Well this is a popular topic ... and she's still dumb.

1/15/2009 12:59:13 PM

Quote :

"extreme computer lovers"

EXTREME
The easiest way to order non-Windows on Dells site is probably a refurb through the outlet, but I still cant see that happening, especially if she spent $1100. She must have threw in all sorts of bullshit she didnt need. As far as walking out of Best Buy with a solution...something tells me she would shit a brick if she tried to install Windows, regardless of how easy they have made it, especially when it asked her if she was sure she wanted to format C:.

1/15/2009 12:59:26 PM

Man, wish I could meet this broad. I'd trade my Windows laptop for hers. Hell I'd go out and put office on my computer for her and install her stupid internet CD.

1/15/2009 1:09:33 PM

Option 1: Install windows and remedy situation.

Option 2: Drop out.

1/15/2009 1:20:24 PM

God, how much stupid can be packed into one story?

Quote :

"an operating system for your computer similar to Windows"

Not really similar, except that it's an operating system

Quote :

"expecting to buy your classic bread-and-butter computer"

Until she saw that she could buy one cheaper and didn't question why, even though there must have been TONS of warnings that windows was not included

Quote :

""I regret ordering the computer.""

They probably regret selling it to you.

Quote :

"the representative told her there was still time to change back to Windows. "

But she didn't. Story should end here.

Quote :

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

Dell: "Nah, keep ubuntu! It's 1337!"
Girl: "No, thanks, let me just get windows."
Dell: "OK, that'll be $300 extra"
End Scene

Quote :

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

Luckily.

Quote :

"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."

This just brings up a multitude of questions.
1.) Did she ask Verizon if they had a linux solution?
2.) Did she check google?
3.) Why does she have to use a CD to get online? Does the college not have internet access?
4.) Could she have looked into other connection options?

Quote :

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

This is the kicker, and really, I think the next line should be "she then disappeared in a puff of smoke and stupidity." She couldn't look for ways to run Word in Linux, ask someone at the college who knows about computers, etc? Surely there's some kind of lowly computer geek there who would have been glad to help her in return for an implicit promise of favors he thought he'd get but she never actually offered, right? She couldn't find anyone who could have told her that Office will work in Wine/Crossover, or that she could install a VM with windows, or that she could format the computer and install a pirated copy of windows, or that she could buy windows and do the same?

Instead she DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE? I think it's obvious this girl was too dumb to even be in school and used the computer excuse as a way to explain to her equally stupid parents why she dropped out.

Quote :

""I wanted to get back to school, but I needed a computer to be able to do that.""

Instead, though, I'm just partying every night and sleeping until 2 pm. Daddy understands, and he's so mad at Dell for getting me kicked out of college! Tee hee!

PS, sorry for the sexism. I think it's warranted here, though.

1/15/2009 2:22:54 PM

The mental image I'm getting of this broad looks a lot like Jabba the Hut.

Edit - Just saw the video. Not too bad, but she looks like she might be on meth.

[Edited on January 15, 2009 at 2:28 PM. Reason : *]

1/15/2009 2:27:11 PM

^^I'm sure if she wasn't taking online classes she could ask someone on campus.

also this girl has got to be SUPER SUPER HOT!

1/15/2009 2:28:31 PM

Sad Sad world we live in...

First, why the fuck are you paying 1k+ for a laptop anymore? Or any computer?? (customs/gaming rigs/non-home use excluded, apple also excluded, but thats another rant)

Im not a heavy linux user, but its not bad (mostly use ubuntu when I do), and open office isnt that bad either.

With the verizon issue, I blame them. A lot of ISPs have third-party crapware they give you to instant connect your computer with their modem which is pointless. Networking today is plug and play for the most part, not old day dialup and even then you just had to type in your number.

1/15/2009 3:32:24 PM

Quote :

"2.) Did she check google?"

1/15/2009 4:09:15 PM

not if she couldn't get on the internet

1/15/2009 4:10:26 PM

One time I got a PC with Windows ME on it. Had to drop out of the 10th grade.

Ruined my life.

1/15/2009 4:31:47 PM

Quote :

"anyone else pick up on the fact that she spent $1100 on a laptop running ubuntu?"

I must admit I have no idea why that's significant, but I have the impression you're implying she's running a cheap OS on an expensive computer. I feel obligated to reply:

1) $1100 is midfield at best for any OS (except Vista, lollers) and I personally prefer my Linux on a 15-17" $3000 space heater of a laptop that has at least enough heft to beat someone to death with.
2) Linux is "cheap" because a bunch of hippy computer scientists refuse to ignore the fact that it costs practically nothing to reproduce software, not because it's technologically inferior. Even Unices of the late '70s were in many ways superior to Windows of the early '00s, most obviously from a networking and security standpoint.
3) For the most part, the exact same productivity and communications suite found on many *nix installs is available for Windows with the same feature set and resource requirements. Many people prefer this suite on Windows because it's convenient not to have to deal with commercial software vendors' attempts to create an artificial scarcity (licensing and anti-piracy measures) by which they can ascribe value to something that in a free market would have none (see #2, cost of reproduction).

I'm not saying that Ubuntu was the right choice for the user in the article. I am saying, however, that there's pretty much no meaningful conclusion that can be drawn from the cost of the laptop and choice of OS...

1/15/2009 4:41:15 PM

Except that she bought a laptop she knew nothing about, obviously. 90% of the laptops on the front page are under $900.00, the others are all gaming laptops. Why would she spend so much on upgrades, etc. and not know what an OS was?

[Edited on January 15, 2009 at 5:14 PM. Reason : d]

1/15/2009 5:08:09 PM

Quote :

"What’s this “ubuntu” … a made up word?"

Like kwanzaa?

1/15/2009 5:10:32 PM

^ oh, snap

1/15/2009 5:14:22 PM

Shit, mine has 120 gb of hd, 2 gb of ram, and a 2.1 ghz dual core, and it was $600

My brother just got one with 320 gb, 3 gb of ram, and 2.1 ghz dual core for $500

I don't think I'd drop $900 on a laptop, much less $1100, unless it was for some kind of really hefty work.

And Ubuntu 8.10 runs great on it - it's the only os I use on either of my computers (except to watch streaming netflix, the bastards)

1/15/2009 5:16:53 PM

Looks like an Inspiron. Dell has the 15" Hi-def with a 320gb hd for $799.00 right now. The 120 gb is $479.00.

I'd like to sell this woman something.

1/15/2009 5:23:55 PM

Quote :

"not if she couldn't get on the internet"

exactly

1/15/2009 5:36:38 PM

Fine print schmine print

1/15/2009 5:57:27 PM

Quote :

"Shit, mine has 120 gb of hd, 2 gb of ram, and a 2.1 ghz dual core, and it was $600 My brother just got one with 320 gb, 3 gb of ram, and 2.1 ghz dual core for $500"

For $500 you're getting something with a piece of shit display, craptacular "megahertz myth special" low cache chips that have almost but not quite enough cache to keep the pipeline full, and if the cache wasn't debilitating enough you get the double whammy of slow, high latency, and probably even asynchronously clocked memory.

Another way to look at it - if your CPU utilization as displayed on "top" ever hits 100%, for the duration of that 100% spike your time is being wasted. If you spend any time at all in front of the computer, it's going to add up. If you spend $500 on a new laptop, you're buying a computer that has amazing state of the art technology which is being hamstrung by cost compromises. On such a computer there's practically no way you're not going to run into a load that fully utilizes it. That may not even bother you, but I personally can't recommend anyone who isn't impoverished suffer that by choice.

[Edited on January 15, 2009 at 6:41 PM. Reason : the article girl is definitely stupid, but dissin' her for buying a nice laptop is just playa hatian]

1/15/2009 6:38:22 PM

^I'll have fun with my extra $600. You have fun with your extra 600 milliseconds.

1/15/2009 10:05:29 PM

I don't think you understand how this works... that might be more like 600ms every single time you load a Javascript, image, or flash-heavy page, which would be cumulatively days for even the most mundane user over the lifespan of the system. Considering the amount of time I personally spend waiting for CPU-bound operations, doubling cores alone would probably net me a couple man-months over the functional lifespan of the system

1/15/2009 10:53:03 PM

Quote :

"I must admit I have no idea why that's significant, but I have the impression you're implying she's running a cheap OS on an expensive computer. I feel obligated to reply: ... I'm not saying that Ubuntu was the right choice for the user in the article. I am saying, however, that there's pretty much no meaningful conclusion that can be drawn from the cost of the laptop and choice of OS..."

you misunderstand me (i was unclear in what i was trying to say, though)...i wasn't implying that it was a "cheap" OS on an "expensive" computer, or that ubuntu is unsuited for nicer machines...what i was pointing out is that she almost certainly had to have added things from a base configuration in order to get an $1100 laptop from dell (and, as noted, it doesn't look like one of their higher-end machines, so it almost certainly had a base price several hundred dollars lower)...and yet, she ended up with a "free" operating system...i think the evidence points strongly to her being a complete idiot in all aspects of this fiasco

1/16/2009 10:26:17 AM

wow, so very dumb.

1/16/2009 10:28:15 AM

Quote :

" Not everyone is a computer genius and knows that Office won't run on linux. Plus the salesman told her linux would do everything she needed."

My comment had nothing to do with computer proficiency, and pretty much everyone else explained why she's an idiot.

1/16/2009 11:51:49 AM

^^^ ah, in that case disregard my [words]... I don't know when / how it happened, but apparently I turned into an open source fan boy

1/16/2009 1:44:16 PM

Ubuntu is neat and pretty easy to use, but seriously, to drop it on someone who's never even heard of it before without any help is just asking for trouble. She's probably unlucky enough to not know anyone who's got enough background to show her the ropes, and I doubt that her technical college had readily available the sort of assistance she needed. Even if she were to get onto the Internet somehow, I don't know if she would be able to work her way through the myriad of documentation to find out the basics on getting what she needed to do done.

Given also that these were online courses she was registered for, I can see how being unable to even connect to the Internet would probably scuttle her semester. Dropping out the entire year is a bit weird (stupid), but you can rationalize dropping out for a single semester.

What's really sad is that so many Ubuntu proponents decided that instead of offering suggestions on how this young lady could get things sorted out, they would instead go into attack mode using it to personally attack the reporter and student. This just helps reinforce negative stereotypes, and it only hurts their cause too since it directly gives the news media all that much more fodder to talk about crazed techies.

1/16/2009 3:22:39 PM

This is why I rarely pay attention to the news...I blame the reporter. If I had been contacted with this story I would have chosen to cover the old lady with the cat stuck in the tree instead.

1/16/2009 3:48:19 PM

Sensationalism + Slow news day

1/18/2009 1:46:32 AM

I think the relevance of the $1100 cost of the laptop is that anyone who can afford a $1100 laptop should be able to pony up the additional cost of a commercial, closed-source operating system before being "forced" to drop out of school.

1/18/2009 2:05:10 PM