Sometimes connectivity is a pain, i remember i spent a while figuring out how to install and use a vpn over wireless in my dorm in Germany, specially since when you connected to the WIFI, you were redirected to a webpage with instructions and links to download vpn for windows (and also the keys and connections)
I agree, ubuntu was capable, it just wasn't supported by the dorm administrators, they knew nothing about it... i spent sometime on the internet (luckily i still had my old windows laptop) and figured it out... definitely not something someone without some extent of computer skills (that's what i study) could do...
If only the world was a better place and people understood that not everyone uses Windows and IE... so everything would be as simple as windows (IE sucks... wish i could get rid of it)
Listen to the voice of reason, then do as I say.
