My experience with Ubuntu...not great

[Microbe]

Hey folks,

I thought I would share my experience installing Ubuntu.  As
background, I am the guy friends, family and neighbours call when they
have trouble with their Windows PC and am pretty good at it.  I can
also find my way around a Linux terminal OK.

Having read about how good desktop Linux is nowadays I thought it was
time to give it a go.

The install of 9.10 was easy as you could want.  The whole thing works
well and boots and shuts down quick smart.

I should add that the computer I was experimenting on is in my shed
(don't ask!) so not much at stake.  All i do is listen to music, Skype
sometimes and look up something about my latest tinker project.

Well, the first problem was listening to music. MP3s were associated
with the movie player.  I managed to sort that out easy enough but
even when I pointed MP3s at Rhythmbox, no go...it can't play layer1
MP3s or something.  Not a good start.

OK, let's get Skype going.  I downloaded the proper version only to
have the install fail with the friendly message about a dependency
needing dbus >= 4.3 I think it was.  At this point I can imagine the
average mug giving up and I wouldn't blame them, but I was
determined.

It took me a while to find dbus to download but I did it.   Oh shucks,
it depended on something or another XML.  I grabbed that and guess
what...on and on it went.  It was just too hard.

The long and short of it is that I never did get skype or music
working and can only assume that the idea that Linux is ready as a
windows replacement for the average punter is someone's fantasy.

It is a shame really because there needs to be an alternative (apart
from a Mac) but right now, this isn't it.

This is not meant as a troll, I am genuinely disappointed and look
forward to hearing from people about what you think...maybe even some
solutions, but I fear it is going to be ongoing dramas every time I
try to install something.

Which reminds me, a couple of games I from the built in installer?
Guess what....

Over to you, penguins.