Ubuntu carves niche in Linux landscape

It's not easy building a new version of Linux and establishing a large following. But with the Ubuntu project, one team of programmers has managed to do just that.

The fact that there are at least 386 available versions of Linux shows just how many groups want to launch their own "distributions"--Linux combined with other open-source software into a full-fledged operating-system product. But the fact that few people are familiar with distributions other than Red Hat, Suse and Debian is a testament to how hard it is to be successful.

Ubuntu began less than two years ago. It's the brainchild of Mark Shuttleworth, who, in the last 10 years, also founded security firm Thawte Consulting, sold it to VeriSign for $575 million and rode a Russian rocket to spend eight days in orbit at the International Space Station.

Ubuntu is an offshoot of Debian. It began with an emphasis on easy-to-use PCs, but there's also a server version. Development comes from volunteers and those funded by Shuttleworth's 50-person start-up, Canonical, and the Ubuntu Foundation, which Shuttleworth launched with a $10 million donation. The founder's influence is strong--developers refer to him as SABDFL, short for self-appointed benevolent dictator for life.

And with only two versions released so far--a third, code-named Breezy Badger, is due Oct. 13--it has drawn praise. "It's the distro that I recommend to newcomers to Linux because things just work," RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady said. And Ubuntu's developer community is fairly strong, he said.

Breezy Badger will include support for the Linux Terminal Server Project, a project popular in the education market that lets a group of low-end PCs share the horsepower of a Linux server. And it will include a "configurator" to make it easier for computer makers to install a customized version and add-ons.

Shuttleworth wanted Linux that was innovative and that wasn't divided into a costly but supported high-end version and a free but largely unsupported alternative, said Jeff Waugh, Canonical's No. 3 employee and a leader of Ubuntu's business and community development efforts.

"Red Hat is essentially charging licensing fees to use their enterprise distribution," Waugh said. "There's no glass ceiling in Ubuntu--no enterprise version you can't touch."

Wooing "the community"
Ubuntu's gains come at a time when the commercial powers of the Linux realm are trying hard to engage the vast and amorphous group loosely known as "the open-source community." This band includes new and experienced programmers at major corporations, schools and cash-strapped start-ups, and it spans the globe. Harnessing its talents can make it easier to develop new features, find bugs, build a customer base and set development priorities.

Red Hat's community project, Fedora, has had some troubles, but the project and the company's relationship to it get "better by the month," Chief Executive Matthew Szulik said. Novell has launched a similar project, OpenSuse, and spokesman Kevan Barney said the company believes that it has "a much broader user community" than does Ubuntu. Even Sun Microsystems, which is making a version of Unix into an open-source project called OpenSolaris, believes that it can benefit from the approach.

But the project most likely to benefit from Ubuntu's success is Debian, a decidedly noncommercial project. Ubuntu is based on Debian's development version, called Sid, and Ubuntu programmers are collaborating well on the GNOME desktop interface software and the X.org low-level graphics support, Waugh said.

Quantifying Ubuntu's gains is difficult. For example, it doesn't show up in IDC's revenue charts, since it's available for free, even for those who want installation CDs sent to them. But there are some signs. For one thing, there are 60 people who are authorized to approve Ubuntu software changes and many more who supply them with the modifications. Ubuntu also distributed 1.4 million copies of its first version, called Warty Warthog. And it tops the reader interest charts at DistroWatch, a site that catalogs Linux distributions.

One thing Ubuntu lacks is commercial partnerships, but there are some early signs that's changing. VMware, whose software lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer, added experimental Ubuntu support with its new version 5 beta, citing customer demand. And Hewlett-Packard sells notebook computers with Ubuntu in Europe and Africa, with plans to expand to desktops in the region, spokeswoman Nita Miller said.

Commercial support might be easier with more stable future versions. Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, and 6.04--named after its April 2006 due date but code-named Dapper Drake--will feature three-year support for the desktop version and five-year support for the server version. That's a much

[Dachi]

ubuntuguide.org deserves some credit

I use Ubuntu and think it's great but I don't think I would have been able to get all of my stuff running anywhere near as fast if not for ubuntuguide.org. <br /><br />That site is exactly to the point. Also, if you are too lazy to copy paste from ubuntuguide.org to get flash, java, mp3 support etc. up and running look no further than the Ubuntu Add-on CD found here <br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=150088&#38;postcount=1" target="_newWindow">http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=150088&#38;postcount=1</a><br /><br />Install Ubuntu, put in the add on CD, run "sudo sh $HOME/ug-install.sh -auto" and you are done.<br /><br />That is the fastest path to a working desktop available anywhere.

[satish rao]

Installation is a nightmare

I downloaded Ubuntu and had difficult time installing. Infact I failed to install it as it gave me a PARTITION DRIVE ??? ??? dialog and would refused to continue from there.I have moderate experience installing o/s (Redhat Linux,NT,XP,Win 2003 etc), if I failed installing Ubuntu, I am sure others will find it difficult too. I agree I did not persue it with much perseverence or patience, but still....<br /><br />Anyway, If their install was more user friendly, they would have lot more users then they have now.

[Dachi]

ubuntuguide.org deserves some credit

I use Ubuntu and think it's great but I don't think I would have been able to get all of my stuff running anywhere near as fast if not for ubuntuguide.org. <br /><br />That site is exactly to the point. Also, if you are too lazy to copy paste from ubuntuguide.org to get flash, java, mp3 support etc. up and running look no further than the Ubuntu Add-on CD found here <br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=150088&#38;postcount=1" target="_newWindow">http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=150088&#38;postcount=1</a><br /><br />Install Ubuntu, put in the add on CD, run "sudo sh $HOME/ug-install.sh -auto" and you are done.<br /><br />That is the fastest path to a working desktop available anywhere.

[satish rao]

Installation is a nightmare

I downloaded Ubuntu and had difficult time installing. Infact I failed to install it as it gave me a PARTITION DRIVE ??? ??? dialog and would refused to continue from there.I have moderate experience installing o/s (Redhat Linux,NT,XP,Win 2003 etc), if I failed installing Ubuntu, I am sure others will find it difficult too. I agree I did not persue it with much perseverence or patience, but still....<br /><br />Anyway, If their install was more user friendly, they would have lot more users then they have now.

[System Tyrant]

Ubuntu for me

I'm not a daily Linux user and I don't have that much experience with and Linux distro. I have played with it off and on since SuSe 6.x, but never saw any real potential back then. I have Novell Linux Desktop and SuSe Enterprise Server and frankly I find Ubuntu to be a much better distro.<br /><br />I like the package manager and the fact that it doesn't install everything under the sun by default. I like that I can download just about anything directly from the package manager. I also find it to be faster than SuSe in many ways. <br /><br />I have to admit I think I really like the debian offshoots better than the others. This is my second debian offshoot and I really like it. It's probably the only Linux distro I haven't deleted 10 times trying to get it right.

[System Tyrant]

Ubuntu for me

I'm not a daily Linux user and I don't have that much experience with and Linux distro. I have played with it off and on since SuSe 6.x, but never saw any real potential back then. I have Novell Linux Desktop and SuSe Enterprise Server and frankly I find Ubuntu to be a much better distro.<br /><br />I like the package manager and the fact that it doesn't install everything under the sun by default. I like that I can download just about anything directly from the package manager. I also find it to be faster than SuSe in many ways. <br /><br />I have to admit I think I really like the debian offshoots better than the others. This is my second debian offshoot and I really like it. It's probably the only Linux distro I haven't deleted 10 times trying to get it right.

[Peej2K]

Edubuntu

I will be using the Educational variation, Edubuntu in the school I <br />work for.<br />Free, runs on lower powered machines and really simple to use... <br />What more could I ask.

Edubuntu

What school? I'm a school board member trying to convince my administration to wean themselves from Windows. I'd be interested in hearing about your experience.

[Peej2K]

Edubuntu

I will be using the Educational variation, Edubuntu in the school I <br />work for.<br />Free, runs on lower powered machines and really simple to use... <br />What more could I ask.

Edubuntu

What school? I'm a school board member trying to convince my administration to wean themselves from Windows. I'd be interested in hearing about your experience.

[David Arbogast]

Another Splinter. Yay.

Just one more distro... Dividing the profit potential and thus business strength into even smaller pieces. Pray the donations keep coming in.

[System Tyrant]

More Distros.

I really think what will happen in the long run is you will only have three or four key players in the Linux world. I believe that companies who sell Linux software will narrow their support for only a small group of venders.<br /><br />Personally if I were in the software development business that's what I would do. I would target the major players and only support those products. I would worry about trying to make my application work on every possible linux distro.<br /><br />I think I would support RedHat, SuSe, and Ubuntu?. The reason I say Ubuntu is that I really like the direction Ubuntu is going. It sounds to me that they are trying to create a usuable and clutter free distro.

[Scott W]

diversity is strength

don't knock it until you've tried it. windows is a one-size-fits-all, and that is the reason many people are pushed away from it. linux on the other hand is engineered to fit. there are many people who complain that one distro doesn't work, or that another distro is too bloated. the answer? try the third. many do, and find that it's the distro for them. i personally use SuSE for my all-purpose apps work, and because it is easy to use with all the tools it needs, so i can let my mother use it and print work off when she needs to. my other distro is Gentoo as a fast and lightweight distro. it also taught me a lot about how linux works through its installation, since you have to download, configure and install everything almost manually (with help from portage). i've never tried ubuntu but i didn't really like debian as a distro, so i may never use ubuntu.<br />i hope one day you can use linux and enjoy it for what it is instead of using it looking for windows. then again, you can always try linspire ;)

[David Arbogast]

Another Splinter. Yay.

Just one more distro... Dividing the profit potential and thus business strength into even smaller pieces. Pray the donations keep coming in.

[System Tyrant]

More Distros.

I really think what will happen in the long run is you will only have three or four key players in the Linux world. I believe that companies who sell Linux software will narrow their support for only a small group of venders.<br /><br />Personally if I were in the software development business that's what I would do. I would target the major players and only support those products. I would worry about trying to make my application work on every possible linux distro.<br /><br />I think I would support RedHat, SuSe, and Ubuntu?. The reason I say Ubuntu is that I really like the direction Ubuntu is going. It sounds to me that they are trying to create a usuable and clutter free distro.

[Scott W]

diversity is strength

don't knock it until you've tried it. windows is a one-size-fits-all, and that is the reason many people are pushed away from it. linux on the other hand is engineered to fit. there are many people who complain that one distro doesn't work, or that another distro is too bloated. the answer? try the third. many do, and find that it's the distro for them. i personally use SuSE for my all-purpose apps work, and because it is easy to use with all the tools it needs, so i can let my mother use it and print work off when she needs to. my other distro is Gentoo as a fast and lightweight distro. it also taught me a lot about how linux works through its installation, since you have to download, configure and install everything almost manually (with help from portage). i've never tried ubuntu but i didn't really like debian as a distro, so i may never use ubuntu.<br />i hope one day you can use linux and enjoy it for what it is instead of using it looking for windows. then again, you can always try linspire ;)

[JuggerNaut]

Ubuntu is a GREAT distro!

Having played with it myself as well as introducing it to another <br />computer user who just migrated to it from Windows and loving it. <br />I have to say Ubuntu is really, really nice. I come from the Redhat/<br />Fedora camp and I'll have to admit that Ubuntu is catching up very <br />quickly to the ranks of Fedora. It still lacks some plug-n-play that <br />is found in distros like Fedora, but one thing Ubuntu has over a lot <br />of other distros is the attention-to-detail process making the <br />install very clean and elegant . I like the "community spirit" behind <br />Ubuntu and that is a major selling point for me.

[JuggerNaut]

Ubuntu is a GREAT distro!

Having played with it myself as well as introducing it to another <br />computer user who just migrated to it from Windows and loving it. <br />I have to say Ubuntu is really, really nice. I come from the Redhat/<br />Fedora camp and I'll have to admit that Ubuntu is catching up very <br />quickly to the ranks of Fedora. It still lacks some plug-n-play that <br />is found in distros like Fedora, but one thing Ubuntu has over a lot <br />of other distros is the attention-to-detail process making the <br />install very clean and elegant . I like the "community spirit" behind <br />Ubuntu and that is a major selling point for me.

[Revolutn]

Ubuntu rocks

Confession: I'm largely a Windows consumer and IT Professional.<br /><br />I've checked out KNOPIXX, SUSE, DEBIAN, GENTOO and UBUNTU.<br /><br />By FAR my favorite ditrobution was/is Ubuntu.<br /><br />The one current production pc I have runing linux is actually running Gentoo atm, but that's only because I found support for the hardware and apps I wanted to run in nice concise how-to's for that distro.<br /><br />I keep thinking of scrapping the box and restarting it with Ubuntu and building the support I need in from the ground up as I've cut my teeth more on the core linux operating commands and procedures.<br /><br />If you are a Windows user looking for a friendly and easy linux distro to transition to, or even just play with for testing sakes, I can recommend Ubuntu above all other distro's I've seen/read about/touched.<br /><br />Rev

[Revolutn]

Ubuntu rocks

Confession: I'm largely a Windows consumer and IT Professional.<br /><br />I've checked out KNOPIXX, SUSE, DEBIAN, GENTOO and UBUNTU.<br /><br />By FAR my favorite ditrobution was/is Ubuntu.<br /><br />The one current production pc I have runing linux is actually running Gentoo atm, but that's only because I found support for the hardware and apps I wanted to run in nice concise how-to's for that distro.<br /><br />I keep thinking of scrapping the box and restarting it with Ubuntu and building the support I need in from the ground up as I've cut my teeth more on the core linux operating commands and procedures.<br /><br />If you are a Windows user looking for a friendly and easy linux distro to transition to, or even just play with for testing sakes, I can recommend Ubuntu above all other distro's I've seen/read about/touched.<br /><br />Rev

Looks boring...

Why does it have to look like Windows? Especially top-right corner <br />buttons. Be more creative!

[JuggerNaut]

Right, Left... So What?!

Just because Microsoft decided with Windows 95 to place the <br />close button to the right (instead of the left as standard practice <br />by Mac OS, Amiga OS, BeOS, CDE etc...) doesn't make it <br />somehow original, especially since NeXT already had the close <br />button to the right on NeXTstep. The Windows UI is not all that <br />original other than a few concepts created by Microsoft built on <br />other previous ones.<br /><br />Your suggestion is stuck in the "darn if you do, darn if you <br />don't"! Most computer users don't want to learn anything new, <br />so Linux developers (mainly Gnome and KDE) have had to adopt <br />some Windows-like features and concepts to satisfy those users. <br />Gnome has finally been pushing its way of doing things with <br />splitting the Gnome Panel into 2 parts (upper and lower) <br />providing the user with more flexibility with using the desktop <br />real estate wisely.

Looks boring...

Why does it have to look like Windows? Especially top-right corner <br />buttons. Be more creative!

[JuggerNaut]

Right, Left... So What?!

Just because Microsoft decided with Windows 95 to place the <br />close button to the right (instead of the left as standard practice <br />by Mac OS, Amiga OS, BeOS, CDE etc...) doesn't make it <br />somehow original, especially since NeXT already had the close <br />button to the right on NeXTstep. The Windows UI is not all that <br />original other than a few concepts created by Microsoft built on <br />other previous ones.<br /><br />Your suggestion is stuck in the "darn if you do, darn if you <br />don't"! Most computer users don't want to learn anything new, <br />so Linux developers (mainly Gnome and KDE) have had to adopt <br />some Windows-like features and concepts to satisfy those users. <br />Gnome has finally been pushing its way of doing things with <br />splitting the Gnome Panel into 2 parts (upper and lower) <br />providing the user with more flexibility with using the desktop <br />real estate wisely.

[bluemist9999]

Ubuntu Pros and Cons

I've used Fedora, RedHat 7.2, 9.0, SuSE Linux, Knoppix and now Ubuntu for the past several years.<br /><br />Compared to the other distros, Ubuntu presents a much simpler, cleaner desktop. It's very easy to find what I need on the desktop. The graphical package manager is also a joy to use and makes finding things very easy.<br /><br />I think Ubuntu's multi-region and accessability supports are also huge pluses.<br /><br />The biggest con of Ubuntu is also its biggest strength---that it comes reasonably bare-bones. It's great for most common uses, but if you want to do development, system administration or other such tasks, most of the tools just aren't there.<br /><br />I think a good way to address this would be to have Ubuntu supplemental "task CDs" which have large suites of task-oriented Debian packages on them.

Tools

Its all there, just add universe/multiverse to your repositories list.

[bluemist9999]

Ubuntu Pros and Cons

I've used Fedora, RedHat 7.2, 9.0, SuSE Linux, Knoppix and now Ubuntu for the past several years.<br /><br />Compared to the other distros, Ubuntu presents a much simpler, cleaner desktop. It's very easy to find what I need on the desktop. The graphical package manager is also a joy to use and makes finding things very easy.<br /><br />I think Ubuntu's multi-region and accessability supports are also huge pluses.<br /><br />The biggest con of Ubuntu is also its biggest strength---that it comes reasonably bare-bones. It's great for most common uses, but if you want to do development, system administration or other such tasks, most of the tools just aren't there.<br /><br />I think a good way to address this would be to have Ubuntu supplemental "task CDs" which have large suites of task-oriented Debian packages on them.

Tools

Its all there, just add universe/multiverse to your repositories list.

[Musmanno]

I like Ubuntu as a Linux newbie.

Started off wanting to go with Gentoo, just based on what I had read about it. I found the installation process too complicated for someone like me, who came to Linux with no knowledge of it. I installed a distro based on Ubuntu called BeatrIX.<br /><br />Then I finished my new 64-bit AMD system, and that distro didn't work on my new computer, so I picked up the Ubuntu AMD 64-bit distro as a Live CD. I think it is great. I use it for practically everything except gaming - then I use XP again.

[Scott W]

hahaha

sorry, man but that's funny. i could understand if you were a CLI expert or had previous linux experience, but this sounds like a case of not doing your homework before transition. this is a common problem with linux newcomers, who expect windows with stability, security and penguins and then go crying back to bill when it isn't what they expected.<br /><br />my advice is this: if you are thinking about using linux, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. research the distros, understand what you are looking for. if you want an easier transition with good hardware detection, use SuSE or Fedora Core. from what i've heard ubuntu isn't as good as the above distros, but it's worth a try ;). if you want a stable distro, but don't mind a little hard-work, use debian or one of its derivitives. if you want to jump in at the deep-end but learn alot about linux, and computers in general, you can use slackware or gentoo. both distros are renowned for their speed, but also require users to read the f***ing manual (i'm not kidding about this ;)). there are more distros out there, and alot more information about each of the distros i've already mentioned. so what are you waiting for? get out and search!!

[Musmanno]

I like Ubuntu as a Linux newbie.

Started off wanting to go with Gentoo, just based on what I had read about it. I found the installation process too complicated for someone like me, who came to Linux with no knowledge of it. I installed a distro based on Ubuntu called BeatrIX.<br /><br />Then I finished my new 64-bit AMD system, and that distro didn't work on my new computer, so I picked up the Ubuntu AMD 64-bit distro as a Live CD. I think it is great. I use it for practically everything except gaming - then I use XP again.

[Scott W]

hahaha

sorry, man but that's funny. i could understand if you were a CLI expert or had previous linux experience, but this sounds like a case of not doing your homework before transition. this is a common problem with linux newcomers, who expect windows with stability, security and penguins and then go crying back to bill when it isn't what they expected.<br /><br />my advice is this: if you are thinking about using linux, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. research the distros, understand what you are looking for. if you want an easier transition with good hardware detection, use SuSE or Fedora Core. from what i've heard ubuntu isn't as good as the above distros, but it's worth a try ;). if you want a stable distro, but don't mind a little hard-work, use debian or one of its derivitives. if you want to jump in at the deep-end but learn alot about linux, and computers in general, you can use slackware or gentoo. both distros are renowned for their speed, but also require users to read the f***ing manual (i'm not kidding about this ;)). there are more distros out there, and alot more information about each of the distros i've already mentioned. so what are you waiting for? get out and search!!

[meshvic]

Ubuntu, Real Literacy, Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth donated something like 60 workstations to the University of Cape Town Science Faculty, all with Ubuntu preinstalled; taking a significant step in the slow effort of eradicating any proprietery software in our learning environment.<br /><br />I personally introduced a friend of mine whose faculty only uses Windows, and because of regular crashes that their M$ server had he wasn't a stranger in the Mark Shuttleworth lab. Now Linux is like a religion to him, and he is introducing more and more friends as the lab is not restricted to the Science students, unlike the rest. "Mesh, I feel like I'm control of everything now... I actually understand why I'm whatever I'm doing on my PC... look... I can configure my mail client, gunzip my files and ftp my pictures to my website. Before I could only run spell-check in that white window where I could type my essays - I didn't even know that it was called word. Right now I only run windows as a window within linux and that's when I need to play games". Well, believe it or not even I sometimes ask him for some commands - most recently on how to access my untouched windows hosted Novell Netware account within linux. He didn't know but within a few minutes he already figured it out. So much for a Humanities major.<br /><br />He's just one example of many of us who are brainwashed in our first year by being only introduced to Windows, which of course "sponsors" our departments. Well, I'm glad that at least now only first years use windows. In fact, they should uninstall it in all the campus machines. Every student will then be conscious again and understand the basics like why they click, login, get viruses, etc and that they don't have to press control-alt-delete anymore, rather than just being clueless puppets who are just being exploited.<br /><br />Only then we'll say we have a sane community that is moving forward, rather than having proprietery bareers that are leashing development not only in the ICT industry but every other! In fact the only reason why students keep asking simple windows questions is that it is so stupidly simple to do things with it, if they ever work! A student using Ubuntu for the first time will ask: how do I cut a directory and paste in...; you just go like rm -r [directory]. When s/he says the directory is not there anymore you'll go like oh, I thought I said mv... this cutting-pasting concept is confusing me a little, what are we scissoring by the way? then he'll find out about all the commands and what they do. Next time he'll be setting up an auto-responder for you when you go for a vacation. That is a quality student, majoring in law. The world will then move forward.<br /><br />Tip: Whenever anyone asks you any windows question the answer is start-&gt;run-&gt;cmd &#38; type: format %systemdrive%<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.ubuntu.com/" target="_newWindow">http://www.ubuntu.com/</a><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/" target="_newWindow">http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/</a><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.firefox.com/" target="_newWindow">http://www.firefox.com/</a>

[Scott W]

i'm in complete agreement

i agree completely. pre-linux, i was just: point, click, pray, hooray it didn't blow up :D:D i didn't even have any interest in understanding computers, they just worked like magic. however, after discovering about MS' dodgy business practices i started looking at the alternatives and, pretty soon, linux was on my machine and i started outgrowing most of my former teachers in terms of computer skill. while i don't know everything, i tend to find learning easier in linux since it encourages learning. if i need to find out how to do something, i'm like: let's go on the web and find out. i've recently put DSL on a USB flash drive, just to use it on my college computers. :)

[meshvic]

Ubuntu, Real Literacy, Shuttleworth

Mark Shuttleworth donated something like 60 workstations to the University of Cape Town Science Faculty, all with Ubuntu preinstalled; taking a significant step in the slow effort of eradicating any proprietery software in our learning environment.<br /><br />I personally introduced a friend of mine whose faculty only uses Windows, and because of regular crashes that their M$ server had he wasn't a stranger in the Mark Shuttleworth lab. Now Linux is like a religion to him, and he is introducing more and more friends as the lab is not restricted to the Science students, unlike the rest. "Mesh, I feel like I'm control of everything now... I actually understand why I'm whatever I'm doing on my PC... look... I can configure my mail client, gunzip my files and ftp my pictures to my website. Before I could only run spell-check in that white window where I could type my essays - I didn't even know that it was called word. Right now I only run windows as a window within linux and that's when I need to play games". Well, believe it or not even I sometimes ask him for some commands - most recently on how to access my untouched windows hosted Novell Netware account within linux. He didn't know but within a few minutes he already figured it out. So much for a Humanities major.<br /><br />He's just one example of many of us who are brainwashed in our first year by being only introduced to Windows, which of course "sponsors" our departments. Well, I'm glad that at least now only first years use windows. In fact, they should uninstall it in all the campus machines. Every student will then be conscious again and understand the basics like why they click, login, get viruses, etc and that they don't have to press control-alt-delete anymore, rather than just being clueless puppets who are just being exploited.<br /><br />Only then we'll say we have a sane community that is moving forward, rather than having proprietery bareers that are leashing development not only in the ICT industry but every other! In fact the only reason why students keep asking simple windows questions is that it is so stupidly simple to do things with it, if they ever work! A student using Ubuntu for the first time will ask: how do I cut a directory and paste in...; you just go like rm -r [directory]. When s/he says the directory is not there anymore you'll go like oh, I thought I said mv... this cutting-pasting concept is confusing me a little, what are we scissoring by the way? then he'll find out about all the commands and what they do. Next time he'll be setting up an auto-responder for you when you go for a vacation. That is a quality student, majoring in law. The world will then move forward.<br /><br />Tip: Whenever anyone asks you any windows question the answer is start-&gt;run-&gt;cmd &#38; type: format %systemdrive%<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.ubuntu.com/" target="_newWindow">http://www.ubuntu.com/</a><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/" target="_newWindow">http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/</a><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.firefox.com/" target="_newWindow">http://www.firefox.com/</a>

[Scott W]

i'm in complete agreement

i agree completely. pre-linux, i was just: point, click, pray, hooray it didn't blow up :D:D i didn't even have any interest in understanding computers, they just worked like magic. however, after discovering about MS' dodgy business practices i started looking at the alternatives and, pretty soon, linux was on my machine and i started outgrowing most of my former teachers in terms of computer skill. while i don't know everything, i tend to find learning easier in linux since it encourages learning. if i need to find out how to do something, i'm like: let's go on the web and find out. i've recently put DSL on a USB flash drive, just to use it on my college computers. :)