Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
No-one should expect Ubuntu to be like Windows - they're different
beasts. Windows is an operating system which requires you to go out and
find the software you want wherever you can find it on the open
market. Ubuntu is designed to include pretty much everything you need
in its software repositories. If you can't find the software you need
already loaded by default, all you need to do is tick the boxes of what you want in a vast list
provided by Ubuntu and it will automatically be downloaded and
installed for you. Or at least that's the theory.
In practice, however, it doesn't always work that way.
Take for instance, the issues I have had getting a simple encrypted DVD
to play using pre-loaded players on both Kubuntu (Kaffeine) and Ubuntu
(Totem). In both instances, I was given a message that the DVD could
not play because certain files were not loaded. I understand the
copyright issues in the US which prevent the files being preloaded
(canonical really should consider paying the license fees if it's
serious about getting mainstream marketshare).
However, what what I don't understand is why a new user should be
expected to embark on a frustrating and possibly perilous adventure of
discovery just to find the necessary codecs to watch a DVD on their
Linux system. Here's what I think should happen: Ubuntu/Kubuntu should
simply inform the users that they need additional files to watch a DVD
and then ask them if they wish to download and install them. If the
users answer yes, they should just download and install the files and
enable users to watch their DVDs or be damned.
Another disappointing issue with Ubuntu/Kubuntu is speed - yes that's
right! Don't get me wrong. I found Ubuntu to be much faster than
Windows for most applications - except one big one.
Browsing the Web on Firefox for me at least was immeasurably faster
using Windows Vista than Kubuntu and, from my previous experience,
Ubuntu as well. I don't know why this is the case but it's annoying to
find the leading open source browser running slower on the leading
Linux distro than Windows.
However, that was not nearly as annoying as my latest effort to
download the latest version of Firefox 3.0 beta using Kubuntu. With
Vista I already have it running - and it's lightning fast (another
story). With Kubuntu all I have is an extracted tar ball which I'm
tring to figure how to install. I know I can find the answers to these
questions on user forums and but why should newbies be expected to do
this when it's well within the capabilities of desktop operating
systems to do this for them?
The point of all this is to say, despite the obvious deficiencies of
Windows Vista, as far as usability is concerned it's still way ahead of
Ubuntu or Kubuntu and we haven't even discussed wireless configuration.
However, a few simple tweaks with the end user in mind could narrow
that gap for the leading Linux distro considerably. For the sake of of
choice, let's hope it's sooner rather than later.
David Bass
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