Re-imagining

[Colin McCubbin]

I used Ubuntu 9.05 for years and loved it.. Kept rolling to 9.05 back 
after upgrades that made major changes to a system/desktop that I was 
happy with, apart from the fact that I never successfully got dual 
screens to work.

Saw an advert for a mint box, bought one, the pro version, it 'just' 
worked with dual screens out of the box. I'm happy again.

I'm fairly technical, I hand wrote assembler and machine code for both 
Control Data (pre Intel's 8080 family)  &  Digital Research(CPM) and 
drivers for early versions of DOS in my youth, but now retired and aged 
62 I just want to sit down at a  system that works.. Under Mint 
Thunderbird is fine for email, Firefox ditto for browsing. I happily 
build webpages for folk  in gedit and create/edit graphics in GIMP.

I bought my wife a laptop from system 76 since it had Ubuntu 
pre-installed, and she hates it.. Keeps on asking 'why does it do that / 
how do I do this'.. I often have to answer 'I've no idea, the last time 
I used Ubuntu it did something else.' ;-(

If I was asked to recommend a OS to a relative or friend, I'm afraid I 
would (currently) volunteer Mint over Ubuntu.

'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' comes to mind. Probably makes me sound 
like a Luddite, I actually can see why fundamental parts such as X / 
grub etc  need replacing, but I'm no longer interested in spending days 
wondering 'WTF has happened' after each upgrade. Now that I'm a 
consumer, no longer a techie,  I, like most of the poor sods who are 
still on the Windoze platform 'just want it to work'..

Colin
Osoyoos
BC





On 04/07/13 13:34, Ralph Janke wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 12:39:00PM -0700, Randall Ross wrote:
>> It's nice to see this list come alive with stuff other than requests for
>> help.
>>
>> That aside, as people are re-imagining, perhaps everyone in Canada that
>> loves Ubuntu needs to begin asking this question of themselves:
>>
>>      "Of my three closest friends and family members, how many enjoy
>> Ubuntu on a daily basis?"
>>
> All of them.. But what does this proof? What is the point of it? As it
> was said in a very good movie before.. If you build it, they will come.
>
> The problem with the Ubuntu community is that it is falling apart. Advocacy
> will not make this working. At this time Mint has far more hits than
> Ubuntu has. I wonder why that is the case. I do not see a lot of Advocacy
> going on at Mint. However, they seem to build stuff that people are
> willing to come for.
>
>> Ubuntu advocacy and adoption (the software, the philosophy, and the
>> project) starts locally. In other words, "You can't change the world if
>> you can't change your world."
>>
>> Once the above is answered and solved, I suggest that you ask the question:
>>
>>      "Why is there no Ubuntu group in my city? There are more than enough
>> people here to have one."
>>
> There is an Ubuntu group in this city.. But again.. what is the point, if
> it does not contribute to what is built and what people are willing to come for.
>
>> Ubuntu is not a national construct. It has nothing to do with our flag.
>> It does not care if your government is in Ottawa or in Tripoli or in Taipei.
>>
>> Nor is Ubuntu a stare at your screen construct. Ubuntu is personal and
>> face-to-face. Find your friends, families, neighbours, co-workers, and
>> anyone else in your town who wants technology to work for people (and
>> not vice-versa) and gather them. Do it often. Form a community that
>> meets face-to-face and spreads Ubuntu where you live. The rest will follow.
>>
>> Over time, cities can band together and create bigger teams, if and when
>> that makes sense for Ubuntu.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Randall
>> Ubuntu Vancouver Buzz Generator.
>>
> Well.. First it needs to work. It is very ineefficent to support non-techs
> with something that does not work very well for myself. And mutt is certainly
> not an e-mail client to give to non-technical users, but this is the only
> one, I am able to connect to my e-mail accounts.
>
> At one point Linux was measured on if it was easier to connect to a Printer
> than Windows... Well, it is now... however, there is still far too much stuff
> that does not work very well. Mint seem to do a lot of good things in that direction,
> Ubuntu has regressed a little in this regard, I have to say.
>
> Also, everything has to be seen in the wider concept. We are not all Mark Shuttleworths
> with unlimited budgets. Some of us have to pay bills and trying to send kids to college.
> Why should I put my efforts into something (Advocacy) that does not help me to
> achieve my immediate goals, nor is shown any appreciation for by the powers to be.
>
> The best advocacy is to build something that they will come for and treat them with the
> respect the expect. Far more valuable to try to try to convince people to do something
> they have no interest to do (irrelevant if it is good for them or not).
>
> I have been with Ubuntu for a long time, and I likely will be there for a long future,
> but I have seen a lot of things change, and not all of them are for the better. However,
> I remember that advocacy was not the issue when we were building things that people
> would come for. And being called 1337 crowd for wanting basic functionality to work is
> not very appealing either.
>
> Just my 2 Candian cents, minted or non minted, this is the question!
>
> Ralph
>
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