Tips on moving to Linux?

[cgutjahr]

For God's sake, why isn't there an app for this that doesn't require the use of a terminal?

There is, of course. It's just a lot easier to tell him "open terminal and type 'foo'" than writing half a novel explaining where to click, what it's called and how it will react.

I feel like I'm back in the '80s with crap like this.

Then use Synaptic and the Gnome System Monitor (or whatever equivalent Lubuntu is using) to do the tasks described above.

The rest of us will enjoy the beauty that is the Unix terminal in the meantime.

[cgutjahr]

All distro's are on this hamster wheel to up the version number that stability is secondary to having the latest.

And on top of that, Linux is making our children gay! I saw it with my own eyes!

[cgutjahr]

I've heard this bull%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@! excuse for Linux lack of intuitive interface a lot.
[...]
So why did he have to come here and ask and couldn't see this for himself?

Invoking the 'task manager' and killing a task actually works exactly like on Windows. It's not more or less user friendly than on other systems, you just have to know the proper keyboard shortcut or where to find it in the applications menu.

Somebody told you the required keyboard shortcut for Windows a decade ago - and nobody's bothering to explain the Linux equivalent to you (might be because of all the swearing, but that's just a guess) - that's the only difference.

Ubuntu doesn't equal Linux.

Your statement was that "all distros" would be on "that hamster wheel" - which is completely ridiculous of course. Two thirds of the Internet is running on Linux these days - but hey, what's that compared to your glorious insight in Linux' stability...

[cgutjahr]

I can't figure out how to update Firefox.  In windows it was from the "About Firefox" window within Firefox.  This is not present in Linux firefox (at least in Lubuntu).

Linux automatically keeps all your applications up to date for you. Lubuntu checks for updates every other day (or something like that), notifies you and starts updating in the background.

This approach has a drawback - many Windows users stumble about that one: "but Firefox 412 has been already released, where is it?"

Usually, Linux distributions only release bug fixes and security updates immediately, other updates either arrive with a delay (due to some distribution specific testing before release) or they will only be made available with the next bigger OS update (like Lubuntu 14.04 which has just been released).

[cgutjahr]

If you have to court an existing Linux user to find out how to do the same, then I can see why Windows has a much higher installation rate.

If you don't know how to do it in Linux, then why bother to reply?

On Ubuntu, you open the main menu then go to System -> System Management -> System Monitor. I don't think that'r rocket science.

[cgutjahr]

Microsoft [...] have no reps with black top hats, capes, and stiffly waxed moustaches going around the world sabotaging other products.

"The AARD code was a segment of code in a beta release of Microsoft Windows 3.1 that would determine whether Windows was running on MS-DOS or PC DOS, rather than a competing workalike such as DR-DOS, and would result in a cryptic error message in the latter case." (source)

"Electronic greeting card firm Blue Mountain Arts has won another round in its battle with Microsoft Corp. Late Thursday, a Santa Clara County (Calif.) Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction stopping Microsoft from setting up filters in its Outlook Express mail program that treated greeting cards from Blue Mountain as junk mail. " (source)

"In 2002, Be Inc. sued Microsoft claiming that Hitachi had been dissuaded from selling PCs loaded with BeOS, and that Compaq had been pressured not to market an Internet appliance in partnership with Be. [...] The case was eventually settled out of court for $23.25 million with no admission of liability on Microsoft's part." (source)

Microsoft has a long history of "sabotaging other products". I'm not saying they're stopping OEMs from bundling Linux, but I wouldn't make tinfoil hat jokes about somebody who's suggesting they do.

[cgutjahr]

Long History.  If so I would have though you'd have something more substantial to put forward than a few tenuous items from over 10 years ago.

You're funny - what Desktop Operating System that OEMs might have chosen could Microsoft have sabotaged in the last 10 years?

For more recent examples of that kind of behaviour search the net for "UEFI Secure Boot", which in turn is the second coming of "Trusted Computing" - Google the latter in combination with "Palladium" and "criticism" to learn what the rest of us have to worry about regarding Microsoft even if we never use any MS products.

I see your items and raise you a "Microsoft kept Apple from folding in the late 90's".

Stop the lies! The day that Microsoft 'saved' Apple

I'm not into MS bashing, their "competitive big business corporate behaviour" (I love euphemisms) isn't worse than that of any other IT giant. I wouldn't want to know what Jobs would have done with that kind of market power.

But Microsoft pretty much invented the "reps with black top hats, capes, and stiffly waxed moustaches going around the world sabotaging other products" type, so let's not pretend otherwise.