Where Linux is Hard, Windows is Impossible
A recent Linux.com article related the experience of its author in setting up Ubuntu for his mother. A subsequent post on The Open Road responded to this article by saying that anything that requires an explanation of how it worked out is too complicated and that Linux sacrifices usability for control. The author of this post also made a comparison with his own experience having his family members switch to the Mac. While I agree that setting up Ubuntu was somewhat complicated, the author of the post does not seem to understand that the same project would have been much harder, if not impossible, if Windows had been used.
The most obvious issue complicating the Linux.com author’s project was that the computer was built from spare parts the author happened to have lying around. This can potentially complicate the project in a number of ways (trying to find drivers, not good enough specs,) but neither of these issues were really the problem. I do not know what exactly would have happened if Windows had been installed on a computer like this, but I can tell you that Vista would not have worked. Once XP is discontinued, Linux will become the only option for old computers.
Another problem from recycling old parts is that you have to install the OS yourself. The author of the post seems to think that installing Windows or OS X is easy compared to installing Linux, but he is really comparing having the OS pre-installed (with Windows or OS X) to having to install the OS oneself. A computer novice will not want to install the OS himself no matter what OS it is, and if you are looking for a computer with an OS pre-installed, there are multiple Linux choices for around $200. (Side note: I have installed Ubuntu, Windows XP, and Windows Vista and I can tell you that none of them are “hard” to install, but I find that Ubuntu is the least painful, since, at least in my experience, it takes the least time.)
After the OS was installed, all that was left to do was customize the interface to be more familiar and install applications that were similar to Windows applications. When you install an OS, you almost always have to install applications and this would be the same on any OS. In fact, in Ubuntu you have a lot more applications available out of the box, reducing the chance you have to install more applications.
The other customization the Linux.com author made was to remove the top panel and customize the bottom one to make it seem more like Windows. To do something like this on Linux, you just have to do some right clicking and drag and dropping. To do this on Windows, you need commercial software. To do this on OS X, well… can you do anything like that on OS X?
While Linux might not have gotten everything perfectly out of the box, compared to what you would have to do to make Windows or OS X work in this situation, it was really quite easy.
