LincolnBlogs

I have heard, so many times now, that windows is simply just easier to use than Linux. Some people say it’s more intuitive. Well, today I had the pleasure of having to configure a network printer on my windows xp vm, and I call bullcrap.

Now let me put things in perspective a little bit. I have been using Linux almost exclusively for a very long time now and I do recall watching and using it through it’s growing pains when many things weren’t quite as easy as they should have been. We, however, have come a long way, baby.

Now I haven’t really extensively used windows in quite a while so I may be a little handicap for me, and it also might insinuate that I am partial to Linux’s way of doing things. You’d probably be right, but let’s just compare what needed to happen to get the very same printer configured on windows xp and on Ubuntu 8.04(lts).

Windows XP:
Start->Settings->Printers and Faxes->Add a Printer->Next->Local Printer. Now this is where it completely lost me. *I* was under the impression that I was trying to access a NETWORK printer. However, the local windows admin assured me that I had to choose “local”. You click next and let windows *fail* scanning for a local printer and then click next again and “Create a new port” (Whaa??). Pick standard TCP port->Next-Enter your printer’s IP address which will create a port name for you, then click next. Click finish and wait for windows to find your printer. Then you select your printer make and model from the dropdowns. The rest is a series of clicking “next” or “finish” until it finally prints a test page.

Ubuntu 8.04:
System->Administration->Printing->New Printer->Pick printer from scanned printers list->pick make (already highlighted)->pick model (already highlighted)->Look through additional hardware list (or just press forward)->pick a printer name and click apply. Yes, that’s it. Really. And, I am told it’s easier yet on the new Ubuntu (haven’t tried yet).

To be fair, I do remember when getting printing working on a Linux/Unix box was a complete nightmare, but my point is that *Linux* has advanced _considerably_. ‘Nuff said.