Linux servers are great.  It’s not really a point of debate.  The performance, the versatility, the stability… the list goes on.  But Linux server greatness isn’t what I sat down to write about today.

Using Linux as a desktop OS, more specifically, using Linux as a replacement for Windows, has been a multi-year struggle for me.  Microsoft Windows is like any other addiction, I suppose.  Whether you’re trying to quit smoking, or drinking alcohol or using Windows you will have to deal with your demons.  The longer you use the more you learn to rationalize, to justify and to make excuses.  And you learn to defend your vices.  Your arguments may even be compelling.  Mine are.  If you want to kick your habit you need a support system that doesn’t suck to have a chance at making it.  Sadly, the former two have  a less abusive support systems than the latter.  Much of the current Linux support system (Internet forums) has a tendency to berate and insult its membership.

I have been using Linux for years but I haven’t been able to consistently use it as a desktop OS and I have never been able to make the switch from Windows for more than a few weeks at a time.  The most recent release of Ubuntu may have changed that, though.  For the past several weeks I have been using two computers; my MacBook and my Ubuntu 9.04 notebook.  With rare exception I have been Windows-free.  Not totally free, but I’m trying.

The latest version of Ubuntu is kind of like cheating at Linux.  It is incredibly usable and the performance of the graphical interface is the best Linux GUI I can recall using …ever.  I’m not going to doubt that other distros are beginning to perform equally as well but Ubuntu has given me a new hope for the migrating masses.

Because so much of what I do is web-based it really matters less and less which OS I’m using these days.  Whether I’m running Mac OS X, Windows Vista or a Linux distro in runlevel 5 doesn’t matter; Firefox is Firefox is Firefox.

Here is a list of items on Linux that continue to disappoint in a Wine-free install of Ubuntu.  These may not be acutal shortcomings, mind you; they may just be areas where I don’t have the same level of comfort that I have with a Windows OS option:

• Document scanning - the default scanning program, xsane, is not terribly user-friendly the first few times out.  Here is an old debate on the usability of xsane.  Regardless of how much power it has it is not intuitve for the average user and has the effect of driving recent Windows converts back toward Windows.  Linux elitists can’t have their cake and eat it, too.  If they want Linux to take over the world as the OS of choice they have to realize that it’s apps have to appeal to the common person (e.g. be powerful, feature-rich AND intuitive and easy to use).  Linux cannot remain a speakeasy and expect to gain market share.
• Photo printing - While I’m sure the capability is in here somewhere it is not as easy as it is in Vista when I right-click on an image and print automatically scaled and re-sized images on glossy 4×6 photo paper.  The other night I tried (using Ubuntu) for a good amount of time to print some photos (3872 x 2592 resolution JPEG’s) taking on my Nikon D40x camera.  After wasting many sheets of paper and a lot of toner I gave up and printed them with Vista.  Including the boot time it took 5 minutes.  Linuxophiles always get pissy about users saying that “Linux doesn’t act like Windows” but that’s not what I’m talking about here.  Intuituve usability is the key to getting Windows converts and keeping them.  If ease of use for the everyday user is “acting like Windows”, oh well.
• Ripping DVD’s - DVDFab, which runs on Windows, is awesome.  I have not seen anything in Linux that even comes close.  I tried running DVDFab in with Wine …kaboom.  All my DVD ripping is still Windows-based.
• Watching DVD’s - I can watch DVD’s just fine but they don’t display with the same seamless playback that I get with either Window Media Center or other 3rd party Windows apps (like Nero).  I have used a few different DVD playback apps on Ubuntu and none of them seem to work as well as their Windows counterparts.  Now, having said that, I have not used MythTV in the past two years.  The first MythTV box I built a few years ago was AWESOME.  It’s possible that it will amaze me still but I haven’t tried it yet.  It is definitely on my list.  I plan on having a MythTV home theater PC in the near future.  I hope it satisfies the way I expect it will.
• Video editing - It’s not really fair for me to put this on the list since I haven’t really explored the options too much.  The small amount of research I have done suggests that everyone is having problems with support for AVCHD.  It’s weird that so many cameras are using this format now and the home video editing market continues to lag in its support of the format (Windows apps frequently lack support, too).  I use Pinnacle Studio Ultimate for Windows and find it to be quite awesome for the suburban movie producer.  I hope I discover something equally as awesome in the Linux world.
• Yo Gabba Gabba! - Huh?  What does a kids show have to do with Linux?  Well, I have a two year-old and she loves to sit at my desk with me and watch Yo Gabba Gabba videos at yogabbagabba.com.  Watching them on Windows is fluid and seamless.  Watching them with Ubuntu (same computer, different OS) is jerky, and borderline unwatchable.  I haven’t researched why, it’s just an observation.

These are things that real users do on a daily basis with their computers.  Microsoft, all kidding aside, has done a pretty good job of creating an environment that allows users to do these things with minimal effort.  As Linux matures as a desktop OS I hope to see the same level of usability and simplicity I have grown accustomed to having in the Windows world.  I am determined to make Linux my desktop OS but a perceived lack of functionality and ease of use still sends me, on occasion, skittering back to Windows.  If you’ve got apps to suggest, please let me know.  It’s a journey.

Cheers,

Colin Weaver