Recently at work, I switched from Debian/KDE to Ubuntu/GNOME, and I must say I am very pleased. Ubuntu is far more usable than Debian, with all kinds of administration tools and utilities on par with Windows: device manager, application installer (not just synaptic, but a more user friendly one as well), user and group configuration, etc. But since Ubuntu is based on Debian (it basically is Debian, with some usability enhancements), all my knowledge acquired from running Debian is still applicable.
GNOME is less configurable than KDE, but more than makes up for it in user friendliness. I was afraid of GNOME because I’d heard a lot about the “GNOME usability nazis” but upon using GNOME, I’m much more willing to forgive them no matter how pedantic or strict they are, because their level of obsession results in a more polished, usable interface. There are still problems with GNOME, but the Ubuntu distribution has gone a long way towards a desktop environment usable by the clueless, while still delivering the power of Linux we techies demand.
Enabling the nvidia driver, for example, was much easier, because Ubuntu takes care of it being installed automatically through its automatic update mechanism. The only thing you have to do is toggle it on in the xorg.conf file (I could not find a way to do it through the GUI, unfortunately).
Ubuntu also has a live CD distribution, to try it out without installing anything, and it works really well. I tried it on my new Dell laptop, and everything just worked. Even the sound. Even the wireless. I was astounded.
It’s saying a lot that my biggest complaint so far has been some minor lack of configurability. In particular, I want to associate shortcut keys with applications. GNOME does not provide a way to do this for an arbitrary application through the GUI—you can do it using the gconf-editor, but it essentially requires editing XML keys (analogous to hacking the Windows registry to toggle a feature in Windows), which is ridiculous. Also, it seems there is a limit of twelve such shortcut keys (fortunately, I do not need that many). My other minor complaint is that I cannot set a separate wallpaper for each of my four virtual desktops, but that’s really not too important.
GNOME’s usability and responsiveness is great. In KDE, when you change something in the Control Center, you not only have to click OK or Apply like on Windows, it then pops up a progress dialog saying “Applying changes” that takes three to ten seconds to complete. In contrast, in GNOME, there is no OK or Apply button. You check a box, and BOOM! everything relating to that box instantly updates (thank you gnome-settings-daemon).
I also like the Ubuntu default theme, “Human.” A lot. It is far more attractive than even the best KDE themes (i.e., Plastik, Keramik). It is compact without sacrificing elegance. Ubuntu as a whole is like that. And it has a bootsplash screen (why doesn’t Debian?). You think that’s not a big deal, but try researching how to add or customize a bootsplash screen in most Linux distributions. It’s one more thing that is a huge pain in the ass, but shouldn’t be.
There are still some things I have to try out more thoroughly. Most importantly, I haven’t tested my various USB devices yet (PS2 adapters, flash drive, external HD, maybe even my Canon camera and LG phone) but I’ll be flabbergasted if they don’t work pretty darn well.
Lastly, there is also an AMD64 version of Ubuntu. I am definitely going to give it a try on my server at home later this summer when I have some time. But actually, not the AMD64 version. I did some research, and it basically has the same problems as the Debian AMD64 port—no OpenOffice port, no Flash port, etc. Besides, it’s pointless unless you need to address more than 2 GB of RAM. I only have 1.5 GB, so 32-bit it is! I can always switch later when 64-bit doesn’t suck so much.
Edit: I just went to homestarrunner.com to see whether Flash works, and of course the plugin was not installed. Now, Firefox has that “Install Missing Plugins” button, which works fine on Windows, but on Debian is filled with lies. Just for fun, I clicked the button on my new Ubuntu system and—lo and behold!—just like on Windows, it found the Flash plugin, downloaded it, installed it, and started using it without even needing to restart Firefox!
This is how computers should work. And finally, it’s how they do work.
“Emacs would be a far better OS if it shipped with a halfway-decent text editor.”
—adamjaskie, on Slashdot