…At least in the Pilgrim family.
Over Christmas break, we did a three-way computer upgrade: my sons got my parents’ old Mac, my parents got my old desktop, and I got a new desktop. Of course I’m still running Debian Sid (I just moved my old hard drive to the new computer), but the big news is that my parents asked me to migrate them to Linux. They are now happy users of Ubuntu 7.10 with Firefox, Thunderbird, Picasa, OpenOffice.org, Amarok, and gnome-games.
Most of their complaints about Apple and their Mac were really quite minor, but you know how these things go. They add up, and some get inflated out of proportion, and “we only bought a Mac because you bought a Mac, if you’re on Linux now and you say it would work for us, we believe you.” But for the record, here are some of their specific gripes:
- iPhoto was “slow”. They had an old version (I believe they were two versions behind) which was indeed slow with their collection of ~8000 pictures. I told them they could upgrade to a more recent version which would be faster and would have new features to boot, but they weren’t interested in the new features and they felt vaguely cheated at the suggestion of paying just for performance upgrades. (I know that iPhoto comes standard on new Macs, see below for more on new Macs.)
- Also, iPhoto lost all of their albums one day for no apparent reason. It seems to do that a lot, though apparently it only happens to people who deserve it. Or something.
- iTunes was “annoying”. And they didn’t even use iTunes that much; they had neither the disk space nor the inclination to rip their entire music collection. iTunes is great if you have an iPhone and 3 iPods and buy music and TV shows from the iTunes Store and subscribe to podcasts to listen to and watch on your morning commute and this and that and the other damn thing… but otherwise it’s kinda bloated and slow and keeps changing appearance for no reason. And then there’s the constant stream of meaningless upgrades, each with their own new EULA to click through. To a casual observer like my father, it’s pretty obvious that Apple has completely lost the plot on usability and simplicity — two of their strengths, historically — but they don’t care because they’re making so much damn money on ringtones. My father does have an iPod, though. Which brings me to…
- Using an iPod was “frustrating”. Seriously. OK, the first one was DOA, but my father returned it to the Apple Store without incident. But because he didn’t have a music collection, he relied on me to fill his iPod with new music every so often. The first time he went to recharge it, he plugged it into his Mac and iTunes “helpfully” wiped it and refilled it with the few songs that were in his iTunes library. Of course he didn’t realize what had actually happened until he went to the gym the next day and had virtually no music (and certainly no good exercise music). His next thought was that I should refill it, and then he would just copy the music from the iPod to his iTunes library. This led to a long discussion of why iTunes wouldn’t let you do that, and how this was technically different from me letting him borrow one of my CDs, and how if he really wanted to do that there were utilities but not from Apple, and so on and so forth. So yeah, my parents switched to Linux because — among other reasons — it was easier to use with their iPod. That’s how badly Apple has lost the plot.
- Their Apple keyboard stopped working one day for no apparent reason. OK, it was five years old (it came with the computer), but my father is from an era where he expects things to last longer than five years. And then I told him that he really needed a Mac-specific keyboard replacement because their CD drive had no physical eject button, which led to a red-faced rant about how “Steve doesn’t like buttons ruining his precious f!@#ing curves.” (Like father, like son, no?) Luckily I had an old Mac keyboard they could borrow.
- They constantly dealt with random crashes and freezes using an old version of Microsoft Office. Not Apple’s fault, but there it is. I tried to sell them on NeoOffice, but it ran extremely slowly on their 700 MHz G4. I quoted them a good online price for the latest version of Microsoft Office and their eyes bulged out. I know this isn’t a fair comparison — the only reason that OpenOffice.org meets their needs on their new Linux desktop is because the underlying computer is so much faster than their old Mac. But those were their options: upgrade Microsoft Office and hope it was less buggy, migrate to NeoOffice, buy a new Mac, or migrate to Linux and run OpenOffice.org. (Windows was never a serious option.) Which brings me to…
- They didn’t want to buy a Mac Pro because they felt it was too expensive for them (they never do “number crunching” or video editing or anything that would require the sort of expansion capabilities that a Mac Pro provides), and they didn’t want to buy a new iMac because the screen isn’t adjustable enough. This complaint isn’t really Apple’s fault either — it’s rooted in the layout of their desk, which has a raised shelf along the back half of the desk. They had their “desktop lamp” iMac up on the shelf, but with the neck tilted all the way down so they could read the screen without craning their heads back. (They both wear bifocals.) A new iMac would basically require them to buy a new desk. Don’t laugh; this was really important to them. Someday you’ll be old, too. Just you wait.
Now, this is not to say that migrating to Linux was pain-free. I spent quite some time researching their requirements and finding the right applications for them, and then I spent more time migrating their important documents and data. Picasa, in particular, was a difficult choice for me, what with being completely closed source and all that. But it is blazingly fast on any hardware, and it is well-supported, and I simply refuse to subject my parents to the horror that is F-Spot. (Digikam was a close second to Picasa. They may still end up there if they don’t like Picasa for some reason.)
I had originally chosen Kontact/Kmail for their email needs, but I ran into some strange bug where Kmail refused to send messages. Basic functionality, right? You’d think someone would, you know, notice. I realize email standards are wide and complicated, but still. An email program that can’t send email is pretty fucking useless. And no, it wasn’t a server problem; I switched to Thunderbird (yeah, I know) and suddenly email worked flawlessly. Still not happy with that solution, but there it is.
My mother used the Address Book extensively on the old Mac. Credit where credit is due: exporting an address book from the Address Book app is really easy and standards-based, and I was able to import all the addresses into Kmail (and later Thunderbird) with full fidelity. Thanks, Apple.
Setting up to print to their Epson Stylus C62 was easy. Ubuntu automatically detected the printer and offered to install the appropriate driver, and I printed a full-color test page on the first try. But then my father threw me for a loop and asked how he could realign the print heads and check the ink levels. I have owned printers for many decades and I have never done this, but apparently it’s a regular occurrence for him, and the Mac printer driver let him do it. So OK, I poke around Google, and lo and behold, there’s a package for that. But it doesn’t work. Oh wait, I need to install gimp-print too (God knows why). Now it aligns the print heads, but it gives an error message while checking ink levels. But it works from the command line. But only as root. Weird. Unresolved. Grr.
I think that was it, though. Everything else “just worked,” including opening all their Microsoft Office documents — word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations — in OpenOffice.org, connecting to their wireless network (served by an Apple Airport Express, natch), and of course playing Mahjongg (part of gnome-games). I know the wireless thing isn’t a fair test, since I’d already thoroughly tested their hardware for Linux compatibility and had been running Debian on it for a year and a half. Still — different distro, clean install, no driver problems. Thanks, Canonical (and Debian, and all the upstream driver hackers). And thanks to Sun and others for reverse-engineering Microsoft’s proprietary formats and building a free office suite that even my mother could love. Kudos all around. 2008 is the year of Linux on the desktop. My parents’ desktop.
“I simply refuse to subject my parents to the horror that is F-Spot”
F-Spot is a free software project and its developers are real people. It would be great if you could expound on this; free software does not improve because of name calling, but constructive criticism backed up by facts.
Comment by Gabriel Burt — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
You can use a non-Mac keyboard to eject the disc, just press F12.
Comment by Weiran — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 5:39 pm
Gabriel, I suffered with F-Spot long enough to know better. One day it stopped launching; turns out I had to change my shortcut to “dbus-launch f-spot” for some reason. There was the constant issue of performance problems, no doubt partly due to being built on top of Mono, and partly due to lack-of-polish bugs like redrawing a picture after tagging it. Then one day it stopped importing photos. Sometime last spring, it changed the uncustomizable directory structure it creates to store photos. Then it started crashing while scrolling through existing photos. Then I gave up. Have I missed anything? Oh yes: when it did work, it had clunky tools for fixing bad photo metadata, no duplicate photo detection, and a weak slideshow feature. These limitations made organizing my photos a chore instead of a delight.
I realize that all software is built by real people. But these particular people started with the worst software stack the Free Software world has ever known and then built an inferior product that I despised using even when it worked. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings. I don’t gives “A”s for effort.
Comment by Mark — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 5:59 pm
Weiran, you’re right of course. I didn’t know that at the time. I’m not sure that telling my father to press (and hold) F12 to eject the CD would have prevented that particular rant. He still would have had to write that down on a post-it note and paste it to the monitor or the keyboard. Shades of those function key overlays you used to be able to buy for your PC back in the days of DOS and Lotus 1-2-3. What can I say? The lack of a button bugged him. The new computer’s CD drive has a button on it that ejects the tray, and he’s happier.
Comment by Mark — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
Just curious, in your analysis of why none of the macs were suitable for your parents (last bullet point) why did you completely miss out the mac mini, which would seem the idea mac in this situation?
Comment by Neil Jenkins — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
All excellent points. It’s so easy to lose perspective of it all when we’re heads-down in the computing industry drooling over the latest piece of obscure tech that promises an even more alienating user experience. I guess parents still have something to teach us even at this point in our lives.
Comment by Jack — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
So, let’s take this unwarranted anti-Apple rant point by point….
iPhoto being slow. Seems like Linux must certainly offer a comparable - yet speedier - offering. I mean, they didn’t want to pay for that “free” (as in free lunch) upgrade. (Your words, not mine.)
iPhoto lost their data. Guess we only have your word for that one - since you only really provided links to a rather old post of yours.
iTunes is “annoying”. Valid claim. Spot on. Yet you DO realize… your parents behave exactly like Dave Winer did a few years ago when this got him, right?
Using the iPod is frustrating. Hmph. After one ignores the things you already mention in that last Winereze bullet point you’re left with…??? I really have no clue. Seems like the former was what caused the latter. (But don’t let how computer-illiterate users mess up a good story. No reason to.
Apple keyboards are the reason that F12 - or heaven forbid, draging it to the trashcan - make it something to change your operating systems. Got it.
Random crashes of MS Office is - go figure - yet another. Yeah, yeah, I know… you tried to sell them on NeoOffice. (A pretty good port IMHO.) But no. Instead they want to learn a whole new OS because of - get this - OpenOffice? OMFG. You couldn’t give YOUR OWN parents a break and tell them that that runs perfectly well on their Mac? For the same price as that Linux PC?
Now you’re just showing your colors. (No complaints about where you stand Mark, but this particular rant is superfluous.)
Final bullet point. Wow. Let’s do this one your style…. Well, since your comments don’t tell me that HTML works and offers no preview, I’ll fake it as good as this post did for you….
(1) ” … they never do “number crunching”….”
Then that’s a real shame their son is claiming that the need for Microsoft Office matters.
(2) “This isn’t really Apple’s fault either….”
Well, then exactly WHY did you feel you had to mention it? Least you actually COULD try is to frame this one in terms of, urm, Linux. You know, since you decided to place that OS in your title and like happened to mention it barely twice in your bullet points (both in the context of OpenOffice?).
So far Mark, you not only have been lame, you’ve set up a strawman argument for where your passions lie. Let’s see where you go from that setup….
“Now, this is not to say that migrating to Linux was pain-free. I spent quite some time researching their requirements and finding the right applications for them, and then I spent more time migrating their important documents and data. Picasa, in particular, was a difficult choice for me, what with being completely closed source and all that.”
SHOCK. STUNNED SILENCE.
Wait just a minute. You mean Linux OOBE isn’t something your parents can handle? But wait, if 2008 is the year of this OS on the desktop… aw, hell, it ain’t worth it. But there’s that other thing… “completely closed source”. Um, wow. Go figure.
“I had originally chosen Kontact/Kmail for their email needs, but I ran into some strange bug where Kmail refused to send messages. Basic functionality, right? You’d think someone would, you know, notice. I realize email standards are wide and complicated, but still. An email program that can’t send email is pretty fucking useless. ”
Got it. Hey, at least I’m glad your parents had a family member who had the time to try various things out until they he found something that simply “just worked”. Oh, wait.
Seriously Mark, Listen to yourself. At this point you can’t even recommend something open like OpenOffice on the Mac because your religion demands you configure your parent’s computer 100% before they get their hands on it. That’s stretching.
“Credit where credit is due: exporting an address book from the Address Book app is really easy and standards-based, and I was able to import all the addresses into Kmail (and later Thunderbird) with full fidelity. Thanks, Apple.”
Glad to see you can say something favorable. Much appreciated.
“Everything else “just worked,” including opening all their Microsoft Office documents — word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations — in OpenOffice.org, connecting to their wireless network (served by an Apple Airport Express, natch), and of course playing Mahjongg (part of gnome-games).”
I’m guessing this would be the same - and more with a Mac. Pricier? Definitely. But when it comes to parents, who really cares about your own personal religion? I know I don’t.
“I know the wireless thing isn’t a fair test, since I’d already thoroughly tested their hardware for Linux compatibility and had been running Debian on it for a year and a half. Still — different distro, clean install, no driver problems. Thanks, Canonical (and Debian, and all the upstream driver hackers). And thanks to Sun and others for reverse-engineering Microsoft’s proprietary formats and building a free office suite that even my mother could love.”
ROFLMAO. So after 18 months and “reverse-engineering” magic from a source your parents could have USED ANYWAY you feel justified in saying that 2008 is the year of Linux on the desktop?
Take it from me, a sports fan of Buffalo NY and Cleveland OH teams… I know loser talk when I hear it Mark. You just posted a mouthfull.
Comment by dd — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
Yeah. We lost our only serious buyers for the house we’re trying to sell when they discovered that their dresser wouldn’t fit in the master bedroom. Their agent (no spring chicken himself) was just as shocked as we were.
Comment by Michael R. Bernstein — Friday, January 4, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
Obviously the real world is too complicated for some people to understand. Sheesh. Did TUAW link to me again?
Comment by Mark — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 1:03 am
@dd:
When you are talking to actual USERS, you’d be amazed at the things that make a difference. My mom is using Kubuntu 6.06 (and Digikam) because of some truly nasty Windows-only photo application that came with her HP camera. The experience so soured her on consumer photo apps for XP that she wouldn’t even consider Picasa (then Windows only).
She still uses XP for word processing and e-mail.
Another family member went from XP to Ubuntu to Mac after learning that I wasn’t going to continue to clean up his computer. It all depends on the individual user’s preferences (and the availability of free support).
Comment by W^L+ — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 1:11 am
I gotta put in my two Mac cents here, just because I recently found & installed NeoOffice.
I still marvel at my luck when I bought my Quicksilver in 2001 or 02–some girl who had won it at some Apple conference listed it on ebay with some untoward terms in the title of the auction, and I was the only bidder and got it new in the box for 1000 bucks.
The machine is the only one I have left still running. For years I ran it on only 256 megs of ram, but maxxed it out last year to the 1.5 gig limit. Much much nicer, and to me it seems that NeoOffice runs nicely. Of course, I don’t really use the iphoto much, and don’t even have an ipod.
BTW, Mark, does the advent of the 2008 year mean that you’ll update your Ubuntu required software list?
Thanks so much.
Happy new year, all!
Comment by Dan Smith — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 7:11 am
Or, should I say, you Linux required? Just reread the part about the Debian Sid part.
thanks.
Comment by Dan Smith — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 7:17 am
I notice that when your old man had itunes problems you pretty much left him to sort it out (installing Senuti would have taken 2 minutes and solved his issues), but you were happy to setup a whole linux install for them.
Nothing wrong with personal preference, but if you batted for the other team,
you’d have taken the effort to tweak their mac and they’d have been happy enough.
Still, each to his own.
Comment by Dick Davies — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 7:34 am
I really can’t tell you what’s wrong with that setup, but I have an Epson CX3200, which supposedely uses the same printing engine as the C62, and since Gutsy, it reports back on ink levels. I was actually surprised because it didn’t do it before, and it just started doing it after the upgrade to Gutsy (and I only noticed when I recently ran out of color ink). So there’s probably hope, but I just can’t tell you what you need to do.
Comment by Tiago Rodrigues — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
> And then I told him that he really needed a Mac-specific keyboard replacement . . .
It has already been noted that you can press and hold F12 for eject on keyboards lacking an eject button (the ‘and hold’ part is essential, btw), but the part that really gets me about this is the notion that you need some kind of ’special’ keyboard that’s different from a ‘normal’ keyboard to use with your Mac. Where ‘normal’ means… what? Windows?
You can’t tell me Windows keyboards are some kind of standard vendor-neutral choice and that Apple is just being crazy with their crazy special keys - I call them Windows keyboards because they bear the Windows logo, likely have keys that will only work with Windows, and were designed to work with Windows. Mac keyboards were designed to work with Macs. You can buy Windows keyboards from manufacturers other than Microsoft, and you can buy Mac keyboards from manufacturers other than Apple.
It’s not fair and not rational to imply that Macs somehow don’t work as well with your usual, everyday vendor-neutral keyboard, because there does not exist such a keyboard. Keyboards are designed to work with a particular operating system; fortunately for us, most operating systems will do their best to accept any kind of keyboard despite that.
As for Linux, well, nobody really designs keyboards for them, so they have to take what they can get. And they do that, to an extent… tell me, which key combination do you press to get special characters on Linux? Compose? I don’t see a compose key on my keyboard. Oh, you have to manually assign that keybinding? How? Suddenly F12 for eject doesn’t feel so bad…
(Disclaimer: I like and use both Macs and Ubuntu.)
Comment by Aero — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
Teh funny.
I’m with Dick Davies.
You give your parents a “free” hardware upgrade and seemingly unlimited software support after completely hanging them out to dry on the Mac side (not even upgrading their copy of iPhoto — a free download, let alone springing $40, so they can buy more RAM to run neoOffice), and you marvel at the improvement in their user-experience?
It’ll be “The Year of Linux on the Desktop” when you can hand your dad an Ubuntu Installation CD, and say “Here, Dad, install this. You and Mom will like it”
As we Jews like to say, “May he live to 120.”
Comment by Jacques Distler — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 4:38 pm
Awesome. All we need is Joe Clark to show up and we’ll have a fanboy hat trick.
Whoosh.
Comment by Mark — Saturday, January 5, 2008 @ 5:04 pm