Confusion had to use Windows 10

[bootneck02]

Well the wife rang me up to have a look on her email for a particular email on her PC, well as I haven't used Windows 10 for a year and I thought this would be a good experiment. I sat down at her PC and booted it up no problem then tried to enter her email, confusion oh bugger it is not as easy as Mint all these icons came up on the screen no never going back to that dogs breakfast of a operating system, that experience confirmed my belief that Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.1 is the best for the average user was confirmed. Baa Humbug.

 

[Core]

Mint is such an awesome OS, I wish I could bring myself to use it. It's fast, secure, and it doesn't run constant telemetry to the mothership with my usage details. It just feels like it's my computer when I use it.

I've switched to it many, many times.

And then I can't install Evernote, because it doesn't exist, and there is no equivalent. I can't find anything even remotely like Omnifocus for it. OpenShot is not even in the same universe as Vegas. Forget Adobe products. The MMO I play every night can only run with low fps at low settings. Want a letterhead template? LibreOffice doesn't have any. I have a 150€ gaming keyboard and a 120€ gaming mouse with programmable keys, none of which can be programmed to do anything because they're not supported hardware. And so on and so forth.

None of these are really Mint issues. They're not even Linux issues. They are due to lacking or non-existing third party support.

I think as long as the average user just wants to check Gmail or feed virtual cows on Facebook, Linux can service them well. But beyond that?

As disenchanted as I am with the direction Windows has taken - and Apple with OS X, for that matter - it's just not going to be the Year of the Linux Desktop in 2017 either.

 

[bootneck02]

I do agree with you, but the many home users like my self who are tied to Microsoft or Apple because that is all they know and just doing ordinary things with their PC's are having to pay (what I consider) large amounts of money for the OS and all the expensive apps where they they could have a operating system that does all they need for nothing or a donation to the Linux distro as I do, do not need the all the thing's that MS or Apple offer. If you think about it a lot of stuff you have to buy extra with MS and Apple you get for free with Mint OK they are called something different but most do the same thing. You are a high end user so Linux distro's would not at this moment suit you but many PC users just want a PC to do things you mentioned Emails, Facebook etc but there again Steam for gaming is introducing more and more games for Linux distro's and Linux distros are getting better and better for PC users as at one time you had to know about Command Line but now Command Line is more for the geeks and not for the majority of users who if they knew about Linux Mint would go over to that Distro.
I am waiting for my wife to come to me because she has broken or had her PC hacked or infected by a virus because she has not updated or paid the annual fee for her security software, you do not need it for Linux. So for everyday users I believe that Linux Mint Cinnamon and similar distro's would suit them better than MS or Apple.

 

[Abarbarian]

. Want a letterhead template? LibreOffice doesn't have any.

https://www.libreofficetemplates.net/category/letterhead

https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Letter_Wizard

LibreOffice comes with sample templates for personal or business letters, which you can customize to your own needs with the help of the wizard. The wizard leads you step-by-step in creating a document template and offers numerous layout and design options. The preview gives you an impression of how the finished letter will appear according to the settings you choose.

Within the wizard, you can modify your entries and options at any time. You may also skip an entire page or even all the wizard pages, in which case the current (or default) settings will remain in effect.

Got any more MS style FUD you need correcting on ?

I think as long as the average user just wants to check Gmail or feed virtual cows on Facebook, Linux can service them well. But beyond that?

Tell that to the guys and galls working at NASA and the International Space Station or the folks at CERN or all the folk working for every Stock Exchange in the world and all the tens of thousands of folk using linux everday in a work situation and see what they say.
Why spread such ridiculous FUD it only makes you look foolish.

 

[Ian]

Tell that to the guys and galls working at NASA and the International Space Station or the folks at CERN or all the folk working for every Stock Exchange in the world and all the tens of thousands of folk using linux everday in a work situation and see what they say.
Why spread such ridiculous FUD it only makes you look foolish.

Ouch!

I think the point @Core is making (please correct me if I'm wrong), is that there are many Windows users who couldn't easily switch over to Linux because the software they rely on wouldn't run on it (at least not without compromises and lack of official support) - Adobe being a particularly good example. Specialist organisations that probably write their own software would prefer Linux, as it's stable, secure and ideal for custom applications.

 

[bootneck02]

I must admit I agree with Ian it is horses for courses, but having said that Linux distributions are getting better and better and becoming more and more user friendly. I did try Linux Ubuntu many years ago probably mid 1990s and just couldn't get on with it did not understand it gave up on it within 24 hrs completely baffled. Tried it yesterday It is OK but much prefer Mint Cinnamon so that is what I will stick with. The other point that Core is making is correct BUT there are many software being written now that will in the future will change that. All distro's that have been developed today bear no resemblance to the distro of yesterday and the writers are now changing their mindset from distro's that are for geeks to ordinary non technical people who want a alternative distro/OS to Windows or Mac.

 

[Abarbarian]

Ouch!

I think the point @Core is making (please correct me if I'm wrong), is that there are many Windows users who couldn't easily switch over to Linux because the software they rely on wouldn't run on it (at least not without compromises and lack of official support) - Adobe being a particularly good example. Specialist organisations that probably write their own software would prefer Linux, as it's stable, secure and ideal for custom applications.

FUD is FUD ! If the person had given an explanation like yours I would have no reason to post.
The poster did not even bother to check if there are any templates for Libre Office when patently there are and they are not difficult to find. The links I posted were in the top five of a google search for "letterhead template LibreOffice"

I do appreciate that the post was not a penguin bashing one as neato comments were made regarding penguins.

As to Windows users having difficulty switching to linux those same folk would have a really difficult time switching to Apple Mac's too.

So was I too sharp ? I think not. Post the truth not FUD.

 

[bootneck02]

Hay steady on boys. I think one of the problems is that users like me think that Windows and Mac are the real operating systems out there I suppose I was lucky to be reading some stuff as I was getting fed up with money greedy Microsoft as a OAP cash is tight I thought I would look at alternatives some thing easy other than Microsoft. I picked up a Linux magazine which was reviewing the then new Linux Mint Cinnamon 17.1 Well I cocked up I installed Mint instead of just running it on the CD to test it so I was well and truly in the poo so due to necessity had to run it as I could not afford to buy the licensed copy of W10.
Well as a complete idiot I found that actually the distro was very simple to use esthetically not as pleasing as Windows but it worked for me and since I have updated Mint to 17.3 and then downloaded Linux Mint Cinnamon 18 again and esthetically just as boring, BUT the new edition 18.1 has blown me away it is a pleasure to look at and a pleasure to use and whats more it is free (donations to Mint Cinnamon gratefully Recieved). My feeling is that some people think any distro of Linux is for geeks they are not they are for people like you and me, they used to be but not now. There are many flavors of Linux that are designed for people trying to get away from Microsoft running older PC's not able to run Windows 10 people who are running XP or Vista whose only problem is there PC will not run W10 who are unable to afford a new PC with W10 on it.
As a IT help page for the average PC user and expert you have to recognise not every one can afford the newest kit and something in the IT world over 5 years old is old hat and should updated well there many people who have retired , on low incomes, people who have lost there original jobs and had to get a low payed job to get by and have a PC they need the assistance of sites like this to keep their PC up and running. It is nice to hear about the new stuff but not everyone can afford it. Sorry if I have bang on to long. If Ian does not want to publish I wont be offended.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Me no fanboy, me no bigoted, me no flag waver - I use both

And both have things lacking and both have advantages over the other.

I'm not going to tie myself to any one OS, I'm going to have the best of both worlds

I dare say I could point out a few things that are Microsoft friendly and Mint friendly but what is the point?

Both have their uses and places as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Core]

I will admit I was inaccurate in my comment.

Here is what I get when I open Word and look for a letterhead:

And here is what I get in LibreOffice:

I should have said there are practically no letterheads in LibreOffice itself, but 11 of them that were designed during the Windows 2000 era can be found at a third-party website.

I have no qualms with LibreOffice itself. I always install it on a relative's or friend's Windows machine when I set it up, unless they have an Office license, because it's free and easy to install and more importantly I don't have to use it.

I don't mind using Google for things I need. Having to use a search engine to get document templates would not keep me from using a specific operating system. I only meant that the baseline user experience is, in general, inferior when it comes to software choices. This is why I mentioned all those other products, but you conveniently chose to ignore those and focused on the letterheads.

Linux would absolutely be my go-to operating system if everything with it wasn't always an uphill battle, and much of it has to do with the lack of software and hardware support.

The situation isn't helped by AMD dropping fglrx. My card (R9 270) afaik is still not supported by AMDGPU - well it's 3 years old so ancient tech after all - and I am instead relegated to using the crappy foss "Radeon" driver with bad performance or going back to 14.04. Yeah....

Not to mention the fact that the first thing I have to do is google how to switch compositor to Compton in order to get rid of screen tearing. I've never in my life had to fix screen tearing in Windows or OS X if my drivers are current. Screen tearing in 2016?

All I am saying is, it's OOTB an inferior desktop experience compared to Windows or OS X, for most users.

 

[Urmas]

I should have said there are practically no letterheads in LibreOffice itself...

True dat. Have you seen these?
https://www.openoffice.org/fi/mallit.html