In comp.os.linux.advocacy, JDS
<jeffrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:39:41 -0400
<pan.2006.08.08.14.39.41.928287@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> On Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:54:42 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> http://osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=&task=view&id=2284
>
> What a shitty, pointless, rambling, useless article.
[1] They can't even keep their styles straight for two pages?
This is giving *me* vertigo. Or at least a mild headache.
[2] Dated 2006-08-08. At least it's recent; I'll give him that.
[3] Win98? Revolutionary? Wow. When was that? 1898? Win95
wasn't too bad (and did improve that absolutely crazy DOS protocol
stack crud from a usage standpoint, if not from a reliability or
performance one) but I wouldn't call it "revolutionary".
[4] "I decided to purchase a large Red Hat manual".
But we have no idea what version of the CD. Did Red Hat
ever publish a ~1000 page manual?
[5] Wow. He lambastes it so specifically.
[6] "I literally have everything that I need and more
with Windows and OS X, so why throw something else into
the mix?" I'll concede that point, though admittedly
he's being vague again since "everything" isn't spelled
out here.
[7] How does one "feel unfortunate"?
[8] The OS is probably no easier to use than it was in 1995
or so -- whenever it got modules. The stuff around it of
course has improved markedly, and the OS itself has a lot
more modules in it -- to the point of becoming a little
bloated, at least as a tarball (41 MB *before* unpacking);
fortunately, one needn't build every module into the kernel,
or even build every module period.
But the kernel proper isn't that much easier to use; it
still requires int $0x80 on x86 boxes, an arcane calling
sequence that nobody but those slightly off their right
mind (like me!) would know how to even look for, let
alone use. But it doesn't matter; glibc has encapsulated
it since pretty much Linux's inception, making things more
portable and a lot easier on everybody. One might say the
kernel firewall's part of a machine that glibc spreads a
thin layer of oil, so that things slide easily. And then there
are higher level abstractions like C's portable library,
C++'s STL, Java's API, and Python.
(This shouldn't scare off anybody, but this is Yet Another
Multilayer Problem, and at least in Linux the layers can
be identified. Most people will point and click; many
will develop using C++/STL, Java, or Python libraries;
a fair number will be using C and the Portal Library;
a few might dabble in assembly. Computers are not toasters,
Steve Wozniak and/or Jobs notwithstanding.)
[9] I wonder what features Microsoft and Apple ripped off from Linux?
Gad.
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
|
|
