Ok, Ubuntu is now up to 10.04, so I think it’s time to try it again since the last time I tried it (9.04? Hardy Heron).
It looks pretty cool like before so far, but some major inconveniences that they haven’t fixed yet.
A “security feature” is asking you for your password on anything it has to do. They Allowed it to “auto login to your desktop”, instead of needing a password everytime (finally), but every time you login, you again get the “need keyring password typed in – again and every time you turn on your computer”.
Oy, I want to recommend Ubuntu to other people to use instead of windows, but yet they still don’t seem to understand that it is supposed to be a desktop OS…. operated by people…..
Who thought it was a good idea to say “hey, lets have every login require a network password being typed in before they can use the internet? Every single time until they get so tired of the extra steps that they go back to windows since they don’t have to deal with extra steps for basic functioning”???
Simple human factors- I would think Ubuntu would get easier to use with each iteration instead of worse/the same.
Is there any distribution someone could use to just install ubuntu, and use it, without having to set any unusual things up?
Another problem I have with it is GRUB…. The bootloader. I have to reinstall windows every 6 months to keep everything running properly, and I don’t want to have to do the same to Ubuntu, yet since windows screws up the MBR, Ubuntu is lost. On top of that, Grub won’t fix itself, even using the numerous tutorials, it’s command line based, and just throws errors messages (“in this case: “can’t find MBR, not reccomended installing to the MBR, ” and a big warning not to do it…. I tried every iteration of trying to get it working, but it refused to let me fix grub, so I had to reinstall linux after setting all the “custom” things up you need to first do- apply all the updates, unlock the restricted drivers and install them, ect.
I’m a techie, but have only explored linux here and there, but started in dos. If Ubuntu is barely usable for people with heavy tech experience, when will it be assessible to regular people with little knowledge of computers “just looking for somethign for internet”?
I like open office, I like ubuntu’s GUI, I like the basic programs installed and the package manager, but it’s obvious that it’s still not ready for mainstream yet.
No tutorials built in or a “how do I get the friggen OS to do something”- just the same linux assumption “oh, you shouldn’t have to ask questions, if you do, you don’t need to be using linux”. Just because it doesn’t have a very friendly user interface, and the OS well thought out from a human factors point of view, doesn’t mean it should be continually ignored.
Sure, let advanced users be able to solve things them self, and figure out more complex things, but at least sped a little time on polishing off a basic interface for new/basic users, so they can even use the operating system without already needing a web connected computer, and spending hours searching on the internet on how to get their network card working, or why their display doesn’t work right.
I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with trying to use Ubuntu again just for the fact that the main theme in Ubuntu seems to be “you’ll have to spend a day figuring out something in Ubuntu you could do in windows in 5 minutes”.
I like the interface/ speed, fact you can shut down without 1000 popups asking you “are you sure you want to shutdown”?