Article- Is Ubuntu A Real Alternative to Windows

[Robert Simmons]

Interesting article.  In my opinion, Kubuntu is a better alternative,
but there are still some points that are lacking.  KDE is much more
stable as far as look and feel and features than GNOME.  The
Canonical, Unity, Gnome shell debacle is avoided entirely.  One major
failing is ubuntu's inability to keep pace with Chromium development.
The alternative is to install Google's closed source packages for
Chrome proper.  Depending on your philosophy, this can be an ok
workaround.  If it's not, then you must deal with the version in the
repository being one full major version or more behind at all times.
The PPA was abandoned 8 versions ago, so there's no alternative there.

Another complaint would be that LibreOffice is not yet polished enough
for prime time.  It is getting there, but not there yet.

There are a number of real positives, however.  Now that Canonical has
dropped Kubuntu and Blue Systems has picked it up, Kubuntu has been in
much better shape.  KDE monthly updates are available for install
typically the day of or the day after KDE's official release.

All this aside, I've been able to convert a number of people's
machines over to Kubuntu and rarely hear any support questions from
them.

My personal order of preference is Arch linux with KDE for a power
user's desktop, Kubuntu for a regular user's desktop, FreeBSD for a
server, Ubuntu server if it can't be run on FreeBSD for some reason,
and minimal Arch if I need the most recent version of something.

As far as what can be done to address perceived weakness, I'd say that
the problem with Chromium and LibreOffice are both actual weaknesses
rather than perceived.  The way to address them is to organize time,
money, and effort to both problems.  LibreOffice needs these directed
at its project.  Unfortunately I think the Chromium problem would
require a developer working on it constantly.  This is not something
that I would trust Canonical with, but perhaps if the $$ can be
organized, that developer could be hired through Blue Systems.  I have
no idea how to get that done, however.

On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 4:32 PM, Ron Swift <rswift at swiftstaffing.com> wrote:
> This is a very well done balanced article on Ubuntu as an Alternative to
> Windows,
> http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/is-ubuntu-really-an-alternative-to-windows/
> Let me know what you think of it and more importantly what can we do to help
> address the perceived weakness of Ubuntu.
> Thanks
>
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> Ron Swift
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