[ubuntu-uk] Who writes this stuff [long post]

[Chris Rowson]

I have also written to Mr Scargill. I have tried to remain respectful,
and in retrospect I did come on a bit strong initially.

Chris
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Peter,

Please allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Chris; and I work in second line support specialising in
Microsoft based infrastructure built around Active Directory.

I'm also a Linux user (at work and at home) and would like to comment
on your Linux article on the fsb.org.uk website.

It's great to see that the article title has now been changed to
include the fact that it is an opinion. This is rather important ;-)

I wonder if you are aware of the Ubuntu 'answers' support system. You
can see it here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ This system allows
users to direct any question they have about running the operating
system to a volunteer group who will for *free* reply with a advice to
fix the problem. I thought it might be beneficial to include this fact
in your article. Currently it reads

"Or you can choose Linux which is often free and then struggle with
support (which probably won't be free)."

I'd also be interested to find out what problems you had with Ubuntu
discovering your Windows network 'out of the box'? When plugging in
Ubuntu Feisty to a Windows domain, it seems to work fine for me! If
you find the same, perhaps you'd like to edit the part of your article
that reads.

"Those installations of alternative operating systems which won't
recognise my Windows network out of the box are immediately binned,
those which do are given serious consideration"

to reflect the fact that Ubuntu does.

I find this paragraph a little confusing.

"Linux enthusiasts have always had difficulty understanding why the
average user would not want to get stuck in and "have a go" when it
comes to making changes or installing accessories. For most small
businesses, computers are a tool, nothing more. You don't expect to
configure a hammer or sit for hours downloading and configuring
updates to your CD player just to make it work. That pretty much
happens with modern XP and VISTA-based packages -"

Are you saying that Linux needs lots of updates etc? This is also true
of Windows. I've lost count of the times I've had to install dotnet,
java, flash etc just to get apps up and running.

I wonder if you could clear this paragraph up for me a little too.

"you simply cannot even BEGIN to compare the functionality of Open
Office with Office 2007 - its not even remotely in the same league"

It'd be helpful if you could point out which features are lacking in
Open Office so that we can see where we are going wrong.

There are indeed 'horses for courses', and of course in some areas
Microsoft excels and in others Linux does. I just feel that you are in
an extremely privileged position, and that your opinions could
influence the buying habits of FSB users heavily. Given that your
employment centre around Microsoft, perhaps it would be better for
someone else to write and article about Linux who is not involved ?

Thankyou for your time.

Kind Regards

Chris