This is a general comment about this thread which is griping about upgrading and
lack of functionality. It is not directed to specific users and their problems.
If I use you, don't think I mean you in particular.
Windows users do not blame Microsoft, if a printer driver does not work. They
blame the manufacturer. It is the same thing with wireless cards or any other
hardware. There is no groundswell of discontent because Vista does not support
old hardware. Users do not blame Microsoft. They either buy new compatible
hardware or do not buy Vista in the first place.
To blame Linux because equipment does not work just does not make sense. It is
amazing that even a small fraction of the hardware that we have works at all if
you consider that many of the companies who made the equipment did zero labor on
on producing drivers and that Linux developers have to reverse engineer
everything and do it the hard way.
If Vista was free and you installed it over XP and things did not work properly,
would you blame Microsoft for your actions? I doubt it. You would likely
re-install XP and tell yourself that you learned a lesson or make the best of it
with Vista.
If people have legitimate complaints that is one thing, but to blame others for
things that you do doesn't make sense. Ubuntu has a Live CD and you should test
drive it on the Live CD before you install. Windows does not even give you that
option. If you updated and did not test it out first then that was your doing
and the consequences are yours. If you got caught up in the moment and upgraded
just for the sake of it, then that was your doing, not Ubuntu's.
There are specific problems and they usually have a specific solution. There are
general problems and they may not be fixable in the short term. Those who have
been around in Linux for awhile see the current situation re: drivers as being
like night and day with the past. We see that there is real hope for Linux being
on par with Windowssome day in the not to distant future. Nobody is saying that
that day has arrived yet, especially when we are dealing with hard to configure
equipment where drivers are not being supplied by OEMs.
Where Linux can make the claim of being a Windows alternative is where the OEM
and the Linux developers have worked together (ASUS EEEPC, Dell, etc.). In these
rare cases, the equipment should work to the same level of expectation as with a
new Windows system. If you have installed it yourself, then you must live with
second best or be prepared to do the work necessary to bring it up to the same
standard through improving your expertise or through paying for new equipment
which has Linux drivers.
I commend people for trying Linux. I commend people for trying to breath new
life into old hardware. However, to blame Ubuntu or Linux for the current state
of affairs gets us nowhere. It is what it is and that is not going to change
until the situation changes and not merely because we would like it to be
otherwise.
Linux can be a good solution for the right people. Linux can be a good solution
on the right equipment. To say that it is always the case is to overstate
things. We aren't there yet, but the same could be said for other OSes. Vista is
not for everyone and not for every computer.