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How is Ubuntu any more or less user friendly than OSX or Windows? They're all so similar these days..

by eecks 11y ago

bdcravens 11y ago
I would agree. I think the reason why someone can use Ubuntu so easily is the similar UI semantics. That said, as someone who used Windows 98 through 7 on my development platforms, my WTFs/minutes is very elevated on a Windows 10 machine.
theshadow 11y ago
I can't speak for OSX, but Ubuntu beats Windows these days in terms of usability, mainly because the software ecosystem is not polluted with crapware like it is with windows. If I want to find a tool to do x, it is an 'apt-get install' away where as with windows I have trawl through pages of google search results, trudging through trial versions before I find something that does what I want. If you are a developer, even just the basic unix tools are a god send in saving hours every week, on windows you have to deal with cygwin just to get something approximating those great tools.
- Thriptic 11y ago
  It also takes ages to set up a windows system relative to Ubuntu. The difference can literally be measured in hours for the average user.
- serge2k 11y ago
  God no. you spend a couple hours (not even really) setting up a few pieces of software. Your reward is not to be saddled with unity trash until you realize it's a piece of crap and go back to windows (or OS X).
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- geomark 11y ago
  That's what got me to make the switch. I just wanted a command line without all the crud that comes with Windows. I don't see going back to Windows as long as I'm writing code.
- zo1 11y ago
  This is not entirely true. As someone that recently switched to Ubuntu from being a long time windows user. Your apt-get scenario only works if what you're looking for is in the official repositories. If not, you have to add those repositories first. That's a lucky menu find in the Ubuntu installer or some random add repo command with some possibly untrusted domain in it. Then... You get random install errors. Missing so files or package dependencies etc. Trust me, I've done more googling trying to install stuff on Ubuntu than I ever did on Windows. At least with windows if you had the exe or msi file you were dons 99% of the time. And you almost always found that file on the site for that program.
  - theshadow 11y ago
    Even if you can find your package in the repos, you can always build from source if you like. In that case it a ./configure && make && make install away
- eecks 11y ago
  I disagree. For most users using a GUI installer will be better 99% of the time.
erik14th 11y ago
I use windows, OS X and Ubuntu on a daily basis. And IMO Unity is the better DE. But I wouldn't say Ubuntu is the better overall UX. OS X has my least favorite DE. But I think it has the better overall experience. I've been using OS X for about 2 years now and I can't remember a time it came out with stuff for me to solve. On Ubuntu recently I had to change the default kernel it was using and recompile my graphic drivers after an update, not that hard a task but not something an end user should have to go through. I've used Ubuntu 12 and am now using the 14 and it really has improved a lot both on reliability and UX, but it may take a lot of work to get it to be reliable depending on your hardware. My dream DE would be something like DWM but without the tiling stuff, more features included out of the box and written in a higher level language.

How is Ubuntu any more or less user friendly than OSX or Windows? They're all so similar these days..

by eecks 11y ago

How is Ubuntu any more or less user friendly than OSX or Windows? They're all so similar these days..

I would agree. I think the reason why someone can use Ubuntu so easily is the similar UI semantics. That said, as someone who used Windows 98 through 7 on my development platforms, my WTFs/minutes is very elevated on a Windows 10 machine.

theshadow 11y ago

I can't speak for OSX, but Ubuntu beats Windows these days in terms of usability, mainly because the software ecosystem is not polluted with crapware like it is with windows. If I want to find a tool to do x, it is an 'apt-get install' away where as with windows I have trawl through pages of google search results, trudging through trial versions before I find something that does what I want. If you are a developer, even just the basic unix tools are a god send in saving hours every week, on windows you have to deal with cygwin just to get something approximating those great tools.

Thriptic 11y ago
It also takes ages to set up a windows system relative to Ubuntu. The difference can literally be measured in hours for the average user.
serge2k 11y ago
God no. you spend a couple hours (not even really) setting up a few pieces of software. Your reward is not to be saddled with unity trash until you realize it's a piece of crap and go back to windows (or OS X).
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
geomark 11y ago
That's what got me to make the switch. I just wanted a command line without all the crud that comes with Windows. I don't see going back to Windows as long as I'm writing code.
zo1 11y ago
This is not entirely true. As someone that recently switched to Ubuntu from being a long time windows user. Your apt-get scenario only works if what you're looking for is in the official repositories. If not, you have to add those repositories first. That's a lucky menu find in the Ubuntu installer or some random add repo command with some possibly untrusted domain in it. Then... You get random install errors. Missing so files or package dependencies etc. Trust me, I've done more googling trying to install stuff on Ubuntu than I ever did on Windows. At least with windows if you had the exe or msi file you were dons 99% of the time. And you almost always found that file on the site for that program.
- theshadow 11y ago
  Even if you can find your package in the repos, you can always build from source if you like. In that case it a ./configure && make && make install away
eecks 11y ago
I disagree. For most users using a GUI installer will be better 99% of the time.

erik14th 11y ago

I use windows, OS X and Ubuntu on a daily basis. And IMO Unity is the better DE. But I wouldn't say Ubuntu is the better overall UX. OS X has my least favorite DE. But I think it has the better overall experience. I've been using OS X for about 2 years now and I can't remember a time it came out with stuff for me to solve. On Ubuntu recently I had to change the default kernel it was using and recompile my graphic drivers after an update, not that hard a task but not something an end user should have to go through. I've used Ubuntu 12 and am now using the 14 and it really has improved a lot both on reliability and UX, but it may take a lot of work to get it to be reliable depending on your hardware. My dream DE would be something like DWM but without the tiling stuff, more features included out of the box and written in a higher level language.