Ah, yet another book about Ubuntu Linux. Is there no reprieve from the bombardment of Ubuntu and beginner Linux books (and Ubuntu for beginners books)? For Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux to impress me, it had to offer something new and unique, and it had to successfully address the reality of introducing a new operating system to a computer user. I'm impressed with the scope of the book's coverage on frequently encountered Linux problems, but I don't think this book was as good as it could have been.

Writing analysis

Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux's language is irritatingly long-winded (I really hate the "the author is your best pal" colloquial narrative -- it makes me feel like I'm being talked down to), and the subject matter is mired in too-deep explanations of trivial details, such as a breakdown of what every button on the OpenOffice.org Writer button bar does. Any information that can be obtained by mousing over an item and reading its tooltip is unnecessary in a book like this. Essentially, over-explanation of obvious functions implies either that the software is not user-friendly enough to be self-explanatory, in which case it is not suitable for non-technical people (which appears to be the book's target market); or that readers are too stupid to read tooltips and figure out obvious functions of desktop software that should already be familiar to them as Windows or Mac users, which is insulting. So the fact of this book's confused focus and target market is evident not only in the subject matter, but also in the style of the writing.

Editing-wise, Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux seems to be quite sound. I did not discover any of the stupid mistakes that reduce the authority and effectiveness of so many other technology books these days. In terms of layout and construction, this book is in the top tier.

Putting the book to the test

If you can wade through the obvious material, the more technical step-by-step instructions and screen shots are outstanding. By following the directions, you can easily solve all of the typical desktop Linux problems -- video drivers, Web browser plugins, Java support, DVD playback, and proprietary multimedia playback. These are tough subjects to write about because they require real technical knowledge and experience to document.

For those people who have never used an office suite or set up an email client, the instructions throughout most of part II and part III of Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux are excellent. But do such people actually exist? And if so, what is motivating them to switch to Linux? I'm not convinced that much of this book's content is appropriate for the kind of person who would buy a book on Linux.

Summary and conclusions

Among Ubuntu books and beginner Linux books, Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux is among the best, if not the absolute best. Unfortunately, that's kind of like saying that among cheap beers, Genesee is the best. Ideally you'd look for something else, but there are no good alternatives. When it comes to books that teach people how to install, configure, and use Linux, publishers and authors have a desperate need to cling to easy and familiar content. The horrible truth is that non-technical people do not care about operating systems and do not want to switch to Linux; if they do want to switch, it's because someone (you?) has talked them into it. Technical people who want to switch do indeed need a good book to teach them all of the necessary tips and tricks (even and especially the advanced ones), but the only books available to them are aimed at the non-technical. Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux does contain all of the content a technical person would need, but it's buried under a pile of painfully in-depth tutorials on how to use and configure desktop applications, which technical people generally do not need to read about.

I'm not sure if or to whom I would recommend a book like this. Though it is written in informal language and takes every technical topic from the beginning, I don't feel comfortable recommending it to a non-technical person with the hope that they would switch to Linux. I already know that such people are uninterested in switching. On the other end of the spectrum, I have given books like this to technical people who want to switch to Linux, and they always find them irritating, incomplete, and hard to navigate. Though Introducing Ubuntu: Desktop Linux is by no means incomplete, I don't think it was constructed for a realistic reader market.

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Copyright 2008 JEM Electronic Media, Inc. No reprints without written permission.