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As a followup to an earlier blog post at Ubuntu's blog about why those on Windows 7 should upgrade to Ubuntu, the same blog has a post about how to actually do it.
A few days ago, Rhys Davies wrote a timely article, titled Why you should upgrade to Ubuntu. In it, he outlined a high-level overview of what the end of support of Windows 7 signifies for the typical user, the consideration – and advantages – of migrating to Ubuntu as an alternative, and the basic steps one should undertake to achieve this.
We'd like to expand on this idea. We will provide a series of detailed, step-by-step tutorials that should help less tech-savvy Windows 7 users migrate from their old operating system to Ubuntu. We will start with considerations for the move, with emphasis on applications and data backup. Then, we will follow up with the installation of the new operating system, and finally cover the Ubuntu desktop tour, post-install configuration and setup.
The upcoming Long Term Support (LTS) release will have not just the usual five years of regular support but an optional additional five years for those that decide to pay. That would be 10 years starting from April, 2020.
Previously:
Ditching Windows: 2 Weeks with Ubuntu Linux on a Dell XPS 13 (2018)
How to Create a Custom Ubuntu ISO with Cubic (2018)
Debian vs. Ubuntu: What's the Difference? (2017)
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:45PM (7 children)
If you were using linux at the time, you were most likely very aware of the spectacular failure of the original WalMart Linux PC. People on tech sites first went crazy over the idea of a dirt cheap computer running linux (the rest of the world didn't give a shit, and still don't) - "This will be the year of linux on the desktop." They turned equally vicious when it failed because people couldn't run their programs on it, saying it was obvious that it was going to be a failure.
May people didn't care - they said "screw this" and wiped it and installed Windows, so they ended up with a dirt cheap Windows PC with absolutely shit performance, but you couldn't beat the price.
The rest returned them for refunds.
Loki came out with SimCity 3 for Linux. It wasn't badly done - but most people running linux at the time already had a spare PC running windows with a legit copy of SimCity 3, so why bother buying a second copy to run under linux?
They died in 2002, so it's ancient history in terms of the computer age.
Dell does its best to hide linux options. It's really a niche product. Not something the average consumer would ever want - not even a dual boot, handy as that could be as an option for a Windows machine.
As a recovery option, linux has its uses for even regular users, but not as a sole daily driver OS. Maybe we should admit this?
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:55PM (1 child)
I disagree here because the predominant daily driver for people is stuff that linux has always done well for decades: generic desktop web browsing and light office work. That is even more so true now that most major software has decided to go to the cloud and become web browser based.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday January 31 2020, @02:12AM
And yet people aren't wiping out Windows and OSX and installing linux. Ever support linux for friends you installed it for? It's a relief when they re-install Windows.
That's the reality. Something that does 90% of what users want to do isn't competitive with something that does 100% of what those same users want to do.
It's like toilet paper. If it only gets rid of 90% of shit, leaving you to deal with the 10% that breaks through onto your hand, it's a 100% total failure.
You can't give away 90% "good enough" to anyone who already has 100%.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by DECbot on Thursday January 30 2020, @08:54PM (4 children)
I was just looking at the Dell website today. To find the linux computers, look for "Products" → "Laptops" → "For Work." Then on the filters, select "Ubuntu Linux" under "OS Selection." You will find Dell's linux solutions here because their linux target market is full-time developers using linux for work.
Though if you really want to be a pedant, in either "For Work" or "For Home" to find the linux offering, select "Chrome OS" because that runs the linux kernel. This is the decade of Linux.... linux on a chromebook or android phone.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday January 31 2020, @01:09AM (3 children)
A locked down version of linux that people never even see, continually data mined by google, is NOT "the decade of linux." It's the decade of spyware.
And Android is absolute shit, with very short support cycles contributing to e-waste. After my Android died, one of my sisters lent me an iPhone 6. Made in 2014, it still got a couple of security updates in December. Most Android phones are lucky to get 2 years. That's all mine got.
And the amount of malware on Google Play is unreal. So much for "linux is secure."
It's just not worth bothering with any more. If you want something with long term support, your choices are Microsoft and Apple. If you don't want to be spied on, then your only choice is Apple.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday January 31 2020, @06:10AM (1 child)
Bull-fucking_shit! Are you not aware, my dear and porphorous barbara, that for any linux user, there are multiple and excessive tools to detect any and all kinds of skullduggery by the major players? We can actually see the keyloggers of Microsoft, the non-acknowledged tracking of the Apple. Your only point is that you are incompetent when it comes to networked computers. I was prone to be sympathetic to you, what with the snow and the perverts, but this suggests that you are not who you are, if you ever were, and from now on, I will either ignore you, or down mod you on sight. Lying has consequences. Deal with them.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Friday January 31 2020, @05:53PM
All computers connected to the internet are tracked. That's just a fact of life. Even linux behind a VPN.
The only thing to do is take reasonable precautions. Don't use Windows. Don't use Android. Remove all google apps from an iPhone. Turn off GPS. Turn off bluetooth. Don't use social media. Don't use Google. Don't use Youtube. don't use ANY mapping software. Use tracking blockers. Don't install any social media. Don't install any games.
And don't leave your home computer physically connected online (or even turned on) when you're not using it. And don't turn on bluetooth or gps on your phone, or wifi except when you actually need it.
It's not hard, and it helps, but I am under no illusion that anyone walking around with a radio transceiver in their pocket or purse that isn't in a Faraday cage can't be tracked and tied directly to the owner.
But I trust Apple not to sell the profile of my email contents to over 1,000 advertisers. Or Microsoft to insert ads into my emails (that was one dumb move on their part, but such is life, we saw it coming, we know they want everyone to switch to a subscription model for all their software including operating systems, and require an always-on internet connection. They even admitted it back in the XP days, but most people are quick to forget).
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(Score: 1) by DECbot on Friday January 31 2020, @06:43AM
Linux was always just the kernel. RMS famously made that clear with the whole GNU/Linux thing. The free software movement had decades to make the desktop suitable for the year of the Linux desktop. It didn't. Along came Google and in their infinite benevolent malice and they showed the world the OS Emacs could have been with their launch of chrome OS. Likewise Android was to show the phone OEMs how to make a Linux phone and the geeks what a pocket computer was best for, personal media consumption and hyper targeted ads--in everyone's pocket. The decision to not support a device was always for the OEMs to decide.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base