On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:49:10 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Desktop Linux
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Microsoft is helping the cause. Running a Windows desktop PC has
> | become increasingly annoying for users who must cope with spyware, adware,
> | viruses, security patches, upgrades, crashes, reboots.
> |
> | [...]
> |
> | Visit the home of a Silicon Valley software programmer and you'll find
> | two things: Macs and Linux boxes.
> |
> | To these guys, Windows has become the operating system equivalent of the
> | America Online Internet service--a mass-market product that only appeals
> | to people who don't know any better.
> `----
>
> http://www.forbes.com/2006/08/31/linux-opensource-vista_cz_dl_0831sled.html?partner=yahootix
>
> There are many mistakes and myths in this article. You'll see them if you
> read it.
Indeed. I'll clarify some, even though I have better stuff to do
"Linux today has less than 2% market share on the desktop. That's because
with past versions of Linux only hackers could get Linux installed and
running right."
2%? Who says? Highly and very innaccurately debeated by everyone, with
numbers coming back from <1% to >15% for Linux on the desktop. Who the
hell knows?
"SLED also is less vulnerable to viruses, since hackers usually target
Windows, which represents 95% of all PCs, and don't bother making viruses
for Linux."
This is the one that makes me most irritated. Viruses don't exist for
Linux because the *can't* exist, not because of small market share. I
mean, how many websites run Apache on Linux? A helluva lot. That is a
helluva large pool of potential computers to infect. Well? Where are the
Linux viruses?
"To be sure, none of these [Linux distros] is as slick as the Unix-based
OS X operating system on Apple Computer's"
Y'know, maybe Ubuntu or SLED is not as "slick" but I have a MacBook. I
have seen the "slick"ness. It wears thin quickly. I find myself booting
into Ubuntu on the macbook more than OS X. (But of course, that's just
me). One thing Mac OSX does *not* have, really, is thousands of desktop
apps that I can install instantaneously, and for free.
"For now, the biggest "gotcha" with desktop Linux is that some popular
Windows applications don't run on Linux."
Crossover Office? Cedega? Wine? Hello?
"Another issue is that it's tough to find software drivers needed to run
some printers and other devices on Linux. You might have to scrounge
around on the Internet to find them. You might even need to buy a new
printer that works well with Linux."
This one is my second-most irritating bit of FUD. Linux actually has
*better* out-of-the-box support for hardware than Windows, first of all,
and seconf of all, the amount of hardware that is "unsupported" on Linux
is actually vanishingly small. And getting smaller all the time.
later...
--
JDS
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