Five Essential Ubuntu Features
I just finished configuring a Vista laptop for my brother, who needs to run some Windows-only applications for college. Whenever I find myself compelled to deal with proprietary operating systems, I’m reminded why I use Ubuntu. Here’s a short list of some of those reasons.
In fairness, Windows does a lot of things well, especially when computer vendors configure it ahead of time. And Ubuntu is far from perfect.
But having been an Ubuntu user for several years, I don’t think I could ever go back to Windows and be happy. As for OS X, I’m too frightened away by Apple’s high prices and obsession with controlling users to consider that route.
Given this, here are five things Ubuntu does out-of-the-box that no version of Windows I’ve ever seen is capable of by default:
- hardware autoconfiguration – Ubuntu comes with the drivers for most hardware built-in. Anyone who’s installed a generic version of Windows (i.e., not one pre-configured by a PC vendor to work with certain hardware) knows how nice it is not to have to spend hours hunting around for drivers after installing the operating system.
- multiple desktops – virtual desktops are like tabbed web browsing–you don’t realize how extraordinarily useful they are until you try them. There are some third-party tools to achieve the same functionality in Windows, but in my experience few of them work well, if at all, in Vista and above.
- software repositories – being able to install thousands of applications from Ubuntu’s repositories in a few clicks is a huge plus. Besides the fact that the software is free and more secure than .exe packages downloaded from random websites, it’s much more convenient to install programs from a centralized location.
- ssh client – this probably only matters to geeks, but having an ssh client built into the operating system is a major plus for me. There are some decent ssh clients available for Windows, like Putty, but none are available in Windows out-of-the-box, and even the best of them isn’t as functional as the trusty gnome-terminal.
- no antivirus – security practices in the Windows world are profoundly contradictory. Many of the same companies that write Windows software also make millions of dollars selling resource-hogging applications to protect Windows applications from their security flaws. Ubuntu is by no means immune to malware, but practically speaking, it’s as secure as it needs to be for most users out-of-the-box, without any expensive antivirus scanners added on.
To be clear, I’d like to emphasize again that I’m no Windows-hater. For some users, Windows makes more sense than Ubuntu.
Personally, however, I can’t imagine myself living without Ubuntu (or a similar Linux distribution, since the features listed above are not unique to Ubuntu itself) ever again, for the reasons listed above and many more.
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I agree 100%. I’m not a fanboy or hater of any OS but I’d never go back. After 3 years, Ubuntu feels like home. As you point out -and despite its defects- I feel Ubuntu as ‘my OS’ not just ‘the OS I use’. Glad to see I’m not the only one….
6) It’s always free out of the box, as in free beer.
Why did you forget to add that?
I hear you! I helped out my neighbours last week and I was astonished how horrible their experience was as ‘normal users’ with Vista. I would add the consequence of ‘free software’: you don’t have lots of bloated crapware installed that screams for attention without adding much functionality. I cannot count how many programs wanted to be primary browser/photo viewer/webcam app/im/document reader/etc. They had adobe trying to open .zip files. They had three or more cd/dvd burning tools. They had two virus scanners, one residue of mcaffee en one avg free that wanted an update they couldn’t figure out. Stuff like that.
Wasn’t this just due to their ignorance? No, it was because all these apps where pushing themselves towards the front as best and only safe and final solution for all your problems.
I was really totally amazed by how bad this system worked for ‘normal people’ that did not have enought geekiness in them to thoroughly discipline the system. And I realized why using windows makes me tired every time I have to.
I have only been using Ubuntu for about 2 years, but I can say that there is no way I would ever go back to Windows. As for OS X, I don’t really know, never have used an apple computer so I have no comment on that.
I’m reminded of how easy Ubuntu is to use. Last night my wife tried to configure a second wireless router to give us more connectivity. It caused some issues with our other router and for about 2 hours she was not able to get on the internet or our network. She finally turned off security and reset the router a few times and she was back on. But everyone else had to have a new connection setup. I worked on my mother-in-laws vista laptop….and hated it. It was easy enough to find the connection, but it asked me twice if I wanted to connect since it was open and then I had to tell it if it was a home or work connection; like that was going to make a difference.
With Ubuntu, I chose the network connection, started Firefox and was on my way….why can’t windows be that easy.
I love Ubuntu, but I have to correct #1. Windows 7’s “out of the box” hardware support is light-years ahead of Ubuntu’s, particularly given more modern hardware.
Further, if hardware doesn’t work out of the box, it invariably comes with drivers that will work for windows, but not Ubuntu.
@Derrick
Maybe it’s just me, but everytime I’ve gone through a Windows installation (particularly with Vista and 7), the first thing I’ve had to do is go to a manufacturing website and download drivers. And modern hardware is included with that (particularly ethernet and wireless cards). Again, it could just be the shop I work at got really odd hardware configurations.
Please don’t confuse the fact that windows boxes sold in stores with drivers preinstalled for you with the fact that a clean windows installation has almost no drivers with it. That drivers are available is not the same as working out of the box.
Good article.
Number 3 is definitely the thing that puts ubuntu light years ahead of windows in my book. It’s such a benefit to users knowing that they have thousands of apps available to them without having to worry about downloading malware.
I do not see how Windows 7’s hardware support is light years ahead of Ubuntu’s. You would have to give some insight to that as I’m pretty sure Ubuntu still has way more drivers overall than even Windows 7. I’ll give you that it has more support for webcams and winmodems. And yes sadly things that don’t work right away with Ubuntu may simply just not have drivers available but then again we are still in a Windows world. Most devices are designed from the beginning to work with Windows. That would certainly make me think Windows should be light years ahead on drivers, but I really don’t see that view.
As for myself I’ve been an Ubuntu user since version 5.04 and certainly wouldn’t go back to the Windows way of things. I must say though I do like Windows 7 more than Vista. Actually ran better than Vista on my laptop in a test run.
I got a Windows 7 box at work, and I’ve been setting it up. I’m surprised at how well everything works, and the interface has all those “little nice things” like native quick tiling of windows, restoring windows to their original size when dragging a maximized window, not highlighting the file extension when editing file names, etc.
Meanwhile, I waited 3 months to upgrade to Karmic, in the hopes that any giant bugs would have been squashed, and I wouldn’t have to spend weeks dealing with tons of problems after the upgrade, like my experience with every other Ubuntu release during the past 3 years. But no. My computer will no longer boot into Ubuntu, and no one on Ubuntu Forums can help me.
I think it’s official: Unless Google comes up with some great last-ditch effort, Desktop Linux is dead. Ubuntu has gotten slower and buggier with each release, and no one seems to care. http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu
very good article…after using ubuntu for a year windows look like uglier and less fun to work with….
+1 for ubuntu
I do hate Windows. I hate it for it’s lack of proper account management and privilege escalation. Which has not gotten better with Vista or Windows 7. Run XP software and you still need an admin account. Even worse. Install something in an admin account and it doesn’t work in any other account.
Where are the improvements Microsoft promised?
I upgraded my dads Windows XP machine to Windows 7 a few months back. It’s already grinding to a halt to the point where it’s becoming unusable. A work college mentioned to me the other day he was thinking of buying a new laptop. His two year old machine was getting slow. It runs Windows XP.
Why should software degrade? I see no reason other Microsofts’ profit margin for software performance to degrade over time. I don’t experience this issue with Ubuntu. My PC takes the same amount of time to boot today as it did back in October with Karmic Koala was first installed.
I hate Windows because I can’t escape trouble shooting it. Shouldn’t Microsoft be doing that? They programmed the code. They charged a fortune for it. Why am I doing the work? I don’t even use Windows any more? And it’s always the same problems. Virus and malware and trojans and fake anti-virus software.
Our place has been on Ubuntu since Feisty courtesy of Vista and I cannot see us heading back to Windows in a hurry. I spend less time looking after 5 Ubuntu machines than I did looking after two XP machines back in 2007. SO I actually get time for myself to do things.
I am first to agree that Ubuntu is not perfect but nothing is! As to Windows 7 I find it is too much in your face to be a good OS, yes it installs quick and on some hardware does not need additional drivers but so it should be given it is a new release. I tried installing two applications on a Windows 7 install, one wouldn’t install due to compatibility issues and this application did install on the RC of the same OS, go figure? Add to this it still has a registry and needs defragging as XP did. Then there is the whole admin account and security issues, I can do with out this. MS haven’t reinvented the wheel, just prettied it up in my opinion.
But as I say you use the OS that suits your needs, whether it be Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linus or even Amiga OS4.1
@Derrick: I’ll go further than Jordon. When I helped my daughter’s friend re-image her Windows computer (it no longer booted for various reasons, and she’d lost the “restore” CD), it was missing not only the usual video and sound drivers, but *network* drivers. Thus, we couldn’t even download drivers for it!
Ubuntu to the rescue (as so often it does), as the LiveCD worked just fine. We searched out Windows drivers for the network card, video and sound, downloaded each to a flash drive, then rebooted into Windows and got it bootstrapped. She took the Ubuntu CD with her…
By the way, Ubuntu is also FAR easier to install the Windows 7, IMHO – I did an exhaustive comparison at http://ricegf.posterous.com/.
Windows has a few nice features, but easy set up and maintenance are definitely not among them.
I’m an IT professional and my working day is supporting Windows. The amount of times I have torn my hair out because of a Windows re-install and all the driver hassle you have to go through. I wish more people would do this, especially the Windows fanboys, just for once see how much of a PITA a Windows re-install actually is compared to a Ubuntu install.
Over the Xmas period, I just immersed my self in my Ubuntu box and forgot the hassles of an every day Windows user, until my eldest came home with her Vista Home Premium laptop that wouldn’t play any commercial DVD’s. Everytime Windows Media Player started it complained that there were no codecs installed to play the DVD and the link took you to a web site where you had to part with your cash to get the codecs, WTF!!
The solution was to download VLC, do a reboot and her commercial DVD’s played (they were Xmas gifts). Now had I been doing a review of Windows Vista, I would have marked that down as a big show stopper, in order to play DVD’s you own, you have to pay for the codec! How many times have you read an Ubuntu review where the reviewer has complained about the lack of DVD codecs out of the box and this wouldn’t happen in the Windows world? Well sonny Jim, it did and I wasn’t laughing!
I read some websites about how hard Linux is and how easy things are in the Windows world, well here is a true incident. I was at a customer’s office where I had setup a new Lenovo with Windows 7. They have a HP LaseJet 1320n, and they needed the printer installed on the Windows 7 box. First, there are no native 1320 drivers on Windows 7, secondly, the HP website offered a universal driver for Windows 7, which didn’t work, gets so far with the print job, then does a kernel panic! Now in the same room is a Apple Mac and a nice Shuttle box with Ubuntu installed. Both the Mac and Ubuntu uses CUPS, in 10 minutes I had both the Mac and Ubuntu printing to the 1320 with no hassles. The icing on the cake was the printing troubleshooter on Windows 7, which concluded that the HP Laserjet 1320n wasn’t a genuine HP product!
Well head over to the IdeaStorm web site where some users are unhappy with Dell. Apparently Dell still hasn’t released any official touch drivers for Windows 7 yet. Or they are at least not that easy to find.
… err …
Isn’t touch a built in “feature” of Windows 7?
http://www.ideastorm.com/ideaView?id=087700000000ZmIAAU&sby=DESC
[...] Five Essential Ubuntu Features But having been an Ubuntu user for several years, I don’t think I could ever go back to Windows and be happy. As for OS X, I’m too frightened away by Apple’s high prices and obsession with controlling users to consider that route. [...]
I agree that Windows does have slightly high edge when it comes to stuff like software support, etc.
But there’s a sixth essential feature, however, in Ubuntu that you’ve forgotten to talk about, which “Rapid improvement”.
Ya see? The Ubuntu distribution, is perhaps the fastest growing Linux distro, if not the fastest growing OS, in general.
There’s no comparison between Ubuntu Intripid Ibex, and Ubuntu Karmic Koala, imho. As Karmic Koala is so much more stable and user-friendly.
Window 7, on the other hand, is almost exactly the same old Vista, with even more vulnerabilities, and a slightly new coat of paint.
Windows may be highly configurable, but you have to undo a great number of things before that can happen. Take for example theming in XP that you had to break the capability to use only signed themes to get user designed themes. You have to break security to get mundane things done on a system that has the weakest security model on the planet.
on #5 I believe that we should be thinking about the security of our Linux systems. This is something that I cannot emphasize more; security is important even on a Linux system. Even though only your account is hacked consider that you may use that account for banking, hooking up with a new girlfriend, etc. You need to have at least a way to ensure that you are playing safe. Firewalling makes life hard for newbies but at least some safe defaults help. An antivirus keeps you from spreading sadness to your windows friends via shared documents and java/javascript exploits.
Let’s not forget what a God send Ubuntu is to us network Admins! My partner in IT decided he would be “The Windows Guy” and that I would be “The Linux Guy”. It takes the poor guy 2 solid weeks with an assistant to configure a network of computers just how he wants it. I just bang out a couple scripts and run an install server VM off my laptop! An SMB of 50-100 computers can be completely set up in 2 days by even mediocre admins.
Were I a small to medium business owner, there are very few reasons why I wouldn’t want to throw linux on every single desktop and laptop in sight; it’s cheap, quick, and reliable.
[...] workswithu.com | Descargar ubuntu | [...]
Why do so many people think they have to qualify praise of Linux with “don’t get me wrong, I’m no windows hater.” Sheesh, it’s like you’re embarrassed and ashamed, and Windows still defines your computing world. “Mom, I bought a new car. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a pickup hater, and this car isn’t perfect, and probably lots of people wouldn’t like it, but it works for me and I have a pickup to dual-boot into.”
Whatever. Quit apologizing already.
agree with you entirely. some folks even answered the exact statements i wanted to add
i don’t hate Windows, but i hate cheating, and driving the competition off the road. fair fight is always good, and it’s only a matter of time when people and organisations will realise it.
i’ve been using Ubuntu for the past 3.5 years, and i have no doubt: OpenSource is the future
Repositories are something Windows should have by now. I wouldn’t make fun of them for copying Linux with that feature; it’s a must have.
Windows 7’s driver support is much better than vista’s or XP. Also, Windows 7 networking is much easier for non-power users than Ubuntu’s is. For example, it seems/appears in Ubuntu that you can only have one network connection at a time active, whereas in Windows it is obvious you have more than on connection.
I switched from XP to Ubuntu last year, and wouldn’t think of downgrading back to Microsoft. We now have TWO machines, the 5 year old one running Ubuntu, and a brand new one running Windows 7. The Ubuntu machine is running a full “bloated” Gnome desktop, with Compiz fully enabled, yet it is still considerably faster than the brand new machine with Win7, even though the new machine has 5 times the CPU power. I can only imagine how fast it will be when I reformat the drive and install Ubuntu on it!
I loved ubuntu as well. A couple of years ago, i tried Mint (ubuntu based + all drivers/codecs). It wasn’t stable.
last mth, i install the latest Mint on Dell dual-core 2Gb ram. It runs like a ferrari.
The staff in the office also started to love linux, because of Mint. Thanks to Stallman/Gnu/Debian/Gnome/Ubuntu/Mint.
I use Debian but Ubuntu is fine too. Windows? — you’re right: it is OK for some people. But FREEDOM does matter. Using Windows it’s impossible to forget that YOU do not own the contents of your computer.
None of these are “Ubuntu features” they are Linux features.
I’m getting very sick of the Ubuntu fanboy crowd acting as if Ubuntu IS Linux.
Meanwhile I continue to struggle to find _anything_ compelling about Ubuntu over other Linux distros. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an Ubuntu hater. I just hear all the incessant Ubuntu love jabber and I look at Ubuntu and all I can think is either there’s some secret handshake I don’t know that lets you see the hidden features of Ubuntu or if everyone is just stupid.
I can’t even find a real administration system in Ubuntu. Gnome? feh. And Kubuntu is a second class citizen as far as development, polish and quality.
Anyway, I just don’t get it.
Meanwhile, the distros I use have all the features listed above. The article is inappropriately focused on Ubuntu.
Linux Mint is awesome. Its Ubuntu with all the codecs, flash. Also it seems more polished. Thanks Clem.
Good article. As a dual booter – Vista, Win7 and Ubuntu (Karmic) I think you missed one essential advantage. Synaptic software updates, maybe this falls under repositiories but it goes beyond the amazing amount of good open source software available. It is easy (nearly automatic) to keep everything updated and current. In Windows you either get an annoying popup window (can you spell Adobe or Apple) no notice at all. A few programs are starting to do updates – thank you mozilla. But most just don’t seem to care. Ease of updating makes the 6th essential feature.
Absolutely on the mark IMHO. I work with both Red Hat and XP at work. At home I use Ubuntu by choice.
Ubuntu (and Mepis) just work, period, out of the box (or off the CD-R).
Once you get used to using multiple desktops you sorely miss them when forced back onto XP or 7.
The repositories make it ridiculously easy to try out software, and punt it if you don’t like it. There really is almost no excuse for not finding the right tool for the job.
ssh is something I use regularly at work. At home, I ssh wirelessly from my Asus netbook runnng Linux over to my desktop Ubuntu system and take advantage of its speed and power. Of course, for Ubuntu, speed and power can be found on a 4 year old mid-range Dell.
The other day my son ssh’d from his Macbook to my Ubuntu, and ran a windows program in wine that he needed. Now that was fun, in a geeky kind of way.
Antivirus? Linux *is* the antivirus. I really appreciate not having to give up a fair percentage of my memory, disk, and CPU cycles to running antivirus software all the time.
Of course, I would add nfs mounts, rsync, and a couple of bash scripts as the ultimate in easy backup too.
In response to Tachyon, above, this is an Ubuntu newsletter site!
I have been trying to gain IT level proficiency in Linux for years. I subscribe to LinuxPro Magazine, and have installed and evaluated no less than 20 or so distros.
I have settled on Ubuntu. Every time I installed and evaluated another distro, I returned to Ubuntu to actually be able to do the things I need to accomplish. It seems Ubuntu and I have kins of “grown up together.” The beeter I became the better it got.
@ Tachyon:
Please re-read the last paragraph of the original article, where it is stated quite clearly that these are also features of other flavors of Linux.
Ubuntu IS a flavor of Linux, therefore Linux features are Ubuntu features, too. Simple rule of logic. Nowhere here is it stated that Ubuntu is the ONLY Linux in the Universe.
Finally, you complain about the original article talking only about Ubuntu – Hello, what’s the name of this site?……..
I’m a Linux newbie (little over a year) and I love Ubuntu. I’m a computer old timer (started in the “green screen” CRT days), and I’ve used just about every consumer system there is, from CPM to Amiga.
I gave up on Apple when they screwed over Apple II users (“Apple II Forever” – forever being 1 year). They are too closed and controlling, not to mention overpriced. Microsoft is just plain corporate evil – planned obsolescence to drive sales, and bloated with crapware and spyware. Most malware problems on Windows are due to a refusal to fix bad programming and intentional backdoors.
Amiga was way cool, way ahead of its time, and mired in strange legal, ego, and corporate obstacles. To me, Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, is where Amiga should have gone.
Is Ubuntu perfect? Of course not. Does one have to do a little extra to make things work the way you want? Always. But if I have to go that extra mile, I prefer to learn to use an open (and free) system with a gigantic (and mostly friendly) user base, over having to struggle to make a deliberately crippled OS function moderately well, AND have to pay through the nose for the privilege. Too feudal/fascist for my taste!
Ubuntu is the easiest Linux to configure and use, in my experience, and Shuttleworth is a FAR better example of wealth used wisely than Gates. Rejoice in what you have here, Linux folks. This is the future of computer OS systems, and you have one heck of a lot more to say about it than with Windows or Mac OS.
Use that freedom well.
I have used Ubuntu Linux now for about five years. I do not venture in the command line space if I can avoid it as I am now 69 years old and my learning speed has slowed. Yet, I am like most other Ubuntu users in that I have zero desire to go back to Win-OS….except for a great pinball game: Invasion II by Wild Snake Software. Otherwise, Ubuntu Linux, once configured, is near bullet proof. And it is so nice not shopping for the best rated anti-malware product and paying dollars out of my pocket. The improvements since five years ago is astounding! I am sure there are many pc users that do not have a clue about the wonders of Ubuntu Linux. I am a happy Ubuntu user.
I hope someday udgrading Firefox or whatever browser would be possible via Synaptic. Think about situation with Ubuntu 9.04 – there is still Firefox 3.0.xxx and you can’t uppgrade it with just one click to FF 3.5 or 3.6. Forget Shiretoko and Minefield – i mean real Firefox 3.5/3.6.