Over the past few days, the tech news sites and blogs have carried a story centered on a quote from a NetBook (tiny laptop) manufacturer stating that the company receives 4X the returns of Linux based systems versus Windows systems. The more often I saw this headline and read the articles, the more irritated I became.
Computers are still in their infancy compared to much of the technology we use today. Americans have had indoor plumbing for 75 years, electricity for almost 100 years, telephones for almost 100 years, televisions for 50+ years, and radios for 70 years. Computers, however, have been around just over 15 years en masse, and even today they only exist in about 70% of American households.
My point is that computer technology has not matured enough to rely on one company or one way of doing things. Yet, that’s exactly what our society of lemmings has done. If it doesn’t say Microsoft on it, it is deemed to be unworthy of use. Microsoft had their chance, in my opinion, but they dropped the ball by losing to the degenerates among us who create malware that cripple a too often unprotected Windows based computer. For years, I have stood on my soapbox and defended Microsoft, and insisted that computer users take the time to learn how to properly secure and use their computers. The reality, however, is they don’t. Too many computer users are too lazy to learn or apply what they learned until something happens to their computer, then they scratch their heads and wonder why it happened to them.
Enter Linux based computers. Linux turned 17 this year and many different distributions (operating systems based on Linux) developed over that same period. Ubuntu being the most successful of these distributions. When NetBooks were introduced to the market just one year ago, some form of Linux was the preferred operating system because they were free, require little maintenance, require less computer power than Windows, and were safer for Internet use. Now this quote from a MSI executive states that the laptops with Linux are returned 4X more frequently than the same computers with Windows.
Is it because they break down? No. Is it because they are more expensive? No. What is the reason? It appears that the users who return them find that either they are unable to make the adjustment from Windows.
I did not go to college with a laptop, and didn’t own a computer until I was 24 in 1990. I learned from the ground up and am the first to admit that I have a slight aptitude for these things, but I learn something new about them every single day. I’ve also learned that if a computer user isn’t flexible, willing to learn new techniques, willing to research solutions, willing to go through trial and error periods, and willing to trust that sometimes change is good, that computer user will remain a lazy computer user and be destined to a life with a buggy, expensive, and frustrating computer(s).
Related articles:
- Future Windows Prediction
- Rethinking “old” computers
- I no longer recommend Ubuntu or Macintosh
- Another post from Ubuntu
- Macintosh inching more and more
Tags: Internet, laptop, laptops, linux, maintenance, Microsoft, netbook, ubuntu, Windows
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HelpMeRick.com started as a monthly tip site for beginners in 1996, and now supports our popular call-in computer show, and hosts thousands of useful computer tips and links.
I hope that isn’t your desk! If it is, how do you do anything there? Someone needs a maid!
I did a search for lazy computer users with Google Images and this was one of the finds. I can’t stand a messy desk…I get jumpy if clutter starts building.
If you are a computer hobbyist, Linux is great – lots of new versions to tinker with. If you use the computer as a tool, Linux stinks.
The latter person requires a stable system. When I buy software, I want it to last for years. I want it to be transferable to any new computer I buy. I do NOT want to be constantly learning new software/hardware just so I can do exactly the same functions I did with my old software.
Even Microsoft goes through too many versions. Spreadsheets are a perfect example. I’d wager that 90% of spreadsheet users would be just fine with an Excel spreadsheet from the mid-1990’s, yet MSFT is constantly obsoleting their old Excel versions. I won’t even talk about Vista.
Linux is far worse. First, you can’t even find many applications for Linux. Second, the “standard” Linux operating system is constantly changing. This obsoletes your software on a regular basis.
As for security, Linux is only safer because hardly anyone uses it, so the hackers do not target it. I guarantee that if Linux were to become the predominate operating system, it would have just as much trouble with security as Windows does now. There is simply no such thing as an unhackable operating system/browser.
I suppose one day we will all be interfaced to the “cloud” and that will be even worse. We will have zero control over our applications, and security will be at the whim of government. We’ve all seen how well the SEC secures our money. Wait until they have all our information too.
I appreciate your comment, but would like to give you some extra information.
Linux, like Windows and Mac, does allow you to be productive and work into new versions without old documents and programs to become obsolete. OpenOffice.org’s office suite for Windows, Mac, and Linux offers a superb tool that meets most computer user’s needs and reads and writes documents that can be shared with MS Office users.
On the security front, Linux is based on Unix which has been THE main stay in security for more than 20 years. Large corporate and government systems use Linux/Unix systems because of their simplicity, stability, and mostly security. And when Apple based their system on Unix in 2001, the security and stability of the Mac OS skyrocketed. And although the percentage of desktop users for Linux and Mac combine to be less than 10%, the Unix/Linux server market is the market leader.
And lastly, to the cloud computing evolution, I believe that cloud computing is the future. Cloud computing can be secure, fast, and offer the computer user the same computing experience regardless of operating system and computer choice.
I thought it was my husband’s desk.
Then saw the purse……. LOLOLOL