__/ [ Flunkett Clogwheel ] on Sunday 26 February 2006 09:31 \__
>
> "Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:dtrav4$1cn3$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> __/ [ Martin ] on Saturday 25 February 2006 23:00 \__
> "If you have no tolerance for initial setup of hardware,simply buy a Linux
>> workstation as opposed to attempting a conversion of a "designed for
>> Windows
>> XP(R) Pro" unit."
>
> Tell me, what would make a unit specifically designed for XP Pro???
Simple. The fact that the manufacturer tested the system using Windows XP
(and possibly Windows 98,NT and 2000 as well) to ensure hardware probing
actually works.
Moreover, such systems are delivered with everything installed to perfection,
having been 'polished' and tested at the factory. Have you installed Windows
from scratch recently? With over 10 years of Windows experience, I have done
so several time. It is rarely a joy and can take up to a day, not only as it
involved fetching drivers, but also security updates, missing software (e.g.
PDF viewer), AV software, etc.
> The
> fact of the matter is linux is a sack of shit with piss poor hardware
> support. I've yet to find a program on linux that comes close to a windows
> or mac equivilant.
Are you using Firefox? If no, why not? Are you ever using Google? Attempts to
mock Open Source/GNU/Linux tools are pointless.
> It tends to go like this:>
>
> A few fucktards say linux is great and you see a few desktop images and say
> 'Wow, I will give it a go'
>
> You spend hours installing it (and a week downloading it).
You can have it shipped to your house for free. 10 copies even.
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/
> You spend days and weeks getting simple things to work and start and stop
> along with the steep learning curve of trying to get software to install
> and work.
Have you used YaST in SuSE? Have you used Synaptic in Ubuntu variants? That
is an OK/Next/Finish job. There are never any collisions or dependency
issues in modern distributions. If you could not cope with such tools, I
wonder how you get along with Windows.
I still find Windows installation to be on par with Linux in that respect. In
Mandriva or SuSE, all you need to do is to double click the installation
file and enter your administrator password. Job done. New icon in your
launcher or Desktop.
> You replace all your hardware that won't work under linux, and realise you
> could have bought XP Pro for less that you have spent.
Why ever buy a new car if you can just replace the old one's wheels,
re-paint, then change the engine? Linux is on the cusp of exponential
adopting and recent figures show that Linux has a double-figure percentage
gain every quarter.
> You sit back and look at your handywork, stare at the screen and think.
> Man, this is shit. None of these apps work very well. I can do all these
> things easily in windows and reformat and replace with a working microsoft
> OS.
You are probably accustomed to tools that you have used for years on Windows.
If you want to use the platform that's being embraced, you need to
familiarise yourself with its common tools. One thing you could do to ease
the transition is use programs like Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice in
Windows. Their Windows installation files come in the CD's I mentioned
earlier.
Wiping your Windows partition and attempting to do too much too fast was not
the way to go. Start with a dual-boot system as to give yourself time to
learn Linux better and have Windows as a cushy fallback.
> Linux serves one useful purpose. To remind you, no matter how bad windows
> can get, it will never be as shit as linux. The arguement that linux is
> virus free only stems from it's unpopularity and general bugginess anyway.
Most of the world's server run UNIX and Linux. Such servers are far more
susceptible to attack attempts and downtime can rarely be tolerated. This
subject has been discussed to death and the statement above shows you to
have become a victim of FUD ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUD ).
> Why hit a user base of a few million linux users when you can target a base
> of hundres of millions with microsoft. The arguement that it is more stable
> is also bullshit. You have a linux machine serving a few webpages, handling
> email and FTP. Wow, my windows box will do that without any stability
> issues and let me edit video, sound, cruise the web, divert off in all
> directions and still retain it's stabilty.
12:04:16 up 138 days, 3:54, 6 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
My machine at work has been up for 4.5 months. Care to try the same with
Windows XP? I mean that in a friendly matter. I merely try t get a point
across.
> Then there is securtiy. Linux is
> 'more secure'. It has it's share of holes too, and they are out in public
> thanks to 'open source'. It's secure becase nobody, other than linux
> fuckwits, are interested in it. Actually hacking a linux system is probably
> easier than installing a piece of software on it - how ironic.
Where is your backing? Where are the links? Again, this is FUD. There are no
holes as there are thousands of people looking for the moment of fame when
Linux is shown to be non secure. There is an enormous number of servers in
jeopardy...
> Linux will have it's place with those that don't get out much and want to
> sit in front of a screen putting on weight and growing old whilst they try
> and get basic things working. It will find work in places where free and
> simple servers are needed. It will never be anything other than a poor mans
> buggy unix for fanatics. It has no relationship to a user friendly o/s and
> in 16 years of going in and out of offices day in day out, I have yet to
> see it in use professionally.
I have 3 Linux boxes and I never set my hands on Windows machines. My site
attracts about 50,000 visits a month and my Ph.D. is probably the most
successful one among dozens of others, whose O/S is Windows. I attribute
this to Linux, not just because it supports my arguments. Vis-a-vis, Google
are not doing too badly, are they? They use it exclusively on their servers
and desktop.
> My best linux moment has to have been at Earls Court a few years ago where,
> at the PLASA show a program for DJ's called 'final scratch' was being
> demo'd on a linux platform. It crashed spectacularly in front of hundreds
> of people just after it was announced that linux was the most robust and
> secure platform.
>
> Get over linux.
I got over the learning curve and I now live very happily. Like you, I was
using Windows for many years and couldn't comprehend what I was missing. If
you never explore, you may later have regrets.
With kind regards,
Roy
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