The Dell Ubuntu Blues, by Abbie Schubert
p2pnet news | Open Source:- When people buy a laptop, these days, chances are they’ll get Microsoft Vista, or maybe XP.
Whether they want them or not.
It’s a given and has been Lo! these many years. But not every laptop comes with an MS operating system.
“Ubuntu is the way to go, says Dell, and putting its product where its mouth is, the company is launching three computer systems, including one notebook, with the open-source Linux operating system already on board,” p2pnet posted in 2007, going on, “The move represents the fulfilment of a promise Dell made at the beginning of this month.”
And this year, Abbie Schubert spent $1,100 for a Dell laptop with Ubuntu on board, says WKOWTV.com.
But is she happy? She most definitely is not.
Saying, “Tens of thousands of people have read and commented on this story, making it one of the most-read stories in the history of WKOWTV.COM,” Schubert says she ordered her laptop online at Dell.com, ” expecting to buy your classic bread-and-butter computer,” says the story, going on, “She didn’t realize until the next morning her laptop defaulted to the Ubuntu operating system. ‘It’s been a mess,” she said. “I regret ordering the computer.’
“Schubert says she never heard of Ubuntu until learning that she accidentally bought it,” says WKOWTV, continuing she called Dell the next day and was told there was still time to change back to Windows.
But, “The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed,” says Schubert in the story.
So she stuck with it but later found her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD wouldn’t load, so she couldn’ t get online.
Nor could she install Microsoft Word, “which she says is a requirement for MATC’s online classes,” says the post, and, “with no internet and no Microsoft Word, Schubert dropped out of MATC’s fall and spring semesters.”
However, there’s a happy ending. Kind of.
“Verizon says its high-speed internet does indeed support Ubuntu, but some advanced features and installation disks clearly don’t work with Linux,” says WKOWTV, adding:
“MATC also says it promises to accept any of Schubert’s papers or class documents using whatever software she has installed.
“Schubert’s computer came with Open Office, a word processing software package that is compatible with Microsoft Word. She says she wasn’t aware it was compatible. MATC promised to show her how to save documents in compatible formats so she could enroll in online courses again.”
p2pnet – Dell keeps Ubuntu promise, May 26, 2007
WKOW TV – Woman blames Dell for missing online classes, January 13, 2009
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January 15th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Sounds like a case of buyers remorse. Maybe people should actually look at what they are buying before clicking…
January 15th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Sounds like someone making tons of excuses. She had to drop out of school? What a laugh. Yeah, she can’t possibly use a computer in a lab or library. Of course not. She can’t possibly look online to learn to use Ubuntu. She can’t possibly ask someone at her school to help her (many schools have help desks which are available to all students). She can’t ask a fellow student to help her.
Lame. Still, I’ll have to keep that in mind. Next time I need a scape goat for my own irresponsibility, I’ll use Dell and Ubuntu.
January 15th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
thoughtless purchase ends up going wrong. better title.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Buy Windows easy solution
Bad advice from Dell (no surprise) Probably a fan of linux.
Should have educated self by reading about linux(easiest way to determine if it is right for you)
This is the problem with Mac and Linux fans, they are so pasionate because they love what they use that they will go to all lenghts to get people to purchase what they love and not what is best for the person.
Bad purchase for her, no one to blame but her.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
@ January 15th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
… if she can’t get ONLINE then she must be psychic to get online, help from other online students and learn how to splice ms word crap on her box
getting help from verizon is like pulling teeth out of a running mule
it’s Dell that screwed up for not giving out instructions with laptop PERIOD
January 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
instructions? for how to get her specific internet rig to work with ubuntu?
saving documents in a word format with open office? i think “instructions” would be quite a lofty term for what is essentially pulling down a fairly intuitive and obvious dropdown menu and setting it to the preferred MS format of your choice (fair enough, it doesn’t support the formats that came out in office 07, but nether does office 06 without a plugin, and nobody actually USES the docx format to share data because knowing who has support for it is too unpredictable when the format does nothing worthwhile over the older doc…but that’s a whole different rant).
I just hope this doesn’t damage the windows-going public’s perception of Linux, because Ubuntu really is very good, and easy to use for people that are vaguely computer literate (as opposed to my grandmother, who has a series of mouse-clicks memorized to get to her email, and cant handle any deviation from her expectations, such as a window showing up with an unexpected size and location).
January 15th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Erm… File->Save As->Microsoft Word format. Is it that hard? Besides, who still uses propriety formats these days? I only use ODF now. OpenOffice, Google Docs, KOffice, Gnome Office, Lotus all support this ISO approved open standard.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:22 am
@Reader’s Write
Try living in the real world. “Besides, who still uses propriety formats these days? I only use ODF now.” Most people use proprietary formats, that’s who. Enough with the zealotry already. You actually made sense 2 posts ago, but now you sound like a typical Linux zealot.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Yeah, derChef. That Reader’s Write guy or girl or both is crazy. It’s almost like it’s more than one person using the same name. Hmmm. How could that possibly happen.
Try posting on here sometime leaving the name field blank, and you to can become one who proudly bares the name “Reader’s Write”!
January 17th, 2009 at 2:14 am
lol – Ubuntu made her drop out of school
That is a joke! She took one look at it and freaked out that it wasn’t MS and no doubt instantly gave up.
Ubuntu is so easy it is retarded.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:03 am
Umbutu is Soo much faster than window! It is not even funny! How fast it start and how fast it’s stop.
Why use MS office while you can use open office! Faster way faster and way more stable and so much more consistant!
January 17th, 2009 at 3:06 am
It does not take minutes for Unbutu to scan a network unlike windows. It does not take KBE 30sec to figure out if there is an internernet connection or not.
January 17th, 2009 at 7:21 am
@ January 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
instructions for verizon & ubuntu: you must have missed the part in Jon’s OP about not needing any LOL …
- the instructions could have simply said: hook up to your usual internet in usual way, it will be picked up automatically
- verizon: no CD needed
- Open Office: you don’t need to install MS Word of any part or MS Office, just import or open your documents in usual way with Open Office Write or Open Office
hmmm , now was that so hard?
January 17th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Hummm wow,shame on her.
Ubuntu is so easy to learn ,even grand mother uses it.Maybe she need to drop school because she cant learn anything.
kik your butt Miss Schubert and try it for real instead of complaining and you will be very happy with it.
Regards Miss âSchubert”
January 18th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Ubuntu and Linux in general is a really great OS but it takes a while to get use to it , if you have learn to use a computer with MS. Some just panic at the beginning since they often don’t even know there is so much support on line by the fantastic UBUNTU community. Open Office is decent but it is still lacking some functionality that are well supported by MS, for instance in chemistry it is much easier to use ISIS draw and Chem draw software that then are easy to integrate in a MS word or powerpoint documents and looks good. There are good drawing chemistry software for Linux but the integration of the graphics in open office is less then optimal and the graphics often don’t look as good. I have two computers at home with both Linux and XP. I personally much prefer using Kubuntu for Internet access for example, however the rest of the family is still addicted to XP and in some cases I don’t have a choice but to use XP myself.
Don’t be too hard on those whom are just now discovering UBUNTU, lets learn from their experiences and come up with constructive solutions and LINUX will likely be the preferred choice in a few years.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
It’s not as much that she’s beyond fucking retarded that gets at people as much as she’s making the OS look bad by making it news. She’s a stupid bitch that should have used other means to learn to do what she needed to before crying to her local news that she’s a retard and basically giving M$ a free commercial.