re: Bootable CD vs Dual-boot or new OS (was: ...AVG free...)
Monday, August 25, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(3936 messages posted)
|If Linux was so great, everyone WOULD be using it.
| appleoddity
|
That ignores human nature to adapt to what exists.
How many people do you know
that buy the same brands their parents did for no apparent reason?
It also ignores a few items at the core of the US vs MSFT case brought by the DoJ,
not the least of which is the fact that
for 25 years, someone buying an x86 system was FORCED to pay for a M$ OS
--whether he wanted it or not; the concept is STILL common.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Microsoft.Tax
The inertia of decades of the old (monopoly) paradigm are difficult to overcome.
If all systems came with BLANK hard drives, there would be greater parity.
The European Union is trying to address this through laws forbidding bundling
(instead, moving to an a la carte listing of all items and their actual costs).
|But, anybody who HAS used it knows its pitfalls, unless they are just blind.
|
...as well its strengths (e.g. shell scripting[1]).
Not having to BUY every app you use (Ghost, Partition Magic, M$Office,...)
but getting equivalents of those for FREE, tips the balance for many
(e.g. the cities of Largo, Florida and Munich, Germany).
I also mentioned in this thread how Ernie Ball, Inc.
butted heads over licensing with the Business Software Alliance
(an honorary member of MAFIAA)--then
chose Linux.
|Just a few words: Integration, compatibility, ease-of-use, availability.
|
Yup. The inertia and persistent influence of a monopoly are in evidence here.
I was just in an (ostensibly OS-agnostic) engineering newsgroup
and Linux's inconsistency of look & feel across desktop environments
as well as apps-to-app *was* mentioned--by a Linux user.
OTOH, there are enough exemplars of cross-platform apps & hardware out there
to clearly demonstrate that cross-platform availability is quite do-able.
Again, outlawing bundling and going to an a la carte spec sheet
will show folks what is *actually* available and what those items cost.
Again: Choice is a Good Thing(tm).
Computer users have a choice to make,
weighing the relative advantages of the lock-in and lockout of proprietary offerings.
I think planned obsolescence and deliberate lack of interoperability is NOT good.
|The fact is the vast majority of software DOES NOT run on Linux,
|
How many of those apps
actually have versions that will run on THIS version of Windoze?
How many of them have UPDATES
that will allow them to be run under LATER versions of M$ OSes?
How many of those updates are at a low "upgrade" cost?
How many generate files that cannot be used by a colleague who doesn't have the app?
Proprietary lock-in and closed source are weapons used against computer users
to the advantage of unscrupulous for-profit corporations.
The concepts for the 21st Century are
"Open Standards", "Gratis and Libre", and "SERVICE-based Businesses".
--things MSFT doesn't do (or they do them with the intention or BREAKING them;
mentioned as "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" elsewhere in this thread).
|and the FREE versions often leave much to be desired.
|
How many of these whiz-bang features in the payware actually get used?
...and anyone actually doing a feature-by-feature comparison
of Free Software vs proprietary apps
will also find features in the Free column that are not in the payware column.
I will acknowledge that M$ Excel is a shining example of a good proprietary app;
if it was ported to ALL platforms, it would move up to excellent.
Again: Choice is a Good Thing(tm).
I can't remember the 19th Century politician's name
or what exactly the metaphor related to,
but he mentioned the concept of *What good is an infant?*.
If monopoly influence was/is allowed to dominate all choices,
then--just like Herod's victims--we would/will never know what WAS/IS possible.
|You can show me a list of 100 apps that run on Linux,
|and I can show you 10000 that run on Windows.
|
Not if you count all the things done with Linux shell scripts.
The fact that M$ has the *everything GUI* mentality borked that for Windoze.
An entirely new scripting language every few years didn't help M$ users either.
Ever see the vast number of extensions for the Mozilla browsers?
A clear demonstration of the power of Open Source software.
...and most of the Open Source stuff runs on ANY platform.
You can get familiar with it using it under Windoze
and it's the SAME app when you start using Linux full-time.
|Big deal. Think of all the huge hit games,
|
If you are a Windoze gamer, buy a Windoze box. Anyone with half a brain knows that.
Serious gamers are moving to consoles.
|and multi million dollar productivity, media, and design packages.
|
There is no reason those can't be ported to *n?x.
Adobe has several items available already.
As I am fond of saying here: Give your money to vendors WHO SUPPORT YOU.
These days, SMART developers are choosing cross-platform-compatible widgets.
|And to top it all off, most people wouldn't be able to
|install, configure or even use Linux if their life depended on it,
|[whereas] Windows gives you that power with a few intuitive clicks.
|
Empirically false. Neophytes will do equally poorly on poorly-supported software
--no matter what the platform.
...and Linux has better out-of-the-box hardware support
than Windoze ever dreamed of.
If it wasn't so, the Linux Live CDs wouldn't work;
they would ask for device driver disks--AS MOST WINDOWS INSTALLS DO.
(This is the reason Bart PE and the other bootable Windoze CDs are such a PITA.)
The out-of-the-box config for most of Linux is sufficient for most users
--just like with most of Windoze and its users
(if you don't count all the 3rd-party band-aids that have to be applied
to achieve the pseudo-safe state that passses for "security" with M$ OSes).
WRT the *usable* issue--that's Windoze fanboi FUD.
There are millions of Linux users who have a bone to pick with you.
The ones that didn't use Windoze first would rate Windoze equally bad.
An academic installed a Linux computer with a touchscreen in a brick wall
in a slum in India. The neighborhood kids had it jumping thru hoops immediately.
Damn. I can't find a link to the story now.
People who are used to using certain key combinations to do certain tasks
and who are used to having things in a specific place on the screen
and who are incapable of adapting to new conditions will, of course,
choose to stick with what they have--even past the point where it is not supported.
Adaptable people, OTOH, will find that payware is largely foolish.
When that payware uses dirty tricks to try to get you to continue to use it
or to "upgrade" to later versions for no useful reason, it is unacceptable.
|Linux has benefits, and it is a remarkable operating system, for free.
|
Careful. I see your resolve slipping. 8-)
|But, Linux developers should take a look at Mac, and get a clue.
|
I won't argue with stealing good ideas.
It's at the core of M$'s business model--Apple's too.
|Mac is a perfect (Unix based) example of a [USABLE] operating system by the clueless.
|
Even the Mac fanbois don't go as far as _perfect_.
..and I think you meant *for*--not *by*.
Again, there is a yet another legion of folks who will disagree.
...and there are folks who don't WANT to futz with their (Mac or other) boxes;
they have people whose job it is to do that.
Folks shouldn't have to know how an engine works to get a driver's license.
|Linux is NOT and is not recommended for the faint of heart.
|
The existence of this forum and the number of posts to it is evidence
that few mortals are able to maintain their own boxes--whatever the OS.
Finding a good Support guy (or forum) is critical.
|Its single biggest downfall
|that will keep it from [ever] being a mainstream operating system is this:
|Linux is like a patchwork quilt with dozens of different versions,
|
The number of Windows(NT) apps that require admin privileges to run
(breaking any hope of having a secure operating environment)
is clear evidence that the *patchwork* thing is not restricted to one OS.
One would think that the *easily-infected* thing
would have kept Windoze from gaining the market share it enjoys--but nope.
...and the marketplace is full of many *worse* ideas that gained traction:
QWERTY, x86's segmented model, Iomega Zip disks, VHS, NTSC,...
|with different commands,
|
False.
The CLI of the Unix (POSIX) environment across versions and distros is uniform.
...and the wide range of utilities *comes* with the OS.
|different looks and feel, and never ending different ways of doing things
|based on which one of dozens of different versions you have.
|
If you want to mention the range of package managers or desktop environments,
that's another matter; it's also a STRENGTH of Free Software.
Again: Choice is a Good thing(tm). (I'm reminded of Apple's "1984" commercial.)
...and even the WORST Linux package manager is orders of magnitude BETTER
than what exists under Windoze for getting/updating apps and the OS.
|And when you have a question about something,
|the internet has about 1/10th the amount of information about it
|than a similar [Windows] search - if you can find the answer at all.
|
Ah, the flaw of 21st Century existence:
A *wealth* of Windoze answers--many of them WRONG.
Obviously you haven't seen the phenomenal Ubuntu forums.
|To anyone who isn't capable of utilizing the power of the Linux operating system
|it all adds up to one thing - MESS!
|
More typical Windoze fanboi FUD.
|Not to mention that Linux was never meant to be a desktop operating system,
|that was an after thought,
|
Patently false. Linus developed it for his own general-purpose use.
...and if you think the security model of ANY version of Windoze
is appropriate for a workstation, you are simply delusional.
|and is barely out of its infancy stages IMO.
|
I previously mentioned the *infant* thing and contrasted it with the *monopoly* thing.
As stated, test drives of Linux are dirt simple.
Most people will find that if they boot to a Linux CD,
without stumbling badly, they can do the stuff they normally do with a computer:
documents, surfing, email.
Power users are likely to find that WINE is a replacement for Windoze
and their old Windoze-compatible apps will still run under Linux. YMMV.
Trying to use a *WinModem* to do dial-up
(as mentioned elsewhere in this thread) is a likely exception.
While SOME "LinModems" 8-) have been gotten to work,[2]
if you buy hardware that is SPECIFICALLY for Windoze, you get what you get.
Those kinds of folks would likely go to a Ford dealer for parts for their Toyota.
Using Linux is not significantly different
that trying to use some random piece of hardware on a more recent M$ OS:
The hardware has to be on the *Supported* list.
Fortunately, the chances are BETTER with Linux.
(Just boot to a Knoppix CD and see if it balks at anything.)
[1] BASH scripting has remained consistent since 1978,
while M$ comes up with a completely different scripting notion every few years.
[2] Again, depending on how eager the vendor is to sell more of his products.
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 | | | |  | re: Bootable CD vs Dual-boot or new OS (was: ...AVG free...) (gewg_: Mon, Aug 25, 2008, 3:57 pm) |
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