I lost my internet connection twice, I lost my swapspace and I also lost my Windows partition disk icon during Ubuntu upgrades. All that I can fix myself (although it take many hours), but without internet access, I need to use Windows XP to find out how to fix the problems.

I still can’t get my Netgear Wireless USB to work, so I have to take my laptop into the kitchen to use the internet.

Also, my wife boots back into XP as soon as I leave the computer alone, probably because Resume didn’t work after the upgrades.

I tried installing Microsoft Vista on my old Dell notebook, but it ran so slow as to be unusable. Conclusion: Windows Vista is not ready for prime time yet.

I tried installing Ubuntu Linux on my old Dell notebook, and it works well. Able to detect DHCP servers without problem. Free applications and patches have been simple to download and install. Support for my Dell widescreen monitor. Easy to customize the menu bars to my preference. Fonts look fine to me. Conclusion: Ubuntu Linux is ready for primetime. I like this so much, I now plan to purchase a new Dell Ubuntu Linux computer for work.

FUD, FUD, FUD.

There is no evidence that businesses care one bit about who they can sue when deciding which desktop software and OS to deploy. If there was, they’d pay a lot more attention to licensing agreements that remove the right to sue.

There is one way in which lawsuits do matter, though. Most businesses care a lot about being sued; and some have made massive, company wide transitions from Windows to Linux precisely because they got sued or audited by the BSA. Here’s an interview with one person who did exactly that at his company. The threat of being sued for license compliance is far greater with closed source software than with open source software. To date, I’m not aware of any companies that have realized this in advance of actually being sued/audited. If the BSA ramps up enforcement, that could change fast though.

Let’s say Kubuntu–which I confess I haven’t yet looked at–really is the user-friendliest Linux around, and let’s say it CAN compete with Mac… would any enterprises really consider deploying Kubuntu across the entire enterprise, or would the open-source thing scare them off? Businesses want to know whom they can sue when something goes wrong. Firefox has a nice hefty market share, but at least for the time being, it seems that an open-source browser is a lot more palatable to enterprises than an open-source OS.

Vista is tanking in the market right now, but let’s say Microsoft sticks to its guns and stops selling XP on June 30, like they’ve planned. What will all the Vista-hating XP users do? Will they suck it up and start buying Vista? Will they deal with old hardware until Windows 7 comes out? Or will everyone switch over to Mac or Linux–and if so, which one will eat up more of Microsoft’s lost market share?

I have somewhere around a bajillion more questions about this stuff, which I won’t rattle off here, but I blogged about ( http://www.gocsiblog.com/?p=298). My sincere apologies if you perceive that as a shameless plug… I assure you that plug is overflowing with shame.

My wife maximizes windows not for Fitts’s Law reasons — the applications she uses don’t depend on menus — but to reduce visual clutter.

Probably.

I think it makes sense to point out issues.

I don’t think it makes sense to use the phrase “ready for prime time”.

Ubuntu still has a way to go, but to say it isn’t ready for prime time when the most prime operating system of all — Windows — is way behind Ubuntu in almost all areas, is imho a stretch.

I guess Microsoft Windows isn’t ready for casual users either. But that’s not exactly a new observation, especially for anyone in the IT industry.