Ubuntucat » Blog Archive » Please stop pretending Windows “just works”
As a matter of fact, computer problems existing has little to do with what OS you use. I’ve seen Mac owners complain about various Mac problems and Linux users complain about various Linux problems. There is no such thing as “just works.” Windows does not just work. Mac OS X does not just work. Linux does not just work.
The only way around this I can see is a redefinition of the phrase just works. Here’s my new working definition:
Fill-in-the-blank operating system has caused me personally (and no one else necessarily) fewer problems than other operating systems I have used, and when I do encounter problems, they are ones I can tolerate and not big enough for me to abandon this platform for another one.
As someone who works in tech support, I can say that this is definitely true. It’s pretty much a level playing field with regards to the problems you will encounter.
For me, GNU/Linux is free, has a more consistent user experience, and has a great community in which to play a part (e.g. seeking the inevitable support, learning more, contributing yourself). That’s what gives it the advantage over Windows/OS X in my book.
2 Comments
Not to start a flame war, but I think that Mac users refer to something very specific when they talk about Macs “just working.” It is that you can take a Mac out of the box, turn it on, and within minutes you are working. There’s no crapware to turn off/remove, few, if any, drivers to install, no tracking down software in repos, no hardware incompatibilities, no terminal. It is working. It’s not that Macs are problem free. The “just works” refers to the beginning, less than overall user experience.
That’s fair. Though I’d argue that for the most part Ubuntu succeeds with that same out-of-the-box (well, “freshly installed”) experience. And half the problem you’ll see are because Ubuntu (and Linux) have a much loftier goal: consistency on all hardware. Apple doesn’t care about non-Apple hardware. (And while the experience is better, I don’t appreciate the narrow-minded goal.)
But that reminds me of that article I read a while ago about the dock: Top Ten Nine Reasons the Apple Dock Still Sucks. “It makes for a great demo, but not a great product.” In general, that’s how I feel about OS X: it’s a great out-of-the-box OS, and integrates with Apple things (iPods/iPhones, iTunes, iLife/iWork, etc.) very well. But overall the experience feels limiting. A lot of times, I can’t do in OS X what I can in GNOME. Obviously that’s not the case for everyone, and I won’t try to convince them (for the most part
).
The thing I appreciate about this quote is that it almost completely nullifies any argument of this OS over that one.