Why more end users are migrating to Linux
A recent announcement from Dell and a BBC report, outline that sales of Linux based computer have experienced a year of constant growth. Linux is rebounding, at least for non Wal-Mart customers, among end-users for several reasons. Let’s take a look at some of these.
Both end-users and organizations are largely unhappy with the latest version of Windows OS, Windows Vista, which has been perceived more as a theme-pack for Windows XP than as a new operating system. It has been said to be slower, to require more resources and to have still lots of bugs. Bill Gates has announced in fact that a new edition of Window, version 7, will be released in one year time.
On top of this, many computer producers, Dell is an example, decided to offer the option to buy PC and notebook with Ubuntu pre-installed - a user friendly Linux distribution. This allows them to lower the final price, offering cheaper but competitive products. The reason behind a general lower price is not only because Linux is free and almost all its programs are as well. This operating system tends to require fewer resources so that the hardware used doesn’t necessarily have to be the latest, cutting edge kit.
On top of these two main factors, the security side also plays a big role in favor of Linux. The threat of virus spread via P2P and other Internet technologies is greatly reduced, as not only are there far fewer viruses and Trojans designed to attack Linux, the kernel (or core) or the operating system is inherently more stable than that of Windows.
Last but not least, the availability of software like Wine and Cedega, allows users to emulate the Windows environment in order to run games and programs they couldn’t otherwise run. Consider it just as an option for specific programs you can’t find a Linux version of or for games. To be clearer, it will be much faster to use Linux OpenOffice rather then using Windows MS Office with Wine on Linux. But for specific apps, like phone managers, 3D games etc, Wine or Cedega are better.
Posted at 9:59 am on May 29th
I agree with this article. More reasons for OS changing are given by users themselves on http://www.ubuntustory.com/stories . Regards.
Posted at 10:45 am on May 29th
Interesting link, thanks.
Posted at 6:52 pm on May 29th
Nice spam nightman. What a lovely advertising site. Why give people false impression about Ubuntu? Why not be upfront and honest about it with people who plan on switching? Give them knowledge, not marketing.
As for the comment about ‘On top of this, many computer producers, from ASUS to Dell, decided to offer the option to buy PC and notebook with Ubuntu pre-installed’, since when did Asus start pre-installing Ubuntu? Last I heard they were still using Xandros, and still plan to in the future. Do you have a source for this information?
Posted at 8:40 am on May 30th
Hi Weizbox,
I’m sorry I’ve been imprecise. I’ve deleted the ASUS reference, so now the text should be more coherent. To be honest, I didn’t want to create too much confusion naming different type of distributions.
I think though that Ubuntu is becoming THE Linux distribution for home users, which at the end of the day, it’s not a bad thing.
Cheers,
Francesca
Posted at 9:10 am on May 30th
About the Ubuntu Story - I think that people are tired of another technical details about Linux. That’s everywhere. Linux lack from marketing. I just wanted to do sth what I can to promote it. Just becose I know that it is worth it and when people try Linux they (in general) woun’t be dissapointed.
I know that site can be changed, text can be corected etc. But there’s nothing perfect in this world
Posted at 2:00 pm on May 30th
nightman,
I have no problems with honest marketing, but the stuff that Canonical and sites like yours put out hurts Linux. I’ve known of quite a few people that were VERY disappointed in Ubuntu (their first Linux distro) because they were told all would be well and everything would ‘Just Work’. The truth is, it doesn’t, but people/Canonical/your site keep pushing that impression.
Your not sharing Ubuntu Stories, your sharing selective stories that fit the marketing and are highly deceptive to the majority of users (or else the Ubuntu support forums would be a ghost town). You even have comments on there bashing other distros… whats up with that? Non-Ubuntu distro bashing seems to be just fine, but if the story has a struggle with wifi adapters(something VERY common), its censored.
Not much in this world is perfect, but that’s no excuse to stop trying to make it so
Posted at 4:51 pm on May 30th
Why more end users are migrating to Linux | nerdd.net
\r\nA recent announcement from Dell and a BBC report, outline that sales of Linux based computer hav
Posted at 8:26 am on Jun 3rd
nightman, weizbox: I’d add that I used Ubuntu and Kubuntu for about a year and found them to be frustratingly difficult to configure with my hardware (and I consider myself to be pretty handy with computers). Now I’m not sure that this would be the same of all distros… but after that experience, I’m pretty reluctant to go back.
Posted at 9:23 am on Jun 5th
Be aware that another advantage of Linux distributions is that they are updated very frequently, so it’s highly probable that the latest version of Ubuntu has fixed the problems you experienced years ago. Moreover, as we talked about Ubuntu as pre-installed system in notebooks or PCs, you wouldn’t have to configure anything.
Posted at 12:40 am on Dec 27th
Yes, but that’s also a disadvantage. If you’re a gamer and have to dual boot with Ubuntu or any other Linux and have high end PC specs when you finally do get them running correctly (if you do) in any *nix distro they update and generally screw up your dual boot menu, driver installs and pretty much anything that could have taken you days to finally get ironed out.
Fact is *nix isn’t ready for the end-user yet. Even the savvy users will be running to the forums looking for help and that’s just not acceptable.
And just to respond before you say it’s not like that anymore I highly doubt you’re using any cutting edge gaming hardware in your blog/email/word processing computer.