| About | BBlog | BBloopers | BBoard | BBspot's Book of Geek | BBshop | Archives | Poll:
Werewolves vs Vampires
|
|
Results: 1 matches for your search: I know the dreams of removing Microsoft's stranglehold from the computing world using Netscape and now Firefox have been around for awhile. For the longest time, it's only been a distant dream, but slowly companies have been chipping away. We're not there yet, but with the wide availability of broadband, and improving online applications, that dream is moving closer to reality. My recent switch to Ubuntu on my laptop illustrates this clearly to me. I finally see the path, first it will be early adopters like me making the switch, then as the apps improve more and more people will fit under the curve. First off, I'm a geek with lots of computer experience. I've installed Linux on systems before. I'm not a guru even by the lowered standards of the word today, but I'm hardly a neophyte. That said, I haven't encountered any issues that couldn't have been solved by someone with a decent ability with Google. Also, this isn't meant as a complete review of Ubuntu. There are already plenty of those on the Web. I made a jump into Linux a few years back, and I want to compare the two experiences. I'll talk about why, thanks to Firefox and Google, this transition went much smoother, and will most likely be permanent. In my last transition to Linux, the biggest issue was email. At that time I was popping email from BBspot using Outlook on Windows. Evolution was a nice replacement for Outlook, but if you're not committed to Linux completely, keeping emails in sync between OSes with pop can be a pain. Add a laptop into that mix and it gets near impossible. Since then, I've transitioned to using Gmail. This removes the sync problems I had in my previous attempt. It doesn't matter what OS or what computer I'm using, my email works the same. I just pop open Firefox and there it is. Another big hurdle last time was stats for BBspot. At the time, I used an app to analyze the raw log files I downloaded from my site. There were a few solutions for Linux, but nothing that met my requirements. Now, I'm using Google Analytics which again works anywhere on any computer with a browser and an Internet connection. Google Calendar replace Outlook Calendar for me, and while it lacks a bit in the features department, the universal availability more than makes up for it. Of course, it's not just the availability of Web apps that made the transition easier. The improvements in Ubuntu have been tremendous as well. First of all, installing apps has become a much easier process. I remember the issues I had last time trying to get some apps to install. Trying to figure out what libraries I needed. Conflicts with other applications. Ubuntu's app handler makes all that a GUIfied breeze. Now I just type in some keywords into the Add/Remove programs search dialog and lists of applications pop up. The nice thing is that each application comes rated by popularity, so you know which ones are widely used and likely more polished. Next, installing my printer this time went perfectly. The add printer wizard had no trouble finding my Windows networked printer. Last time this was a nightmare. Another hurdle easily cleared. The transition hasn't been all rosy. The main issue is media playback. Linux can't be blamed for this. The proprietary media codecs are the culprit. I don't have any problems with normal media playback on the Web like YouTube or Flash games, or even playing a DVD. However, I like to play DVDs at 1.75x speed with pitch correction, and I can't find a Linux solution for this. Also, Quicktime playback has a few issues, which when doing trailer reviews is a big issue for me. And finally, Netflix's "Watch Instantly" streams only work on IE in Windows. If those issues were solved (screw DRM), I most likely would never have to boot into Vista. Yes, it would be hard for me to transition to Linux on my desktop system, where I use more Windows-only software (Quicken, Dreamweaver, Photoshop etc.), but the rise of webcentric apps and improvement of open source alternatives, have made that list shorter and shorter. Please don't send me a list of Linux alternatives for these programs, I know about them already or about getting these programs to work in Linux under WINE. I don't want to go through the extra effort to replace when I've already made the investment in them. In my opinion, it'd be silly to do all that extra work just to duplicate something that works for me already. However, when the time comes for me to upgrade this system (it's running XP), then it will make more sense. And certainly, as time goes on, I will try to transition these programs to alternatives that work on Linux. I encourage you to do the same. An easy step would be to try out Ubuntu for a little while, and figure out which apps are keeping you from the switch. When decision time comes for you to choose a new application, or upgrade current one. Think about choosing something that can be platform independent. When choosing media, opt for DRM-free choices, so you won't lose access when you switch platforms. You might be closer to being able to transition that you imagine. In the long run, it's about the freedom to choose a solution that's right for you. For profit corporations want to lock you in, so they can bleed you dry. The more open and free solutions that you choose, the less likely you'll be screwed. Filed under Musings by Brian - Thu May 8, 2008 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss) |
|
|
