On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:31:55 -0600, Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:15:12 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Linux for Windows users
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Unlike Windows or Mac OS X, Linux comes with a complete office suite
>>| that's compatible with MS Office. OpenOffice.org will let you load
>>| files created in MS Word and MS Excel and save them back in that
>>| format so your colleagues who are still using Windows can read them back.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_nov28_2006
>
> I like how you extract the part complimentary to linux, but ignore this
> part:
>
> "But free software also comes at a price. There's a lot less hand-holding
> and there are more things you'll have to figure out on your own. Most of
> the answers to questions that newbies ask are tucked away in forums and
> mailing lists, but these require some dogged Web searching to ferret out."
Yeah, CentOS 4.4 was just *horrible* to install. I put in the CD and
followed the prompts, put in the next CD and followed prompts. When I was
done with the CDs I clicked on up2date and in a few minutes I had all the
newest software. Just about wore me to a frazzle.
I recently installed Windows XP (Dell version on a Dell) and it was pretty
much the same. Well, that is, until I got to the end and had to start
installing office applications, DVD players, drivers for my video
card... etc.
Since I had everything in place it wasn't that big of a deal -- almost as
easy as installing CentOS -- but it required extra steps. And the Internet
update process took about three times as long -- and there were at least
three times as many reboots in XP.
> and
>
> "How do I install programs? As a Windows user, I was so used to
> downloading software from a Web site and running an EXE file to install
> it. Things aren't that simple in Linux because programs are often
> dependent on other programs that also have to be installed."
That's just another *horrible* experience in CentOS... well, it would be
if CentOS didn't supply install programs, like yum. Let's see... install
Pan -- oh, I've got to through all the excruciating trouble of typing
'yum install pan' -- imagine the trauma the effort caused me! And, after a
few moments, there it was, tucked in my Internet Menu ready to go. Oooh,
tough.
> and
>
> "Why won't my video files play? Out of the box, Ubuntu Linux will not
> play AVI and other proprietary multimedia formats."
And Windows XP won't play DVDs out of the box either. Have you ever tried
it? Oops. Gotta' load PowerDVD (or something like it) -- hope you have a
copy on hand. That install disk lost? Oh well -- buy another copy or
'borrow' it from a friend.
My CentOS? Add a repository to to yum -- the step by step instructions are
on the CentOS website -- type the command 'yum install xine' and voila'
I'm playing DVDs -- quicker than installing an extra application on
Windows XP (seeing a pattern here?).
> and
>
> "Another useful tool is Wine, which lets you run some Windows programsI
> use it to run Adobe Photoshopin Linux. Setting up Wine isn't easy,
> however, and it's usually better to simply find Linux counterparts that
> work like your favorite Windows programs."
Like Gimp.
> and my favorite:
>
> "Making the shift to Linux isn't as easy as some people make it out to
> be. But there's a lot of helpand cool, free softwareavailable, if you
> know where to look."
>
> Funny how you missed all that.
I get a feeling you miss quite a lot in your day to day life. As for me,
I'm learning to love the stability of CentOS and all that comes pre-packed
with the OS. No scrounging for all my application CDs *after* an
installation. It's all already there -- or can be a few simple commands.
I'm just trying to figure out why I waited so damn long to finally make
the move.
--
RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"
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