__/ [ B Gruff ] on Monday 10 July 2006 12:58 \__
> On Monday 10 July 2006 12:37 Gordon wrote:
>
>> Can any of the resident wintrolls tell me why when I connect a pen drive
>> for the first time to a Windows XP box, Windows needs to "install
>> software"? When I connect to my Linux box, it just, err, READS it!
>
> Let me recount a conversation. Completely true, and happened in this very
> (home) office of mine last Autumn ("fall"):-
>
> Telephone rang. Wife (at her end of office) answered, one of the (lady!)
> friends of wifey, with whom she had just returned from a week's holiday.
> The bit that caused me to prick up my ears was "Oh - just bring it round
> here - hubby fixes these things....see you soon ....'bye..."
>
> Wifey: She can't get her pictures out of her new camera - I said bring it
> round - you'll do it:-)
>
> Me: Splutter! What's the camera? It might need drivers! It might only
> work on Windows... I might have to use Windows.... I won't have the
> drivers.... I'm busy....!
>
> Wife: Oh shut up - she's not daft - she'll know to bring it....
>
> (15 minutes later)
>
> She: This is SO kind of you.... Here's the camera, and the cord... and the
> base... it plugs into the base, and the base plugs into one of those funny
> conn.... oh - you've done that! You SHOULDN'T do that! It says "Load the
> software first", so I brought the CD and you have to......
>
> Me: Wait a minute:-) This isn't Windows. It's Linux. I can swap to
> Windows if needs. Let's try this first..... oh! Nothing's
> happening....:-(
>
> She: Ah - you have to plug it in to the mains and press that little switch
> there that says "connect", but you need the CD before you can......
>
> OH! Is that my camera on the screen...?
>
> OOOO look! Little pictures!
>
> Oh - are you copying them down.....
>
> Oh! A slide show....!
>
> Hey! There's some good ones here.....
>
> Mine doesn't work like that - you have to put the CD in, and install stuff
> like it says in the instructions, but when I did, nothing happened.....
>
> Me: Well, if you really must use Windows, take this CD home and try it
> again, but *do* clean all those fingerprints off it first with a clean dry
> cloth:-)
>
> (later in the day, telephone)
>
> She: Thank you, and thanks for the CD of my pictures - I need to learn to
> do that. I can get them out of the camera as well now - you were right
> about the fingerprints! I'm still puzzled though - *you* didn't use this
> CD that came with the camera....
>
> Me: No. I have a magic Operating System......:-)
>
> I claim no credit at all. When you are as thick as I am, it just has to
> "just work"!
How often do 'we' forget the hassle that is involved in getting Windows
installed (and then getting it to work with all the peripherals). In Linux,
scanners and printers, for example, usually work 'out of the box'. My
experience is based of a multitude of distributions, all of which share the
same core (kernel). Sometimes, one needs to go to the Control
Center/Hardware Manager (e.g. YaST2) to tick one box that corresponds to the
device model. At times, the distribution's CD will be requires for the
driver to be transferred (managed by the front-end of course), assuming it
does not already reside on the hard-drive.
That, mind you, is only hardware support. Last time my sister installed XP
for my mother (I kindly declined the offer/privilege), the Web cam was not
working, the digital camera was not working, the screen resolution was
600x800...
Let us proceeds to the issue of security. XP needed to be reinstalled because
the machine was hugely burdened by malware. The time spent waiting as a
consequence could be aggregated to the level of granularity that is days or
weeks, so action needed to be taken. *clunk* Did you hear that? That's a
camel's back breaking. Not to mention all the SPAM that machine may have
been spewing for several months.... *sigh*
On that same installation experience, it took just minutes for the machine to
get infected on low-bandwidth ASDL. My sister, who is very proficient with
Windows, then had to clean the machine, get the updates (which she was
already in the process of getting at the time), get some software for
protection, yada, yada, yada. Then she needed to get Office. All in all, it
probably took about a week to get that machine partially set up. The screen
was still not working properly and I don't think all the peripherals worked,
either.
Best wishes,
Roy
Windows: when you think things are simple and are aligned with normality
because everybody else is having the exact same problems. Guess what? The
emporer is naked.
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Have you hugged your penguin today?
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
1:45pm up 73 days 18:48, 12 users, load average: 0.74, 0.59, 0.68
http://iuron.com - help build a non-profit search engine
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