norman wrote: > I believe that the very laudable efforts in promoting the use of Ubuntu > need to be tempered with an element of caution. As far as I can tell, > the server application is well covered and taken care of and my concern > is with the desktop user, of which I am one. > > Presumably, one of the 'selling' points for Ubuntu is the frequent, > availability of safety updates and the 6 monthly supply of an updated > system, all for free. But, at some stage there is the need to be aware > of the fact that these updates may cause problems as well as benefits. > For example, take the case of the upgrade to Ubuntu 7.04. Those users > who, like me, could be using Pan Newsreader (supplied with Ubuntu) > suddenly found that, with no warning, the software had been radically > changed. > > Look at the situation - a fair bit of time has been spent on changing to > Ubuntu 7.04 and you are now ready to carry on with your usual activities > using your super-duper, up to date Ubuntu. Let's have a look at the news > items - oh dear (or similar language) where have all my Pan files gone > and why must I now setup the software all over again. Fortunately, I > know where and how to ask questions and the only way to recover the > situation was to uninstall the new Pan and reinstall the version of Pan > that was supplied with Ubuntu 6.10. Next, I need to scan some drawings > to prepare some teaching material. More expletives, my scanner will not > work. I discover that it is because the new kernel will no longer > support USB scanners of the sort I use which worked perfectly for me > ever since the early days of Ubuntu. So now, every time I need to use my > scanner I have to reboot my system and select the version of the kernel > which was supplied with Ubuntu 6.10. There may be other examples of > which I am not aware because I do not use them. > > There are many more examples which have affected the use of computers in > my household directly attributable to earlier upgrades of Ubuntu. I > really want to use Ubuntu so I put up with these difficulties and try to > get help to solve the problems but, if I had to pay for Ubuntu, I would > be there asking for my money back. To those of you who have been using > Linux for many years, these problems I have quoted are mere fleabites > but, to the non-technical user they are totally unacceptable. > > I was accused recently of trying to bring some realism into the work on > the leaflet and I am very happy to accept that comment. We must not lose > sight of the fact that it will be much easier to lose Ubuntu users if > things unexpectedly stop working than it will be to encourage new users. > How you deal with this I leave to the professionals I am merely putting > a point of view. > > Norman
I concur with your view, and sympathise, counting myself fortunate that so far - as far as I know, I have not had similar problems, though I do have an important machine with a scanner - via usb - rarely used, I will need to check it. When I have time. I am a non expert, handing out leaflets, smiles and CDs and basic advice. I am aware that many ordinary problems would need the group or forum to sort out. I could not. So the users I encourage will have to become independent quickly because they will soon exceed my own knowledge. People I see at computer fairs are already slightly adventurous, and could use a forum. Others can be non technical to say the least, and the situation could become counterproductive. I can install, and support, a small number of less technically minded friends for simple PC use, but I could not support more widely even though I like the idea in principle. (I look forward to the next LTS version). -- alan cocks Kubuntu user#10391 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
