Comments

I actually thought Bing was kind of cool until I realized how biased it's results are. I'll stick with Google because it's better and I don't feel dirty after using it, heh.

Wow, "holy crap" is right! Great article, great story! See what happens when you tinker? ;)

Wow, way to perpetuate the old myths that don't apply anymore, or to spread disinformation based on your lack of knowledge. Don't get me wrong, you make some valid points too, but be fair man. Very glad to see some light drawn to Linux on PopSci, but seriously, my 6 year old son installed Ubuntu, by himself, on his laptop when he got sick of problems with Windows. Ubuntu is about the easiest install experience ever, and a whole lot faster install than Windows. Lack of software? I have more software on my computer with Ubuntu than I ever did in Windows. For two reasons, first because the software is free, and second because there are more useful apps in Linux in my opinion. Perhaps the lack of preloaded bloat seems like an absence to you? I do agree that the first thing Joe Windows will try to do is fire up "Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and iTunes" and I believe Word and iTunes are the two biggest reasons people are returning those netbooks running Linux, they want to use iTunes and Word and can't figure out how to do that. However, anyone who expects Word/Office to run smoothly on a netbook is already a bit misinformed. But as you said, these people buying them aren't being told about what they are buying, thus are dissatisfied amd returning them, understandably. How on earth did you have a hard time installing programs in Linux? Compiling source code? Seriously? Dude, open the package manager, search for the type of programs you are looking for, check the boxes for the ones you want, hit ok or apply, and you can install them all at once. How is that hard????????? I teach kids, senior citizens, small business owners, etc. how to use Linux and all but one has said that they think it's easier, faster, better, and saves them time because they don't spend so much of it maintaining their computers (security) like they did on Windows. My techno-phobe Mom uses Linux now and she hardly ever has to call me for help on anything anymore. When she ran Windows it was 2-3 crises a day. It took time to learn Windows for everyone originally, it takes time to learn OS X when you switch to a Mac, the same is true for Linux. If you switch to something new, there will be a learning curve. If you expect anything to be just like something else, you are headed for disappointment. Again, glad to see Linux mentioned, but it think you need to spend a little more time on it before you go writing an article about it, because based on what you wrote, it is apparent that you have old misconceptions that you seem to think still apply. A lot of "Joe Windows" people switch to Linux every single day, and the majority have a better experience than what you described.

Glad to see PopSci continuing to mention Ubuntu. :) There are easier and slightly faster ways to do what the article above describes, but they require using another software that can be intimidating to new people. So, I'd say overall, this article is a good guide on how to set up a triple boot configuration. I left Windows behind about three years ago and haven't looked back. I do heavy editing and recording of video and music, and graphics and website creation, and Linux works for all of it. My wife and son use Ubuntu too. Although if you are a PC gamer, it's not for you. ;) Don't let people tell you the only graphics program for Linux is GIMP, it's not true, there are dozens, and they are free. If you really need Photoshop, then Photoshop 7 can be installed on Linux using a program called WINE and it runs fine. I use it every day. Blender is another amazing program. If you want something just as good as Photoshop but that costs under 100 bucks, use Pixel Image Editor. It works on all platforms too! (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, etc.) My sons laptop boots Windows XP, Ubuntu and PC-BSD, and he actually installed Ubuntu himself! For me, it's either Ubuntu or OS X, Windows is junk. But considering the cost of both Windows and Macs, Ubuntu is by far a more affordable solution, and it's very powerful.