[VON_CAPO]

Originally Posted by xrvjorn

There is still more software available for Windows, but a Linux distro like Ubuntu is more feature packed 'out of the box'. I just started the installation program and a few clicks later I had a running system with Mozilla, OpenOffice, the Gimp etc ready to go. There's an install option on the main menu that lets you download and install a large selection of software by just clicking a checkbox in a list.

I don't think Linux for the desktop ever will quite catch up with it's commercial competitors Windows and Mac OS X, but it may have reached the point where you could use it without feeling the need for more bells and whistles.

Servers are different beast than desktops, and Linux is big on them. Some people, for example Oracle's flamboyant head honcho Larry Ellison, think that Linux will completely dominate the server market in the future.

You can get Ubuntu with full "bells and whistles" en less than 2 hours with a script called "Automatix"

- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=190025 (Must Read)
- Automatix home page http://www.getautomatix.com/

Automatix features:

Introduction

• This is a graphical interface for installation of a lot of apps on (X)ubuntu DAPPER (DOES NOT WORK ON Breezy Warty or Hoary) and for tweaking a few things to get your Ubuntu box up and working in full throttle in the quickest possible timespan.

Features

• Shoots up xterm for full debug info (giving you a good idea about the status of your download , changes being made to your system, etc)
• Deletes all downloaded files (except those downloaded by apt-get) automatically after installation.
• Automatix does not overwrite anything without making a date_and_time_based backup.
• When the user installs a new version of automatix, it automatically uninstalls and replaces the last version.
• Automatix will refuse to run if user has synaptic/update-manager/apt-get/dpkg running and will exit gracefully.
• Automatix will give the user the option to restore his/her original sources.list after finishing all installations.

Please note: Some options require manual intervention and clicking.
Capabilities

1. Installs multimedia codecs
2. Installs Flashplayer Plugin for FF
3. Installs RAR, ACE and UNRAR archive support - BD
4. Installs skype
5. Installs Acrobat reader 7 and firefox plugin for the same.
6. Installs Gnomebaker (CD/DVD burning s/w for GNOME)
7. Installs gftp (FTP client for GNOME with ssh capability)
8. Installs Frostwire (GPL clone of Limewire)
9. Installs multimedia editors (Audacity (audio), Kino (video), EasyTag (ID3))
10. Installs DVD (dvdrip) ripper
11. Installs Mplayer and mplayerplug for Firefox
12. Installs totem-xine, Realplayer, VLC and Beep Media Player (with docklet)
13. Installs Opera Browser 9.0
14. Installs Debian Menu (shows all installed applications) (this kills and restarts your gnome-panel without warning u but its a completely harmless operation!)
15. Installs Bittornado and Azureus (Bittorrent clients)
16. Installs Avidemux (Video editing tool) (New version 2.1.0)
17. Enables Numlock on (turns numlock on Gnome startup)
18. Installs Programming Tools (Anjuta (C/C++ IDE), Bluefish (HTML editor), Screem (Web Development Env.) and NVU (HTML editor))
19. Install GnomePPP (Graphical Dial up connection tool)
20. Installs Extra Fonts
21. Configures ctrl-alt-del to start gnome-system-monitor (aka windows)
22. Installs Streamripper and Streamtuner
23. Installs NON-FREE audio and dvd codecs
24. Installs Laptop Wifi
25. Upgrades Gaim to Beta 2.0
26. Adds 3 nautilus scripts (open any file with gedit as root; open a nautilus window as root in any folder; open gnome search tool in any folder (Right click in a nautilus window and look under "scripts")
27. Installs SUN'S JAVA JRE version 1.5 & FF plugin
28. Installs SUN'S JAVA JDK version 1.5
29. Installs wine (u need to run winecfg manually after installation)
30. Enables ejection of CD when CDROM drive button is pressed.
31. Installs AMSN 0.95 (MSN client with webcam support)
32. Installs BUM (Boot-up Manager)
33. Installs DCPP (Linux DC++ client)
34. Installs sbackup (Backup and restoration solution)
35. Installs the latest version of Rhythmbox
36. installs gdesklets (GNOME eyecandy) and adds gdesklets to GNOME startup
37. NVIDIA cards (Detects Nvidia cards and installs drivers) (Needs a restart)
38. Installs Firefox plugins
39. Installs Mozilla-Thunderbird 1.5 (US-only version) (no support for non-US-english language packs and enigmail)
40. Installs Swiftfox Browser and it's plugins
41. Installs Liferea
42. Installs Gnucash
43. Installs Security Suite (Firestarter Firewall and Clam Antivirus)
44. Installs Google Earth
45. Installs Beagle