Kubuntu rocks on Dell Inspiron E1705

Michael,

Thanks for your comment.

You are wrong, I am not a "noob", actually ... not one at all. You are right, Ubuntu is “technically” just another debian-based distribution with newer packages around it. However, this is not the place where I discuss my Linux technical credentials, nor that was the point of the article, so I will move on to what I believe are more interesting topics.

The point is, I really like the experience I'm having with Kubuntu on my notebook from the non-technical, simple everyday desktop user point of view. It makes me so happy to see the difference when I compare this experience against the memories from installing Slackware on some other machines sometime about 10 years ago. I am extremelly happy about it because I would really like to see Linux become adopted in this market segment as much as it is adopted today on the IT-professional users and servers market. I also like the benefits this brings by enabling everyday non-technical users to use such a powerful and profesional OS and at a very low TCO. After all, computing to them only makes sense if it does makes their life simpler. Bring “simple” together with “powerful” and “cheap”, and the potential is huge.

When I used to run my own small Linux and IT consulting company, some of my clients were very interested in deploying Linux on some of their desktops PCs. At that time, Linux wasn't really ready for it. I even had a few meetings with the guys from Caldera on “producing” a particular line of desktop machines with their Linux distribution pre-loaded on them. Didn't happen.

Today, we're much, much closer to this reality and some businesses and organizations are already deploying Linux on their desktops. This is great news for everybody, but mostly for underdeveloped, poor countries where bringing cheap, powerful, readily-available simple technology can make a big impact on their infrastructure and significantly boost their economic and development. Think of children learning on Linux-powered desktops in poor schools that can't afford expensive software licenses. A similar case can be argued for non-for-profit organizations.

I believe there is a huge potential for Linux on the desktop and notebooks, and a few of my friends follow this very closely too. Some people actually liked the article a lot. The packages, look and usability are all key points where Linux still has to prove itself a bit more in order to be able to really penetrate into this market and lower the TCO for business and organizations to deploy it on their desktop machines without fears.

These are the main points that drove me to write this late-night before-bed short story / friendly article. Again, thanks for reading and for the comment. I'm sorry the article disapointed you. If you are searching for a place to read on technical linux-related matters then this is not the right place. This is an Entrepreneurhsip, Marketing and Techonology blog (in that order).

Peace,
Seb