[ale] GO Windows!!! ;-)

Mon Jun 21 14:38:40 EDT 2010

Every major Linux distro works better "out of the box" than _any_ windows
platform of the same time period.

Why can't Fred get networking to work on his new laptop with Linux distro
foo? Because the company that made the network chip blocks the opensource
crowd from writing working drivers and they are too meek to stand up to
microsoft and write one themselvs. Or they have a bazillion patents all tied
up in a knot and their lawyers won't let them do anything "open".

The problem is no Linux, it microsoft (and apple) hammering away to keep
Linux off "their turf". Microsoft has all but lost the server war to Linux.
Soon there will be LINUX running the server room, a few microsoft machines
to run exchange server (and linux systems to back them up and filter and...)
there will be the oracle/sun boxes for databases.

Apple would dearly love to clobber Linux as well. The open nature of Linux
is even more of a pariah to apple than it is the microsoft.

So they cut deals to "allow" hardware makes to get "discounts" on "licensed
windows software" if the hardware makers use chipset baz which has a tight
business tie-in with microsoft and no opensource drivers available due to
patents, etc.

So don't gripe that Linux isn't ready for the user masses. It's been ready
for a decade. The user masses are not ready for a full-on opensource
environment where they have to _think_. The user masses are dumb and like it
that way. The IT support industry is not prepared to have 1 million new
Linux users calling in asking how do they install this cool rpm package they
found onto their Ubuntu machine. Can you imaging the horror inside
GeekSquad? I would split my sides laughing if I could see that!

Besides, every hardware maker has to ship a driver disk with their laptop
because the drivers are not part of the windows install. They are add-ons.
This fantastic stuff called Linux has most of those drivers built in and
ready to go.

No. It's not Linux that's not ready. It the vast scores of windows users who
are not ready to take off the training wheels and step up to some real
computing power. And the hardware makers know this and are terrified that
Linux will continue to spread (like the virus gates claimes the GPL to be
:-) and they will have to find a way to support windows, mac AND Linux and
most can't support mac.

It all really depends on how you want to define "us"...

My "us" doesn't have windows anywhere except in doors and walls and apples
are a tasty fruit that are eaten fresh or baked into yummy pies.

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 2:02 PM, Asher Vilensky <ashervilensky at gmail.com>wrote:

> Continue....
>
> My personal "fun" aside, as much as I like Linux, I feel that it's not yet
> ready for "the rest of us".  Don't get me wrong:  first of all, I'm working
> on Linux myself.  It pays the bills.  But there's a diff between RHELor
> SLES  on servers and running Ubuntu-like distros on laptops.  It's the later
> one I'm claiming "is not there yet".  If you have to google a solution (from
> another computer, since the one you just installed cannot connect) to
> manually solve it (in the best case) or just live with it (worst case) when
> it comes to wireless and audio/video and printing, this is a tough selling
> point.
>
> The problem is not you and I.  The problem is that you can't "sell" Linux
> (pick any flavor and version) to the mass until these things work out of the
> box.  I want to convert those around me - basically so I don't have to keep
> install virus protection etc.  But I'm hesitant in doing so.  I don't want
> to either have to educate people too much or stand there embarrassed when
> things don't work.   I hate Windows like the rest of this group, but I also
> recognize that Linux is not a viable substitute for most users.  Not yet.  I
> would recommend Mac (to somebody like my in-laws) before I suggest Linux.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
>
> -- Asher
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Asher Vilensky <ashervilensky at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> In the past I installed Mint/Ubuntu 9.04 (I believe) on a Dell laptop, but
>> had trouble with the Broadcom wireless card.  Nothing I googled helped.  The
>> only advice was to wait for 10.04.
>> Well, yesterday I installed a MiniInspiron with Remix 10.04.  Again, the
>> b-com did not work out of the box.  They lied.  However, a simple and quick
>> apt-get and then install <whatever> from a terminal window fixed the
>> problem.  Nice!!!
>>
>> (What __wasn't__ nice was that in order to install Remix in the first
>> place, I had to create an live-USB from ISO drive.  After struggling with
>> the creation on both Ubuntu (8.04) and Mac, I raised a white flag and went
>> to Windows.  Yes, I know.  It was too easy creating it on Windows.  Maybe
>> had I used a later version of Ubuntu it would have been easier.  Oh well.  I
>> guess there are a few things Windows is good for...sigh)
>>
>> Learned a good lesson on both assignments.
>>
>> -- Asher
>
>
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness
Doing pretty well on all 3 pursuits

 Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by
faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
   Dan Barker, "Losing Faith in Faith", 1992
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