Would a Prettier Linux Make You Switch?

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth (who we interviewed last year) announced that he's out to make Linux a better-looking operating system than Mac OS X—within two years. An ambitious goal! At O'Reilly's OSCON conference this week, Shuttleworth said: (story)
Popular since:
2008-07-24
Category:
Technology, Linux/Unix
Digg submission:
[link]
Best thread:
931 diggs (thread)

Here's an excerpt of the most-dugg comment thread for 2008-07-24 :

288 diggs
MadOgre on 2008-07-24 16:58:17
No. But a fully functional Linux that doesn't make me search for drivers, has Firefox, Thunderbird, and Open Office already installed (latest versions) and can play my friggin DVD's without fiddling with it...
Now here is the kicker... and I want to be able to play PC games. From GameStop... the new games. With no loss of performance.
Make it fast.
Make it stable.
Make it free.
I'll switch.
  • -12 diggs
    jamesmcm on 2008-07-24 17:11:55
    You're posting that from Ubuntu right?

    Nah, seriously though I haven't had a problem with wine on all the games I've tried so far (Steam/The Ship, Diablo 2, Counterstrike 1.6, Oblivion).
    • 43 diggs
      lacronicus on 2008-07-24 19:46:29
      Because diablo 2 and CS 1.6 are great examples of the latest releases...

      As a gamer, I can't make a permanent switch from windows, and since Windows does everything else I need just fine, I don't see a need to go linux. Sure, I'd love some of the features linux has, but if i look at what i really need in an OS, windows is the only one that has it.
    • 6 diggs
      ventralnet on 2008-07-24 19:50:44
      try battlefield 2
    • 22 diggs
      Onyxblaze on 2008-07-24 19:52:22
      I just tried oblivion with wine. I followed a guide from the oblivion wiki. It all works fine, until I click play. Then it just shows me a black screen... Yea... Wine works really well.
    • 10 diggs
      nmnnotmyname on 2008-07-24 20:10:13
      Wine works okay, but the only way to see it's real potential is to know all of the tricks. The problem? It takes about as long to learn as basic terminal skills.
    • 0 diggs
      RedGreen1 on 2008-07-24 20:38:59
      I had no problem playing through HL2 ep1 and ep2, as well as Portal in Wine, just takes a quick checking on the wine site to see what (if anything) you need to tweak, and two minutes later it's zombie killing goodness.
    • 2 diggs
      zombies187 on 2008-07-24 21:04:31
      I know it's not new but wine won't play Civ IV from what I understand. For me thats a deal breaker.
    • 1 diggs
      Dracusis on 2008-07-24 23:45:51
      I can't believe you're making me say this but...

      Wine is not the answer.
    • 0 diggs
      Kratos76 on 2008-07-25 00:54:57
      Crysis? I think not.
  • 25 diggs
    dragungundam on 2008-07-24 17:20:54
    Ubuntu is fast and stable. Not to mention free.
    • 15 diggs
      HonestAbe on 2008-07-24 21:06:43
      It is not all of the things that he just asked. And yes, I use Ubuntu.
    • 16 diggs
      mrsteveman1 on 2008-07-24 21:07:17
      Fast, stable, and polished. You can pick any 2 you wish.
    • 6 diggs
      Dissonance on 2008-07-24 22:28:06
      I'm not a comp sci guy, but I'm on Ubuntu thanks to my comp sci friends. I find it fast, stable, and works well for almost all my needs. Although, I hate using the Terminal, I've learnt to do some simple things on it.

      But one thing I must say: Ubuntu needs to drop the whole brown theme. It is unattractive to the say the least. I like the ubuntu logo and icon, but the color scheme definitely needs an overhaul.

      I gotta hand it to the ubuntu founder for at least trying to make it more attractive and being ambitious.
    • 2 diggs
      mrsteveman1 on 2008-07-24 22:42:55
      Anyone have bigger screenshots of the desktop in the preview for the story up there? Thats a nice screen, its loads better than stock ubuntu, but almost anything is at this point :D
    • 1 diggs
      Burn on 2008-07-25 04:47:35
      @mrsteveman1

      Here you go: http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/Desktop-Show-an ...

      It's nothing special though.
  • 58 diggs
    DarkSpoon on 2008-07-24 17:27:57
    Ubuntu comes with FF, OO, and has great hardware support. It comes with Evolution instead of Thunderbird though. i haven't had a hardware problem with Ubuntu since the 7.04 days when i had wireless card that wasn't supported. The reason you cant play DVD's is because it doesn't come with codecs. A simple google search will turn up easy directions on getting it to work. Last i checked Windows didn't either and that requires a search and instructions of its own. I remember having to download some crap from Microsoft so my sister could watch DVD's on her laptop.

    The gaming thing is the only part i dislike about Linux, but that has more to do with the game companies than Linux.
    • 4 diggs
      nmnnotmyname on 2008-07-24 20:11:15
      Yeah, If you have certified video drivers.
      Seriously, it can fail if your video drivers aren't certified. 100% MS-BS
    • 5 diggs
      limezor2 on 2008-07-24 20:13:45
      "A simple Google search" I'm fairly sure most people don't want do go cruising around the 'net for the ability to play DVDs.
    • 15 diggs
      klco on 2008-07-24 20:16:12
      Problem is that the software to play DVD's isn't free.... so either you get it free or you get it with the ability to play DVD's already set up.


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