Ubuntu may do it better,

[Mycroft]

but Canonical head sees merits of Windows 8 efforts

Canonical is heading into the weekend with about $6.6 million (about £4.29m, AU$7.14m) raised for the Ubuntu Edge, not a shabby number for the superphone's five-day old Indiegogo campaign.

We chatted with Mark Shuttleworth, the software company's founder, on the day Edge was announced, discussing this "concept car" device and the potential of crowdfunding as a mechanism for spurring innovation. We also dived into converging computing, which the Edge aims to accomplish by having serving as the "brain" of a PC.

The Edge dual-boots Android and Ubuntu for smartphones, but when users plug into a monitor, Ubuntu for desktop kicks in. The Edge's proposed specs - 4GB of RAM, a multi-core processor and 128GB of storage - are built to take on the task of transforming into a PC manageable and seamless.

Having a shared thread among various devices draws comparisons to Microsoft's Windows 8, but Shuttleworth said there are some important distinctions.

"I think our story scales a bit more smoothly from phone to tablet to PC," he said, drawing up Ubuntu's strengths over the Softies' offering.

"I think we have an advantage in that our core OS is much lighter in a way. Because it works on phones it makes it to the PC faster - we're stripping out all the fat on the phone."
Still...

Canonical is clearly trying to draw its own path with Ubuntu and the Edge, but Shuttleworth wasn't without a degree of deference for Microsoft's efforts.

"Microsoft has clearly articulated a design vision that's designed to expand across platforms," he said. "As much criticism as the [Windows 8] has taken, I have to agree with them. It recognizes it needs to make a bold foundation. It's very difficult to make bold transitions like that without tickling somebody's nose hairs."

Ubuntu is in its early mobile device days - the Edge won't even be out until May 2014 - but we could be in for an interesting OS war that's for once not Android and iOS.
Ubuntu may do it better, but Canonical head sees merits of Windows 8 efforts | News | TechRadar

Okay. So, I don't know a thing about Linux...any kind of Linux...so whether their attempts to come up with a cross-platform OS will result in a good product...I don't know.

But I can make a couple of observations:

1. Many of the Winh8ters talk about dumping windows and going to linux. I guess they'll get their chance, but they might just find themselves in a similar boat.

2. A competition between Win8 and this Linux version would be a good thing, I guess...if Linux could ever get some real traction in the computing world. Until they do, I don't see them having much of an impact of MS.

3. I have a Win8 desktop, an android tablet w/keyboard and an old android phone. I can see myself moving to a Win8 tablet and...if Virgin Mobile ever got a Win8 phone...moving to a Win8 phone. But I can't ever see myself moving my desktop to Linux as well as getting a new tablet and phone. Sorry, Linux...you just don't have the chops to do the kind of gaming I want to do. And don't tell me I can emulate Windows on a Linux machine. So what? Why bother when I can just use Windows?

So...while it's cool that Linux is following MS's footsteps, I really don't see it going anywhere.

 

[Green Balls]

I would say that linux isn't for the average person. You can do your normal office stuff with open office. You can do image editing with GIMP. You can surf the internet and do email. Most people wouldn't use it beyond that. I find the linux CLI more useful than windows since you can pipe data and run commands on piping. You can also make some useful java programs and run them either with CRON or as needed. You can parse data from the internet much easier.

So if you aren't planning on running a website or building business applications, stick with something other than linux. Especially if you want to play games.

 

[Slyfox696]

The idea of using your mobile phone as your PC should have been completed already. It's such an obvious next step, it perplexes me why the devices are not already flooding the market.

2. A competition between Win8 and this Linux version would be a good thing, I guess...if Linux could ever get some real traction in the computing world. Until they do, I don't see them having much of an impact of MS.

"Linux" will never compete with Windows on the home desktop computer. Linux is actually the operating system to many different distributions of Linux which provide their own tools and software. Think of Linux like Coca-Cola. You have your regular Coke, but you also have Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Coke Zero, etc. And even within the realm of Diet Coke, you have regular Diet Coke, Caffeine free Diet Coke, Vanilla Diet coke, etc.

That's how Linux is. They all have the same underlying concept, but many different companies put their own flavor on top of Linux. Because of this, "Linux" will never really compete on the home computer.

3. I have a Win8 desktop, an android tablet w/keyboard and an old android phone. I can see myself moving to a Win8 tablet and...if Virgin Mobile ever got a Win8 phone...moving to a Win8 phone. But I can't ever see myself moving my desktop to Linux as well as getting a new tablet and phone.

Android is/was a flavor of Linux originally.

Sorry, Linux...you just don't have the chops to do the kind of gaming I want to do.

Well, it does actually, but it's the fragmentation I mentioned earlier (as well as the lower number of users) which make gaming on Linux difficult.

And don't tell me I can emulate Windows on a Linux machine. So what? Why bother when I can just use Windows?

Well, there are many good answers to this, but for the sake of simplicity (and the fact you're a diehard Windows fan who really isn't interested in an answer to this question), you might as well just run Windows.

So...while it's cool that Linux is following MS's footsteps, I really don't see it going anywhere.

Correction, Canonical/Ubuntu is doing something similar as MS, not Linux.

I would say that linux isn't for the average person.

It would depend on what you consider the average person.

You can do your normal office stuff with open office. You can do image editing with GIMP. You can surf the internet and do email. Most people wouldn't use it beyond that.

Seems like Linux would be just fine.

Especially if you want to play games.

This is probably the biggest downfall, as well as the difficulty in installing software in general.

 

[greyhat]

Linux rules!

 

[Mycroft]

Linux rules!

Thank you for your Linux cheer-leading, dude, but I feel obligated to point out that it is kind of hard to rule while you are at the bottom of the food chain.

 

[greyhat]

Thank you for your Linux cheer-leading, dude, but I feel obligated to point out that it is kind of hard to rule while you are at the bottom of the food chain.

LOL; that's fine. It's still a great OS and in many way superior to off the shelf windows.

 

[Slyfox696]

Thank you for your Linux cheer-leading, dude, but I feel obligated to point out that it is kind of hard to rule while you are at the bottom of the food chain.

Linux isn't at the bottom of the food chain though. Linux is the base for Android phones, which left MS phones so far in the rearview mirror MS phones are a mere dot on the horizon. Cable and satellite boxes will often use varieties of Linux. Many other set top boxes (like TiVo and Roku, for example) will use Linux. Linux is the undisputed king of the web, it's used in GPS devices and various tablets, you can find it computerized systems in cars and various monitoring systems, etc.

Linux powers many devices and services people use all the time. It has a very low adoption rate on the home computer, but to claim it's at the bottom of the food chain is simply false.

 

[Mycroft]

Linux isn't at the bottom of the food chain though. Linux is the base for Android phones, which left MS phones so far in the rearview mirror MS phones are a mere dot on the horizon. Cable and satellite boxes will often use varieties of Linux. Many other set top boxes (like TiVo and Roku, for example) will use Linux. Linux is the undisputed king of the web, it's used in GPS devices and various tablets, you can find it computerized systems in cars and various monitoring systems, etc.

Linux powers many devices and services people use all the time. It has a very low adoption rate on the home computer, but to claim it's at the bottom of the food chain is simply false.

That's all fine and dandy, but we are talking about a Linux OS and it being a cross-platform OS as is MS. That means PC's, laptops, tablets and phones. All the rest don't matter. Oh...and Linux may be the basis for Android, but that doesn't give Linux any extra standing in the phone or tablet market. Linux will have to do it on their own...as this Ubuntu guy is trying to do. So, in this respect, Linux is at the bottom.

 

[greyhat]

That's all fine and dandy, but we are talking about a Linux OS and it being a cross-platform OS as is MS. That means PC's, laptops, tablets and phones. All the rest don't matter. Oh...and Linux may be the basis for Android, but that doesn't give Linux any extra standing in the phone or tablet market. Linux will have to do it on their own...as this Ubuntu guy is trying to do. So, in this respect, Linux is at the bottom.

To say that Linux is at the bottom of the food chain is silly.

Linux based systems are the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers. In fact, more than 90% of today's 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux, including the 10 fastest.

I call that THE TOP of the food chain! I say that matters the most!

 

[Simon W. Moon]

I find the linux CLI more useful than windows since you can pipe data and run commands on piping.

Powershell is object oriented scripting with plenty of piping. It has BaSh aliases built-in for your convenience.

 

[Mycroft]

To say that Linux is at the bottom of the food chain is silly.

Linux based systems are the leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers. In fact, more than 90% of today's 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux, including the 10 fastest.

I call that THE TOP of the food chain! I say that matters the most!

sigh...

It must really bug you when someone disses your favorite, eh?

As I said...that's all fine and dandy, but all those servers and mainframes are not going to prompt anyone to buy Ubuntu's Linux OS...for their phone, tablet or PC. Ubuntu is feeding off the bottom. Linux, as a mainstream consumer OS, IS at the bottom of the food chain.

 

[Slyfox696]

That's all fine and dandy, but we are talking about a Linux OS and it being a cross-platform OS as is MS.

Not really. First of all, as I already noted, Linux is already a cross-platform OS, being used in numerous devices (those things I mentioned last time). Second of all, the Ubuntu Edge is not the same thing Windows 8 has tried to do with a standard interface across all devices. The Ubuntu Edge appears to do what so many in the tech community WANTED Microsoft to do, which is provide different desktops depending on your device. When you're running the Android OS on the Edge, it'll just be an Android device. If you're running the Ubuntu mobile OS, you have a different interface than either Android or the Unity desktop which is what comes installed by default on top of the Ubuntu desktop.

In other words, you're not getting the same interface on all devices, the interface changes depending how you're using your phone. As I said, this is what people WANTED MS to do when 8 was released (and what MS appears to be doing with 8.1), but it's not quite the same as Microsoft's strategy, which was to make the interface standard across all devices.

That means PC's, laptops, tablets and phones. All the rest don't matter. Oh...and Linux may be the basis for Android, but that doesn't give Linux any extra standing in the phone or tablet market. Linux will have to do it on their own...as this Ubuntu guy is trying to do. So, in this respect, Linux is at the bottom.

Okay...I have this strong suspicion you really don't know much about Linux, Canonical/Ubuntu or the Ubuntu Edge phone concept.

As I said...that's all fine and dandy, but all those servers and mainframes are not going to prompt anyone to buy Ubuntu's Linux OS...for their phone, tablet or PC. Ubuntu is feeding off the bottom. Linux, as a mainstream consumer OS, IS at the bottom of the food chain.

If we're simply talking about phones, the Microsoft would actually be the one at the bottom of the food chain. And Linux is not Ubuntu, even though Ubuntu is Linux.

As I said, you don't seem to really understand what you're talking about. And the sad part is you don't want to learn. I'd be happy to give you a brief lesson, but I know you're not really interested in anything but Windows. Which is fine, I suppose, it just seems silly to me for someone to speak on something they clearly know so little about.