Linux: You're Doing It Wrong

Okay, shit like this pisses me off. If I could offer some advice to this woman, it would be this: post-secondary education can be tough and frustrating, especially at first. I was there. Learning a new operating system can only add to that frustration, but if failing to set up your Verizon card or not knowing your ass from Open Office compels you to give up, maybe college (even online college) isn't the place for you.

The solution? You could, you know, do some research on your own instead of whining to your local news station, who must have been having a really fucking slow news day.

You could also find a geek to help you set it up. They're easy to find. If you live in or near a town with a college or university, look for groups of young men with laptops. Some will have beards, glasses, or some combination, and most of them will have ratty old laptops covered with stickers for things you've never heard of. Odds are, one of them will be familiar with Linux. Even if he doesn't know exactly how to solve the problem you're having, he will be able to use Google to figure it out because he's not afraid of learning something new.

And then there's this:
Schubert says she never heard of Ubuntu before learning that's when[sic] she accidentally bought. She called Dell the very next day and says the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows.

But she says Dell discouraged her.

"The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed," said Schubert.

I call bullshit. First off, I want to know where the hell you found a decent Inspiron with Linux. Dell buries them so deep in their website it's infuriating. Second, Dell sales reps don't push Ubuntu on people, they push Windows on people. Dell charges more for Ubuntu because they can't install all the "value-added" bullshit they load their Windows boxen down with. Also, the person you spoke to when trying to change your order told you the truth - it works with everything you need to do, and many college students do use Linux.

Later, she discovered Ubuntu might look like Windows, but it doesn't always act like it.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD won't load, so she can't access the internet. She also can't install Microsoft Word, which she says is a requirement for MATC's online classes.

You don't need the CD or Verizon's extra-shitty software to use a cellular modem. Just plug it in, enter your account information and go. Open Office comes pre-installed on every Ubuntu installation, and it can be set up to save to Microsoft-compatible formats by default. You don't need Word for a damn thing, except getting infected by macro viruses and blowing $150 or so for the "discount" Student Edition of Office.

She also says Dell claimed it was now too late to get Windows and any changes she made herself would void her warranty.

If someone at Dell told you this, they're talking out their ass and GROSSLY misrepresenting the terms of their warranty. You can go down to Staples and blow $200 that would be better spent on tuition on a copy of Vista to install if you really want, it won't do anything to your warranty.

What that will do is make Dell a lot less likely to give you software support since you no longer has the original software installed. It's not like that's a big loss, as software "support" for Dell means telling you to reinstall your operating system, which is akin to a mechanic fixing a clogged air filter by rebuilding your engine.

Verizon says it will dispatch a technician to try to assist her accessing the internet without using the Windows-only installation disk.

This shouldn't be an issue with the newest version of Ubuntu, it should be supported out of the box. Still, I'm shocked. The typical response to support requests for "alternative" operating systems is muttering, "We only support Windows" and hanging up on the customer.

MATC also says it promises to accept any of Schubert's papers or class documents using whatever software she has installed.

File > Save As, select "Word 97-2000 (.doc)" from the drop-down. You can even set it up to save to that format by default. When proprietary software with proprietary formats becomes the de-facto standard we run into shit like this.

Pursuing higher education is a noble goal, but it's about learning (who'd have thought?) and figuring things out, doing your own research and knowing when to ask for help. Don't be so quick to give up on Ubuntu, it may be strange and new, but it's got one of the best free support forums anywhere.


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