Hi Jay, nicely put. Some comments below... On Thu, 8 Apr 2004 00:41:21 -0400 Jay Daniels <drs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Everyone has their complaints. However, even Microsoft is trying to > break away from the so-called drive C: computing era. > > As far as I am concerned, Linux does not have drive c: computing, > nor program activation! A big + plus in my book. > > Yes Fedora has it's bugs but I find it no more buggy than SUSE or the > RedHat versions I purchased which I was really mad about too. > > I like Bluefish for what it's worth, but it doesn't compare to > Dreamweaver. If you think about it, most people I know who use > dreamweaver are actually criminals. They run keygens and cracks and > use illegal software. Why not just use open source programs and not > worry about purchasing licenses? Even the programs that are not free > in Linux are 100's of dollars cheaper than their Windows counterparts. Damn, this is _so_ true... I remember once reading on /. how software piracy hurts OSS because it drives users away from it. If you use "for free" (as in beer) software that would otherwise cost $100 or $1000 and you don't care about the consequences of this, you stop looking for alternatives (not to mention that programmers like you worked hard to develop this very same piece of software you're getting "for free"). The whole thing is just wrong, and affects _everybody_. > Windows didn't come with Macromedia Dreamweaver either! > Windows does not come with a decent GUI Ftp program! > Windows doesn't have a good image editor! > Windows does not have ssh! > Windows does not come with a c/c++ compiler - that's $1000 extra! > Windows XP has .zip support, but what about all the other archive > formats? > You still need an archive program in Windows. > > Purchasing MS Plus for Windows does not get you themes, except from > Microsoft! To get themes to work correctly in XP you have to install > a cheap hack. Total waste of money for MS Plus. > > In fact, everything you like about windows it doesn't have. You must > install those programs afterwards and most are not free. > > My biggest complaint about Windows > I hate the way the filesystem, directories, and OS including the > registry are layed out. I am actually more productive using the bash > shell in Linux than using the windows interface and mouse. But I do > like X and Gnome apps, plus good linux distro's come with just about > all you need. > > As far as I know, Linux does not have a registry like Windows. The > kernel has something called the /proc directory were you can control > the running kernel. You can see I'm no Linux expert, but I can use > this OS and these programs a lot easier than in Windows. Linux > programs use simple config files which are plain text files - > something I can actually understand. Well, just to be impartial here, while the great majority of configuration is still done with text files (which I definitely agree is _great_), some core configuration -- like package management -- is handled by binary databases. > note: most people who have used Microsoft Windows for years, don't > know shit about it! they trash their system or it crashes and they > attempt to reinstall or start replacing parts and lose all their > data. Right. It's amazing how people say something like "well, my system has been acting weird lately, I guess I will do a full install" and don't realize they're using brute force to clean up carp that has been piling up. IMHO Windows registry was one of the most stupid, inefficient things ever invented, it gets full of crap so easily... not to mention unbelievable reboots just because you installed a new TTF or upgraded your browser or email client! > Windows is the most unsafe operating system I have ever used. I have > lost many files over the years using various versions of Windows > including XP Pro. Yes, I said it, Windows is unsafe meaning it's not > reliable. > > Take a fraction of the money you would have spent on Windows and > commerical programs that run on Windows and you can buy a lot of books > and new hardware! With Microsoft it's all about selling and getting > your money. The people who develop programs to run on Windows are > following the leader to make MONEY OFF YOU! Donating part of this money to OSS projects would also be a nice thing -- you would be directly helping Linux evolve the way you want/need most ;) Best, Andre -- Andre Oliveira da Costa
