10 Reasons Why to Change to Mint - techrepublic.com

[office politics]

link:
10 reasons why Linux Mint is the most user-friendly desktop operating system available | TechRepublic

By Jack Wallen
December 20, 2011, 11:00 AM PST

Takeaway: Does Linux Mint 12 deliver the ultimate desktop experience? Check out these features and see what you think.

I've tried just about every desktop the world has had to offer. Through the years, I've seen the ridiculously complex to the overly simple, the hardly useful to the very useful. Of late, the desktop seems to be trying hard to migrate to touchscreen technology — without much success. But even with this lack of success (and lack of adoption on the desktop), some of the operating systems — such as Ubuntu Unity, GNOME 3, and some of Windows 8 — are still trying to pimp the touchscreen-friendly features. Thing is, those desktops aren't terribly user friendly. GNOME 3 has been called a disaster. I wouldn't go that far, but it does have some hurdles keeping it from true user friendliness.

Then along comes Linux Mint 12, taking the current state of the desktop and scoring a slam dunk in the user-friendly game. That's right… a Linux desktop might have just pulled way out in front by taking the best of both worlds and mashing them together to create something really special. Let me share with you why I believe Linux Mint 12 is the best of the best in desktop goodness.

the reasons are listed in the article. click the link above to find out more.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, if you are a noob, starting with Linux, yes. Synaptic FTW!

 

[office politics]

this article leads me to believe that Mint preinstalls and preconfigures much more software out of the box than other distros.

i like this because it would take less time to get a system up and running. noob or not, this will take out a lot of the tedious work. ....unless your worried about security or application bloat.

also, incorporates different implementations of gnome for flexibility.

 

[Nitestick]

....unless your worried about security or application bloat.

I usually am, I'll keep my Debian and Ubuntu (for when I'm lazy)

 

[Jayce]

this article leads me to believe that Mint preinstalls and preconfigures much more software out of the box than other distros.

i like this because it would take less time to get a system up and running. noob or not, this will take out a lot of the tedious work. ....unless your worried about security or application bloat.

also, incorporates different implementations of gnome for flexibility.

Mint is so similar to Ubuntu that I sincerely wonder why it exists. When I go on Mint, I just think, wow, it's just Ubuntu with some minor refinements. I think the biggest things are the fact that Mint comes prepackaged with certain drivers and codecs. From what I understand, this is not technically legal with certain items. Take Broadcom for example. Yes, I know, terrible company, but their drivers are included in Linux while their firmware (that works with the drivers) is not legally applicable to the installs UNLESS the user initiates it. Since Mint is a small time shop, nobody says anything. If Ubuntu did this, someone would have them for dinner since Ubuntu supports commercial based enterprise environments. Mint? Can't say I've ever seen actual deployments of it. Just users using it at home.

A few years ago, this was a big deal, because drivers and codecs were a bear to install. I remember saving a text document with a LONG apt-get install command of all of the things I needed. Now I just install restricted-extras and call it a day. Literally in one swift motion my Ubuntu install is comparable to Mint on the fly. Not to mention during the Ubuntu installer, I can check to install certain codecs. Remember what I said about the items requiring user initiation to be considered legal distribution? There you have it - that little checkbox during the Ubuntu installer. It's stupid, but it's also U.S. law, where things often make no sense.

Nonetheless, I'm always happy to see forks of software, especially ones that other users find easy to use. After all, Linux is Linux, and we're all here together regardless of what distro you're using!