On Friday 28 November 2003 08:32, adam@thebowery.co.uk wrote:
I am not necessarily a GNUWinII fan, just I advocate handing it out to people who don't want to install Linux (because quite frankly installing Linux and getting it to work with all of your hardware can be a pain, and I don't think its an option to say to interested people "hey, yeah Linux is really cool. oh btw you need to buy a new graphics card and a supported webcam because that one is no good and you then need to apply these patches that you can find on the internet to get that digital camera working" most people will look at you and say "but it works in windows now and if Linux is "better" why won't it work?"
Adam
I think we get onto dangerous ground claiming that Linux is "better than" Windows - or vice versa. One isn't better than the other; they're each better at some things. Windows excels at game play and driving new hardware (try finding a DVD copier for Linux) but requires you to restart the machine regularly and pay for pretty well everything you use. Linux is good for "always on" use, makes an undisputedly better server and IMHO is preferable for code development as it's more predictable and easier to organize. But I need a Windows box next to it for a variety of things, including deployment testing and even for some websites that assume IE.
Things are improving fast and in many areas the gap is closing, but Linux on the desktop hasn't got anywhere near the critical mass needed to attract commercial software writers to port their products and make the system a viable alternative to Windows for the average Joe.
So let's avoid "better" unless we really enjoy pointless arguments. The Mac has survived (so far) on being "different". Use that as a base and avoid the mistakes they made. Softly softly catchee monkey.
-- GT