Evil Ubuntu Made Me Do It

Sherifu

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9667184

Abbie Schubert paid more than $1,100 for a Dell laptop hoping to enroll in online classes at MATC.

But something stopped her: Ubuntu.

That's an operating system for your computer similar to Windows that runs off the Linux system.

Schubert says she ordered her laptop online at Dell.com expecting to buy your classic bread-and-butter computer.

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 before learning that's when she accidentally bought. She called Dell the very next day and says the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows.

But she says Dell discouraged her.

"The person I was talking to said Ubuntu was great, college students loved it, it was compatible with everything I needed," said Schubert.

So she stuck with it.

Later, she discovered Ubuntu might look like Windows, but it doesn't always act like it.

Her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD won't load, so she can't access the internet. She also can't install Microsoft Word, which she says is a requirement for MATC's online classes.

As a result, with no internet and no Microsoft Word, Schubert dropped out of MATC's fall and spring semesters.

She also says Dell claimed it was now too late to get Windows and any changes she made herself would void her warranty.

"I'm extremely frustrated," said Schubert. "I wanted to get back to school, but I needed a computer to be able to do that."

27 News contacted Dell, but the company has not responded to us yet.

However, we think we've helped her get back to school.

Verizon says it will dispatch a technician to try to assist her accessing the internet without using the Windows-only installation disk.

MATC also says it promises to accept any of Schubert's papers or class documents using whatever software she has installed.

Fairly ridiculous story. If you want to drop out of college just do it, don't blame your operating system :pac:

Brian

I love the way that without Microsoft Word she was completely helpless to do any work whatsoever..

the_syco

LOLZ. She fails at ordering stuff online, so she drops out of her course:eek:

Morlar

So basically linux ate her homework. Lazy bint !

generalmiaow

To be fair the assistant news director actually wrote a response to the story (and probably the thousands of fanboys who emailed the site) which is very positive about Ubuntu.

The story is a bit ridiculous even for local news but it's the same as the high return rate on linux netbooks (and many of my friends' attempts to start using Ubuntu). A lot of normal people are just unwilling to adapt, it doesn't reflect on the usefulness of the OS. I hope the verizon guy who calls over tells her she can use OpenOffice and just save her coursework as .doc.

An Fear Aniar

She doesn't need any disk to access the nets through Verizon - network manager would have handled it with ease.

I think "there's no such thing as bad publicity" applies here:

1. People learn that Dell ships Ubuntu
2. In the video clip people see the Ubuntu desktop
3. People find out there's other stuff than Windows shipped by a major computer supplier
4. People reading the follow up comments will see that Ubuntu is actually not difficult to use and that you can create Word docs in Linux.


.

Orion

Lulz

"Her Verizon High-Speed Internet CD won't load, so she can't access the internet. She also can't install Microsoft Word, which she says is a requirement for MATC's online classes."

You don't need that CD and you can install MS Word. So she fails on so many levels.

"She also says Dell claimed it was now too late to get Windows and any changes she made herself would void her warranty."
That's bollox too. Software changes do not void your warranty. I bought my lappy from Dell, wiped it and installed Linux, got my Windows refund from them - and still had my warranty.

witnessmenow

i smell BS

no way would dell suggest not to "upgrade" to windows when she called, surely they make money on charging people for windows?

also, go to dell american site and try get a laptop with ubuntu on it. Its not impossible by any means, but you definitely wouldn't do it by accident?

Darr3nG

Macros42 wrote: »

...got my Windows refund from them...

How much did you get? And how long did it take?

Orion

Darr3nG wrote: »

How much did you get? And how long did it take?

about €50 - can't remember exactly. Took 1 email to them, got a reply the next day and the money credited to my cc within two weeks.