This video isn’t new, it been floating around the internet for a while. However I still feel like I should respond to it.
The video:
Oh my. This video is wrong on so many levels. Let me break them down.
1. The girl
It might not be a nice thing to say, but judging from this video, this girl is not college material.
Ordering a Dell Laptop with Ubuntu is not an easy thing. You have to digg around the website and look hard for it.
As seen in the video, the Dell page clearly states that this laptop is shipped with the Ubunt Linux operating system.
Presuming others do as me, when I order a expensive item like a computer, I read everything about the product.
It’s pretty clear she didn’t.
She also doesn’t seem to be open to new things. See my previous posts on this blog, it ties together nicely.
Should a college student really resort to such drastic measures for such simple problems?
Does that not say a lot about her?
2. The journalist
They make a big deal about the word Ubuntu. Yet they fail to mention the word Linux in the entire segment.
This item is obviously not newsworthy.
They also fail to correct the misconceptions of the girl.
3. Dell
It’s obvious the girl and the journalist are IT newbies, but why is Dell not helping that girl?
When you buy a computer with Ubuntu preloaded, you should get free tech support.
Let’s crack down here problems:
She couldn’t get online and she was panicking about MS Word.
It wasn’t clear whether the girl in the video couldn’t figure out how to connect to her wifi hotspot or she couldn’t figure out how to set up her new internet connection at her house.
An Ethernet problem can be ruled out here.
If she didn’t know how to connect to a wifi hotspot, which is unlikely as it’s extremely easy, Dell support should have been able to help her out.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how easy it is. Keep in mind that here hardware worked OOTB, so she didn’t have to do complicated things like setting up ndiswrapper. Just clicking the NM-applet, clicking on here wifi connection and entering her WEP or WPA code would have been enough.
Maybe the WEP or WPA security had been setup for her on her previous computer and she didn’t know the code anymore, possible, but unlikely as we should have heard that from the journalist in the video.
4. Verizon
So I presume that, together with the new laptop, she had gotten a new internet connection from Verizon.
Did the girl called Verizon when her CD failed to work in Ubuntu? I don’t think this is mentioned in the video.
I’ve set up a dozen new internet connections, and I alway go straight to the router to set them up.
Could nobody tell her this, whether it was Verizon or a tech savvy friend? Hell, I’m sure even a Google search should bring up this method.
Either way, her internet connection problem should have been fixed by either Dell or Verizon. Both solutions shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to explain.
5. MS Word
MS Word is part of the MS Office suite. A widely used piece of Office software for Windows and OSX.
The video mentions Open Office. OOo is compatible with MS Office.
I don’t know if MS Office is compatible with .odf, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.
Either way, this girl was just panicking, thinking she was cut of from the rest of the Office using population, when in fact she wasn’t.
I’m ignoring the fact that MS Office (2003 or 2007?) is compatible with Wine.
6. Conclusion
This whole video to me is just wrong.
You have a technologically challenged girl and badly informed journalists, talking about a subject they know close to nothing about.
Where is the Ubuntu voice heard in this video? Because this is a major PR nightmare for the Ubuntu OS.
We could also ask ourselves why the girl gave up so quickly?
Would you quit your job because your car broke down, or would you take the bus?
And last but not least, did anyone noticed that the news cut scene in the beginning muted the news anchor for a few seconds, making everyone miss out about what he was saying?
As alway, I welcome your thoughts, critisims and comments on this post.
Most people these days have a computer, or at least sat behind one.
The concept with most OS GUI’s (operating systems graphical user interface) is the same.
You have a desktop where you can put icons on it to quickly open applications or files and some sort of panel on the bottom or top (or both) listing the installed applications. Then you have a file manager to navigate throught the directories (folders). A webbrowser and some other apps to open photos, audio, …
This is true for all the big operating systems or desktop enviroments (Windows, OSX, Gnome, KDE).
Now put someone who has been using Windows XP for a long time behind a Gnome box and he’ll complain, saying it’s hard to use.
I’m not talking about installing applications or anything. Just opening applications and things like that.
It’s exactly the same concept and everything works the same, except the menu is on the top.
You click the menu and the applications appear. Yet somehow people are lost on a Gnome box.
The same is true for XP to Vista or KDE or OSX.
Do these people also get confused when they drive another make of car?
I’m sure the more technical guys and gals know what I’m talking about. I get frustrated when I see such a person behind my or another computer.
Do you know such people and have some examples to share? Feel free to leave a comment!
