Taking the high road

Linux: Ubuntu Won't Moan To EU About Microsoft
"The company behind the Ubuntu Linux distro says it has no plans to follow Opera's lead and file a complaint against Microsoft to the EU. Ubuntu 10.10 is the most 'consumer-friendly' version of the Linux distro to date, but it faces an uphill battle against Microsoft's marketing machine. Even high-profile supporter Dell has dropped Ubuntu machines from its website in recent months, while continuing to remind visitors that 'Dell recommends Windows 7' at the top of every PC page. 'I don't think we've ever considered [an EU complaint],' said Steve George, vice president of business development at Canonical. 'The improvements we're making to Ubuntu ... are a better route for us to reach out to users and get a bigger user base.'"

I'm writing this blog on a Ubuntu 10.04 machine.

I'm not sure Ubuntu is the some user friendly Linux. Nor do I think it is the best Linux for the broadest list of uses. I do use Ubuntu at home because it does what I need and it works most of the time. The biggest place I want improvement is video editing and video card support. Sounds still sucks. These are things that Linux in general needs to improve.

Windows 7? I have only used Windows 7 for about an hour. I've installed it on some test machines at work. It looks like Vista with some options removed. I hear some of the driver problems have been solved. I also hear it does not support a swath of old hardware. I cannot blame Microsoft for that decision.

Something that the whole webbook debacle has taught me is that people don't know what they want until what they have does not work. Webbooks just don't have the horsepower to do much beyond surf the net, hit twitter, and check email. A friend of mine had one that would not play a hulu video for more than about half an hour before crashing. Dell said that was acceptable performance. I disagree.

Download the live CD and give it a try for nothing.