Just like Star Wars happens a long time ago..but somehow in the future (in the Family Guy world)

No candy for joo, please ditch Linux now!

OK fair enough .
Im afraid I don't understand. All I feel I need is the login screen and the lock screen. What is the purpose of the sudo tool and various config utils keep asking for the password? If Ive logged in then I have proved I know the password, so is it not just nagging me for the sake of nagging (hence me calling it the UAC)?

Thanks all, RM

If you don't use sudo, then you keep running as administrator all the time.If you do so, you make it a lot easier for others to get into your system and do some serious damage.

That's exactly why Windows is causing so much problems. You are practically asking the system to trust you forever once you are logged in. That means you and everything you start later. All programs you open would automatically gain root access and do to your system whatever you want. That is similar to Windows, where you can log in as administrator to, say, install an update, and then while that is going on you browse the internet a little. And wham, any drive-by-download you happen to trigger automatically gains full system access because you're not just admin for that update but for everything.

In order to preclude such stupid behaviour, Ubuntu will ask you for admin rights for everything only an admin may do. And that does not include silly things (such as copying calculator.exe to the desktop, which actually triggered Vista's UAC when I did it), only things which may break a system.

During normal usage instead of setting up things you will never see any password request. I have an Ubuntu notebook which my wife and my sons also use, and they have no root access; and they can use it perfectly well without ever being asked for a password. Of course, when they want new programs they have to ask me to install them. But at least they do install for them, too: that's more than I can say for Win XP on the same notebook, where the situation is the same but I have to double-check every installation whether it really is available for normal users, too.

Robin

Well OK Ill leave it.
So it looks like Im all fixed up and ready to go. I must admit that I am very pleased with ubuntus 'snappyness' (rel. to windows), and the mountain of free software available. Now that it works, I am very impressed with all the features which surpass windows: esp. "Workspaces" and the rotating cube, and the cool window effects that are available. The printer installation (which I thought was going to be hard) was handled automatically! It downloaded the required driver by itself, and the printer was ready to go. In windows it took 20mins to install from the CD. The Wifi stick ran automatically will no driver download (vs laborious driver install involving the safe mode in windows).
So yeah Im happy. The only things I am missing are the new Windows Live Mail app to auto get my hotmail (which is awesome), and itunes (which I semi-hate (DRM) anyway). Is there any linux app which does hotmail downloads?
So thanks to everyone who's helped. I guess the only problem I see with Ubuntu is its big starting obstacles. The user has to try and understand why its all retarded, with no knowledge of linux at all. Perhaps there should be (or already is) an online walk-through of how to remove the common problems involved in getting started?

Cheers, RM

There is just one common problem: the misconception that Windows knowledge is in any way useful when trying to learn Linux. It's not. It's an obstacle. People with no prior Windows or computer knowledge to speak of have far fewer problems than people who really know their way around Windows, that's my experience.

'Not like Windows' is not exactly a sign of being retarded. Quite the reverse.

Robin

I second that!

Unfortunately I disagree with that. I started out as a Windows Sysadmin with Supporting Windows 98 clients and Windows NT servers. The knowledge I got from that really helped me. Especially when it came to picking up bash since I used to spend alot of my time in the dos prompts.

Well, YMMV, but I started out as sysadmin with DOS 3.0 and Windows 3.0, and I feel I had to unlearn far more when I switched to Linux in 2003 than that this prior knowledge was useful. General computer knowledge collected along with the MS-specific knowledge was of course useful, but there were many simple and obvious concepts in Linux which I failed to see because I thought it really couldn't be that simple. I don't know for how long I believed that there must be some hidden registry-like place where settings are stored, or hidden files which I can't move, or whatnot.

I've seen newbies use 'Add/Remove' on Ubuntu in such a way that they click the URL to the homepage of the program they want to install to download it, which is in the comments to the package, because the very concept of a central repository is totally alien to them. People who stubbornly expect the CD which comes with their printer to install it for them in Linux prior to attaching it, instead of just plugging it in and using it. You get the general idea.

Robin

I have a few things to add. Computer monitors do not perfectly align between different resolution/refresh rate/color depth settings. If XP and linux are using different settings for the monitor, the screens will not be aligned. There is no easy solution to this problem, which is inherent to all computer monitors.

Windows appeals to women and children, and people with ADHD, because it doesn't require disciplined thought and memorization to operate. Windows is at least partially entertainment, even doing the most serious of tasks. Linux takes a different approach: Speed, Power, Security, Privacy, Freedom and Flexibility.

Windows is an operating system for the adult heterosexual male , requiring the adult heterosexual male characteristics of diligence, discipline, persistence, hard work, masculinity and delayed gratification of immediate desire, in exchange for a solid future. You can think of it as learning to drive a 350 cubic inch, 450 hp V-8, 5 on the floor manual, Chevy Corvette. The 4 cylinder automatic transmission model is easier to drive, but it is designed for women; or girls, in the case they haven't yet known man.

Classy attractive women, with large firm well formed breasts, deep crystal blue eyes, thick shiny bouncy long blond curly hair, long slender legs, proportionally sized hips, flat tanned abs, firm behinds, clear Caucasian skin, hard strong nails, and angel faces; who are sculpted like goddesses; laugh at adult males using Windows. It's like a guy trying to use a tampon. And WIndows is always infected. Linux is selective, so doesn't transmit disease to her men.

In the end the choice is yours. From experience, I can tell you, linux IS worth getting to know.

Hmm... I have ADHD and windows does not appeal to me at all. So I don't think that statement is 100% accurate.

Even if this kinda woman laughed at me for using Linux, I would not give it up.....

No! No no no no NO!

By doing this, you'll give someone using any exploit in a program or library access to your whole system. This means they can do whatever they want to your computer, meaning they can use it to send spam, host child porn, and do other nasty things that you will be held accountable for if the authorities find out.

Look at all the problems versions of Windows prior to Vista have had. Most of them were caused because the user was an adminstrator by default. Linux (and now Vista), by having the user run under a limited account, ensures that any problems that occur through misuse are limited to the account of the user that's currently logged in, rather than affecting the whole system.

You have logged in under a limited user account. When it asks for another password it's asking for the administrator password (which should be different from your limited user password for security reasons). This ensures only the system administrator can alter certain system files and settings, while blocking ordinary users from doing so and potentially destroying the system.

Yes, I can vouch for that. But when they see me booting up Slackware, then they drag me off to the nearest bedroom.