[ubuntu-za] Getting the basics right - a reality bytes wishlist

[Reenen Laurie]

________________________________

From: ubuntu-za-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
[mailto:ubuntu-za-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of David Robert
Lewis
Sent: 14-October-2008 16:33
To: ubuntu-za at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-za] Getting the basics right - a reality bytes
wishlist


Getting the basics right is what Ubuntu should be all about. Okay, so
the human interface is cool, and the big chief himself, Mark
Shuttleworth is promising even better looking wallpaper in the next
release, "that will compete with Apple", but who wants a snide,
condescending piece of black metal or shiny titanium that gets the
masses into a pickle, what I really want, when I have done with the
brown human interface, washed-out denim jeans and my own MOTU is:
 
1. A better search engine. Let's face it, the current Ubuntu Hardy
search engine sucks, and in a head-to-head comparison with Windows XP
loses big time for its inability to do the most simple things, like
distinguish between various categories of files, refine and edit
searches, and yes, index ones harddrive. 
Locate works well for me... ?  Maybe a decent GUI to go over locate? 
 
2. Internet integration. Ubuntu is hardly what one could call
net-integrated. Okay it has an interesting installer that claims to use
the Internet, but this is par for the course on Linux. I have a dialup
and have battled to get the most simple Internet connection working. I
am not alone, and am left battling with archaic DNS entries, and
therefore plus one to Windows. 
Modems are a PITA (pain in the ...) and windows also struggle.  However
less so because the hardware people write the drivers and not the MS
people.
 
3. Spelling. Are you kidding me, do you expect me to believe that Sun
couldn't offer the Ubuntu Community a better dictionary? The Open Office
package needs a lot more localisation to fit into the Ubuntu ethos, and
this means a South African English spelling dictionary!!!! 
They should implement the firefox dictionary (I believe you can, if you
look at the firefox plug-in I think they give instructions there on how
to do it) - and it can come with by default. 
 
4. End to Format Wars - MHT files do not run on Ubuntu. Period. Yes,
there is a Firefox patch, but it doesn't exactly work 100% of the time,
in most cases the hacks suggested by the community come unstuck on the
tenacity of the opposition's willingness to compromise communication in
order to achieve their nefarious goals. The forums are really bad way to
fix format problems.
 
 Ubuntu lives and dies by its ability to be interoperable and to digest
the internet in any format it comes in, but I fear we are all giving the
OS a rare appetite for spewing out Microsoft files that don't match
Firefox, which surely isn't the way to go? 
I have no idea... Someone else can comment. 
 
5. Better offline distribution. How many times have I got to say this -
not everybody has broadband internet or even dialup. This means the
distribution of the ubuntu universe sucks big time and is a huge
disencentive to users wanting to convert from Windows. In fact, the ease
of use with which the Microsoft installer gives to its users (who live
in internet cafe's) is insane compared to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a bum deal
when it comes to this single hurdle and I can only say, offline
community is the way to go - either share the universe or die alongside
the Amiga and other Operating systems that have gone the way of the
Dodo. 
I agree with the installers.  Windows installers is simpler.  But here's
why.  There is something called a shared library in Windows... DLL, but
almost no-one uses it, linux has it, and they use it.  In MS, everyone
ships their own version of the .dll with the software, so that they are
sure you have everything.  This causes:
1. More disk space
2. More memory usage
3. Less stability
4. Less version control 
5. More crashes
 
In linux the app just doesn't work when the library is not installed,
and it says you need X dependancy.
 
But linux could get the to same level... they just need to figure out
how.  (I have not the answer - and being "on-line" seems to be the
solution Ubuntu is going for, and fortunately it is something most
people that use ubuntu is). But I can tell you one thing linux is not
going the way of the Amiga... If firefox dies, then linux will too.
 
 
 
 


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