With Ubuntu hitting the main stream (don’t argue with me, being sold by Dell is about as mainstream as you can get) I’ve been thinking about their constant upgrade/release cycle among other potential obstacles that may stand in the way of more widespread adoption of my favorite operating system.
I’m a die-hard Linux and Ubuntu enthusiast. I love the OS, I love using it and I love encouraging others to do so as well. I’m not a zealot however and I’m hoping that gives me a bit of an open mind when considering some problems and obstacle that Ubuntu still has to face if we’re going to see more mainstream adoption. “Dude you’re getting a Dell” is amazing, it’s awesome, it’s wonderful and it’s not going to get Ubuntu all the way there, where ‘there’ is a significant share of desktop installs. I still use windows on a number of machines and OSX on one or two more and these operating systems have a lot going for them as well. Particularly in the realm of usability and pure and simple name brand recognition.
So what obstacles have to be overcome? The first two are obvious and have been much discussed, so I’ll mention them to get them out of the way. Games and device drivers. (Are you listening ATI? Ahem). Moving on, let’s look at some of the issues that may not be as apparent but I feel are just as important.
The first is visibility. There are lots and lots and lots of computer user out there who know nothing about Linux. And know what? They don’t really care. They buy a computer to have it turn on and do some basic activities. They don’t know much about Windows or any operating system that’s on their machine. They’re expecting not a complicated device, but an appliance. I see this day after day when I ask a user “What operating system are you running” and they say something like “Uh… office 2006” or “Osk”, which is how you’d pronounce OSX if it was said as a three letter word. They grab a random computerish name from their memory and spit it out.
While visibility is certainly an issue, the invisible OS syndrome can actually play in favor of Linux as well. If john and Jane user purchase a Dell with Ubuntu because it’s $50 cheaper, bring it home, turn it on and start surfing the web and checking email then more power too them. This is now a possibility not through a small custom install workshop, but a massive industrial giant, Dell. It could also be a problem. I recently talked a small business owner out of purchasing two Dells with Ubuntu preloaded on them, as he runs a Windows only application as his POS software. Purchasing two Ubuntu installed Dell’s would have saved him $100 and given him two computers he couldn’t really use.
The second is the 6 month release cycle. This is what really drew me to Ubuntu in the first place, before it was the much easier to use instance that we have today with 7.04. A (mostly) hard and fast rule of six months per development cycle and release ensures that serious issues are addressed soonest and that new features continue to come down the pipe in a very timely manner.
Lots of people the world over will hate this. These are the folks who are running Windows XP and haven’t quite made the move to SP2 yet. Why? Not because they’re lazy but because they don’t want to have to change things on their computer, either through fear or ignorance. You don’t have to update your TV every month do you? Why do it to your computer, which in many mind sets is just another appliance. On the one hand, there’s the combination of automatic updates (and alerts) without having to reboot each time. On the other hand, in order to get the latest and greatest, albeit free upgrades, you’ll need to do a complete system upgrade at least twice a year or stick with a Long Term Support versions of Ubuntu.
Granted there’s a shift in computer literacy right now, as more and more kids grow up with technology and computers present in their lives from day 1. This may ameliorate the upgrade effect a bit in the future but we’re going to have to wait until these folks are purchasing computers for themselves en mass. Here’s a population group that’s going to have to get used to a new and better cell phone every week, they should be fine with two upgrades a year.
I’m all for the popularization of Linux in general and Ubuntu in specific but I’m also very curious to see how well the Dell deal plays out and what sort of complaints we’ll get both from new Ubuntu users and those long time users in the forums and groups who may have to deal with a sudden influx of folks completely new to Ubuntu and who may not have expected to dive head first into Linux. Yeah, it will be their “fault” for purchasing an Ubuntu machine, but we as a community would do well not to act with exasperation when the pop up in the forums asking questions that are answered in the FAQ’s or complaining that MS Office isn’t available. Here’s our chance to educate and accept a new face in the crowd. We shouldn’t see them as at fault, rather we should look at the opportunity to educate and increase acceptance. Hell, apply that to lots of areas in our lives and we’d get a lot further.
Technorati Tags: ubuntu, dell, 6 months, update, new os, new release, steamy fresh ubuntuness
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May 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am
The frequent development cycle has its downside, too. I’ve updated all types of components on my Ubuntu system, only to find that the updates have “broken” other components on the system. This is notoriously true for video drivers and Beryl.
I only want to update to the latest software that DOESN’T muck up my system.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Kuriharu, that’s true as well. I have had applications (third party anyway) get munged thanks to an upgrade.
On the whole Ubuntu’s done a good job controlling this where they can but there’s always room for improvement.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Totally totally agree with this post. I would be happier with 12 month or 18 month updates. I did an auto-upgrade from Dapper to Edgy and it didn’t work out, had to wipe and install from scratch. So for that reason I was not keen to move to Feisty. Actually the only reason I upgraded to Feisty from Edgy was to get access to newer versions of apps. I do like having the latest versions of gimp, blender, inkscape, OpenOffice, etc. and often these apps lag in the repos for older versions of Ubuntu. No one bothers to make the packages or it takes months to get it done. So I’m pretty much forced to upgrade every 6 months. Admittedly, a fresh install seems to get better and shorter with each new v., but it’s still a hassle.
When Ubuntu still had a lot of rough edges the 6 month cycle was a smart idea. Ubuntu now is polished enough that I think they would be well served to move to longer cycles.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
From my perspective, the 6 month cycle is great. Most average computer users won’t agree with this however.
I’m torn between wishing for the new stuff every 6 months and a more timely cycle (say 12 months as you suggested) which leads to less hassle every time I upgrade.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
“They grab a random computerish name from their memory and spit it out.”
May 30th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I like this article (and the new look, when did that happen?), but I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m not even sure if I want Linux to become “mainstream”. As much as I like Linux, I think it makes everything much easier for almost everybody when one OS has the majority of the market. Expensive software only has to be designed for one OS, and more importantly, the majority of users will be confused by seeing something different. If you ask the average user to keep track of their OS and what software will run on it and what won’t and how to fix simple problems etc., they will have a very hard time of it. So I think that it is actually beneficial to the computer world to have one OS dominate the market.
Of course, on the other other hand, I really don’t trust Microsoft with the future of computers. I don’t really have a problem with Windows, but with the company and it’s practices as a whole.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I honestly don’t see the 6-month cycle as a big deal. Computer owners don’t have to get it. If you’re still using Edgy, it works just as well as it did before Feisty was released. Maybe there isn’t as much being written for it, but it’s not as if the computer is going to magically stop working because you haven’t gone through the process of updating.
I’ve honestly had no trouble updating from Hoary to Edgy to Feisty, but that’s me. I have an older laptop (T42) so the issue of newer hardware doesn’t apply to me. Yes, I wish ATI would stop dicking around and offer more than token support to the Linux community, but World of Warcraft still runs fine for me. I don’t have to have the latest and greatest graphics.
I still think the greatest obstacle for Linux is installation. Most of the average users can’t support their own Windows boxes, and it’s not like Microsoft hasn’t screwed up their customers with bad releases or updates. That’s not a deal-breaker for users. But it’s still abominably hard to find and install the software you want to try unless someone was kind enough to put it in the repository. Frankly, I use CLI to look for installations because I find what I’m looking for with apt-cache search more often than with Add/Remove Programs.
With luck, this move from Dell will inspire more companies to write for Linux and port over some of the more popular programs and games. The day I can stop using WINE for the one game I play will be the day I drag my girlfriend off Windows for good.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
The six month release cycle is ok. Actually, the people who are going to buy Ubuntu Dells are going to be computer geeks, not common people. Do you think the sales persons in a computer market would suggest a Ubuntu OS for every John and Jane? Many of “them” in most parts of the world wouldn’t even know that Dell offers Ubuntu PCs.
May 31st, 2007 at 7:51 am
Sid, I tend to disagree with you, at least a bit. As I said in the article, I’ve already encountered one non-geek who was sorely tempted to purchase these computers due to the price savings.
He’s a small business owner who looks to save every penny he can. He needed two new systems and a savings of $100 was too hard for him to resist. Until I explained to him that it wouldn’t be compatible with any of his POS applications.
I think there will be a (possibly small) section of the public who’ll purchase an Ubuntu computer thinking to get a price break and who don’t care much or know much about operating systems or what the heck Linux is anyway.
June 4th, 2007 at 6:14 am
Ubuntu is not a cheap version of Windows. It is another operating system that in most situations can do the same things that Windows does. If a user is able to purchase a computer from Dell without knowing this, it’s Dell’s marketing and sales that are responsible, not the operating system. It is very important that we make this absolutely clear to all newcomers. Wine should not be mentioned to newbies as it only confuses the issue. If you’re dependent on running applications that are designed not to be run under Ubuntu, then it doesn’t make sense to even consider a migration until you can resolve that dependency without running wine.
The six month release schedule is not made up by Ubuntu. Ubuntu is following the release schedule of Gnome, which to many users _is_ the operating system, as others have pointed out. Having a time-based release schedule lets the developers of other projects finish in time to be included with operating systems. It enables them to plan ahead, which is a very good thing. Other GNU/Linux distros have adopted the same schedule.
June 4th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Oh, and one more thing: normal Ubuntu releases are supported for 18 months on server and desktop, so you don’t have to upgrade two times a year.
June 4th, 2007 at 7:56 am
As Jo-Erlend said above: Ubuntu release are maintained for 18 months, LTS are being maintained for three years on the desktop (and five on the server). “Maintained” here mean security update will be published and commercial support will be available from Canonical. For example, 6.10 will be supported until April 2008, and 7.04 will be until October 2008, etc.
Nobody is forced to upgrade to the new release every six months, but the upgrade is proposed through the Update Manager when a new release is available (no command-line magic to do, it all happen in a friendly GUI wizard). People that are happy with the release they currently have installed should simply not upgrade. I admit 18 months is still pretty short, but the LTS release (right now, this is 6.06) is there for those who insist on long term stability.
Even then, upgrading from a release to another will generally go smooth. My desktop machine at home have been upgraded to new release as they come out, without a complete wipeout-and-reinstall, since Ubuntu 4.10 (that’s five upgrade cycles so far). kuriharu above may disagree, but upgrading from a Ubuntu release to another is a generally safe process. Regression do happen, but are mostly corner cases. Most people who experienced severe problem during upgrade are using third-party software repositories or configuration scripts (such as Automatix, Envy or EasyUbuntu). There is no way for Ubuntu devs to actually take all the permutation of third-party components into account during QA, so it’s really the third-party’s responsability to do their things in a non-intrusive way (and they fail at that too often).
June 4th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I just purchased a Dell Inspiron laptop with Ubuntu. The cost savings is actually closer to $300 vs. Windows. Why. Well, it starts off at $100 cheaper (as of June 2, 2007). Then you have to upgrade to 2GB of RAM to handle Vista, that’s another $150. The Windows Dell has a Dell wireless card, but the Ubuntu Dell has the Intel/PRO wireless card, which is $30 more. So right there, that’s $280 more for a Windows Dell vs. a Ubuntu Dell. But keep in mind, you may want a higher version of Vista, which could require up to 4GB of RAM to properly run Aero. An upgrade to Vista Ultimate is $170. Dell did not give an option for a 4GB memory configuration.
June 29th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
What other choice did they have?