.1).

with kind regards,

It does suck that some popular commercial programs aren’t available for Linux yet, but the install process on Ubuntu is way, way easier than Windows or OS-X. With Ubuntu, you just open up Synaptic and search for what you want. It finds the software, downloads it and installs it. It’s free, and you don’t need to make a trip to a brick and mortar store. It also automatically keeps track of software updates for every single piece of software that is installed on your computer. When I try to use windows or OS-X I am always frustrated with the lack of software available for the OS. It is so much easier with Ubuntu.

What Linux needs next is a package manager that has support for commercial software. Imagine how cool it would be if companies could have commercial repositories that you could add to your repository list. For example, you could add Adobe to the repository list. Then when you did a search for Photoshop, Photoshop would show up with a description, and you could download it. When a commercial software is selected for download, it would then prompt you for payment info, and securely send that info to the company.

If a Linux distro could seamlessly integrated such a package manager, vendors would be much more inclined to develop software for Linux (much lower support costs this way). Software purchasing and installation would be simpler than any other system, and Linux would finally rule the desktop world.

I too am lazy and while i’m really interested in any linux distro, I’m not convinced its worth my time to install Ubuntu, the easiest of linux to use apparently. Why should i learn a new operating system if it doesn’t even play FEAR?

If both were equal I’d save money and use linux. But I can also change my own oil in my car by why do it if I have to save only $10 and still dispense of the oil?

I can run all Adobe products I have, including Photoshop CS3, MDS max, Halo, and numerous other “windows only” apps and games. This is bullshit.

“windos users have been using windows so long they are dumbed down to the point they can’t figure out how to use programs other than what MS supplies them with the OS.
Too bad for them, they lose. Why do we care if they use Linux or not?
I use Linux to get ahead of the game.”

Linux users are usually also ones who have been using windows so long they are dumbed down to the point that they can’t figure out how to use programs other than what is available on linux.

Oh and your “Why do we care if they use Linux or not?” attitude precisely explains why many users will not switch to linux.

Footnote: I use Windows XP Home on one notebook and Pro on another with ubuntu dual-boot and I also use SHARP Zaurus linux pda Akita.

I don’t like windows but I think it’s stupid say that Linux users have Gimp and, if necessary can run Photoshop under wine (or other virtualization and/or emulation software). Gimp is available for windows and they don’t need to use a virtualization software eating resources out of the processor… There are tons of free software and open software for windows just go to google to find out. It makes me sick when Linux users talk about that kind of dullness.
The Linux is good because you can change things as you like, it’s secure and stable and that’s it. Don’t talk about software, please…