On Fri, 2005-02-04 at 23:22 +0530, Rajev Mhasawade wrote: > But isnt 2-3 releases of Fedora in a year make users run for updates > every now and then?We are used to 3-4 years gap from windows.For those > who dont have access to net (TG im not one of them) its more hard. > Win98 support is yet available (or needed) unlike Fedora1 which > support is ended up :(( I thought i have got latest one when i saw (C) > 2004 but shocked to see its past now! Windows is different from Fedora in at least two major ways that you have to keep in mind: 1. Windows has always cost several HUNDRED dollars for a copy, and they sell many millions of copies. They *promised* and *committed* to providing that long-term support, and people paid lots of money to get it. Fedora, on the other hand, costs you $0. But its development and support still costs someone money/time/effort, and they can only provide that support for a certain length of time. 2. The goal of Windows is to be a product with maximum profitability for Microsoft. Nothing wrong with that! I want my products to be profitable for me too. But it means they don't make changes frequently and don't incorporate new technology as quickly. Fedora, on the other hand, *wants* to move forward as quickly as possible; and this means that therefore there must be new versions released more frequently. You cannot get all three benefits (long-term support, low or no cost, and frequent/quick improvements) at once; you can only have two: * Improvements and support = high cost * Low cost and support = few or no improvements * Low cost with improvements = short-term support There is nothing wrong with any of those scenarios... they are simply different and suited to different users, tasks, and environments. Fedora is zero cost and improved frequently but with short-term support. Cheers, -- Rodolfo J. Paiz <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
