Ubuntu In Google Trends Beating Windows?

[...] Is Ubuntu starting to edge out Windows? [...]

Well, I think this trend is largely due to the recent release of Ubuntu 9.05 Jaunty Jackalope. But yes, Google search trends are nothing that actually rely on.

This is another great example which proves that statistics only prove the point of the person posting the statistics to prove a point !

I think Linux is a great OS and Ubuntu is at the top of the list in my opinion. However, until the Linux guys get over themselves and work to make it easy for Joe six-pack to use (not that Windows has that mastered either) it will never seriously push Windows out of the dominant position it holds.

I really have high hopes for Linux. I have been using Linux for about ten years now; but if Linux is going to make any meaningful penetration onto the desktop and especially onto the business desktop, the guys who are “in charge” of Linux will have to make some drastic changes in the user friendliness of the OS.

Forcing a user to type cryptic commands into the command-line in order to unpack, compile and install software is a HUGE barrier to the desktop market. Most Linux guys seem to like it that way as it keeps out the “riff raff”, but if Linux is really going to make inroads into the desktop, it has to be at least as easy for my mother to use as Windows or Mac OS is. That means…

- No cryptic command need ever be typed into a console window. - EVER!

- Software needs to come in downloadable packages with a “Click to Install” executable. By the way I love the lack of the registry in Linux and Mac OSX. That was one of microsoft’s biggest blunders.

- Software packages should NEVER need to be compiled before you can install them. EVER! You should be able to compile them if you want to, but anyone who ships a product in an un-compiled state should be ashamed. They are directly contributing to Microsoft’s bottom line.

Sure, the ability to download the source code, make tweaks and compile your own version is great and should always be available for the sophisticated; but until 80 to 90 percent of the users can just click to download and install software without having to worry about library dependencies, compiler dependencies and kernel patches, Linux will continue to be an enthusiasts platform.

The enthusiasts continue to talk out of both sides of their mouth about how much they want Linux to displace Microsoft, while at the same time stressing how the OS should remain “Pure” and “Free” (Damn you Richard Stallman) and scoffing at the idea that Linux is hard to use.

Hint: Linux is DAMNED hard to use:
I have been using it for years on a part-time basis for about ten years, and it is still DAMNED HARD TO USE! Anybody who continues to use Linux does so out of some religious reasons - like me (I don’t like Hollywood and the Recording industry holding sway over my machine via their willing accomplices at Microsoft, who can never be trusted to think of the customer’s freedom); but until there is a real, business reason to switch, Linux will continue to be a toy for the fat, bearded ones.

Business client’s don’t give a rip about “freedom”. They want a platform that is easy for their secretatries to use and cost effective for the IT department to deploy and maintain. Linux is *NOT* that.

However, Linux has some good things going for it:
There are far more quality, capable software packages available for Linux than there are Macintosh - but Mac is gaining fast! Linux is second only to Microsoft with regard to the availability of high-quality, business class software.

There are groups like Ubuntu that are taking usability seriously. The stumbling block is still the fact that most software developers are lazy when it comes to deployment and installers, and are content to make the user unpack, compile, make, and install the products. Leaving the user to figure out version dependencies and other problems on their own. Regular users just won’t do it.

I have been using Ubuntu for about two years, first I needed a lot of help, now I manage mainly myself, thank God I have no viruses coming in by web or by mail, my needs are met, have much less breakdowns, hardly any, than I had with the various Windows. I am not young and used computers twenty years ago when there was no Windows and we managed beautifully with DOS or programs which scientists made for their own needs (Weizmann Institute of Science -Israel). The scientists lived on the premises of the institute and used the computer facility all hours of the 24hrs. That was in the early 80’s and that was the first computer I became familiar with. People definitely can learn again not to be slaves to Windows. Ubuntu is great and free. May it live Long!

Thank Goodness Ubuntu and Linux is getting the praise that should have been coming years ago. Windows has had so much of a powerful hold on the industry that now ,with the fail of Vista and other O S fails, that windows has become only a second rate O S.

Phillip:I was with you until you mentioned software installs. Not sure it gets any easier than add/remove>browse and select>choose install> enjoy. Use new apps all the time, haves not compiled anything in four years.

Good points on usibility, but off in left field software installs for modern distros. ;)

Additional Ubuntu apps at Gedeb.net

It uses debian packages for software installs, dependencies taken care of.

First, why is that an image of apple vs windows? Isn’t this about ubuntu vs windows?

Second, I don’t think those trends in that article correctly compare the two.
“ubuntu” counts every search that has that word in it
example: ubuntu jaunty, ubuntu intrepid
“windows xp” or “windows vista” only counts searches with those two words, not all the other windows versions.

So you are comparing all searches for every version of ubuntu to that of only a single version of windows.

I tried doing a trend with ubuntu vs windows as the terms and sadly windows wins here. We are fairly comparing the two, using trends for all versions of both.

I am an ubuntu user and wish it the best in getting market share, but this isn’t a fair comparison.

Josh:

Hi Josh. The image is just an image, so it is not to be taken too seriously. :)

Regarding the trends, I never said it was going to turn out that way. It was reflective of the trends during the moment that article’s screen shot was taken. In reality, I expressed just how inaccurate trends can be as obviously Windows is going to generally beat out Ubuntu on most days in a Google Trends search. I believe in the case above, it had to do with a new release of Ubuntu. ;)

well i like ubuntu and windows, they are both good vista is just shit i dont like vista its damn slow even with a 4g ddr2 8600gts + dual core 2.4 ghz so i still use windows xp

Phillip:

“Sure, the ability to download the source code, make tweaks and compile your own version is great and should always be available for the sophisticated; but until 80 to 90 percent of the users can just click to download and install software without having to worry about library dependencies, compiler dependencies and kernel patches, Linux will continue to be an enthusiasts platform.”

I am certainly interested in what “enthusiasts” distribution you’re using that would cause you to make such comments, but in Ubuntu you have, in addition to the “Add/Remove” menu, “Synaptic Package Manager,” in which 100% of the users can, as you say, “click to download and install software without having to worry about library dependencies, compiler dependencies and kernel patches.” For that matter, if you don’t mind typing “cryptic code in the terminal,” apt-get does the same thing (as matter of fact, both “Add/Remove” and Synaptic are just GUI front ends for apt-get), and then you have Aptitude, which provides even greater functionality.

The only time you have to do all the downloading, compiling, and all, at least in Ubuntu, is with esoteric software that’s not available in the repositories, nor available as .deb (Debian, which Ubuntu is based on) installation files. There is still some software that I’ve seen that is based on .tar.gz out there, but that’s not the fault of the distribution…that’s the fault of the software developer. Some devs even have their own repositories that, while you have to add that repo to your list and enter their key, will download and install the software as usual, with apt-get taking care of all dependencies, etc.

I’ve heard of only a very few distros that you’re forced to do a lot of compiling and all when installing software, and can only think that you must be using Gentoo or something similar. Hey, if it floats your boat, that’s what it’s all about, but I wouldn’t write a post like yours when it most certainly doesn’t apply to every distribution out there, especially Ubuntu.

Just my two cents. I couldn’t believe what I read.

[...] Ubuntu starting to edge out [...]