Wubi do bee do, installing Ubuntu now so easy but Hardy Heron still too hard

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 23 April 2008 17:21

Opinion and Analysis

It’s just too bad if you want to use iTunes or QuickBooks. There are alternatives, although it’s somewhat of a problem if you’re an iPod owner and your accountant is a QuickBooks fanatic. If you really need those programs, there’s always the Windows dual-boot option.

However, let’s face it. The real market that Canonical/Ubuntu is trying to attract is Windows users. This is the same market that Apple is trying to win over, lately with a somewhat greater degree of success.

The first questions a longstanding Windows user with an average level of technical knowledge (which is generally not that high) is likely to ask when confronted with the Hardy Heron UI is where are my Microsoft Office documents and is there any way I can access them? Where are my MP3 files? Why doesn’t the movie player, that comes packaged with this distribution, play my DVDs?

Having been through this before, I know there is a way to do all those things. The problem is that, despite all of the years that Ubuntu has been under development and refinement, Hardy Heron still doesn’t address the needs of the average user it is trying to win away from Windows. The answers to all the above questions and more should be front and centre – not hidden away in some Ubuntu forum or Wiki.

Would it be too much to ask of Ubuntu for it to engage a new user with say a question like “Are you a Windows user? If so, click here with instructions on how to access your files and get up and running quickly.” Is there a possibility that such engagement instead of presenting the new Windows user of Ubuntu with a Spartan screen might increase the take-up rate significantly? What about if the process was automatic and a Windows folder simply appeared on the desktop?

From what I’ve seen so far, Hardy Heron appears to be the most advanced, compatible, robust and hardy Ubuntu distribution to date. Unfortunately, for most Windows users it will still just appear to be too hard.