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Comment by anonjon | Hacker News Reader

I think that the predominance of 'tech savvy' users in Linux (especially ubuntu) will change soon.

This is only an anecdote, but when I whip out my ubuntu laptop, people don't say 'what's that' anymore, they say 'cool ubuntu, how is it?'

Up until fairly recently you had to hack around with text files in shell in order to set up simple things like multiple monitors and proper sound support.

That sort of stuff got a lot better with version 8, and with the current version, 9.10 i'd say that using Ubuntu is as easy as using windows (possibly easier).

The only barrier currently is 'can i buy an OS disk in the store', and 'can I get a computer with it pre-installed'.

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Maybe. People have been thinking (wishing?) that the makeup would change, but that people believe Linux is close in usability to Windows or Mac is actually a barrier to that happening. And there's the whole "this probably doesn't work economically-speaking" thing.

> people don't say 'what's that' anymore, they say 'cool ubuntu, how is it?'

You and I must know different people. ;)

I know that it's the dream that Linux will one day be predominant, but I've been hearing about how Ubuntu is going to change the landscape since 2006 when I started using it and it hasn't happened yet, nor is there any strong evidence that a trend is starting.

Are you indicating that my belief that Ubuntu is close to the usability of Mac or Windows is false, or that being easy to use is a problem?

Ubuntu certainly is very easy to use, Linux as a whole is not.

> Are you indicating that my belief that Ubuntu is close to the usability of Mac or Windows is false, or that being easy to use is a problem?

The former, of course. Being easy to use is wonderful and important. :)

> Up until fairly recently you had to hack around with text files in shell in order to set up simple things like multiple monitors

I still have that problem in 9.10 - same goes for getting wireless to work

> That sort of stuff got a lot better with version 8, and with the current version, 9.10 i'd say that using Ubuntu is as easy as using windows

I completely disagree, until there's better device support it'll still be a pain to use compared to windows. More importantly installing software is still a pain, in my opinion, compared to Windows. Sure it works fine if you try to install from Canonical's list of supported software, but as soon as you want to install anything else (example Firefox 3.6 see the recent thread on HN) it's a usability nightmare.

Unfortunately I think this type of thinking that it's good enough and already surpasses windows is partially what leads to so little progress being made on this front. How does the old saying go? "The first step in solving a problem is admitting that you have one"

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