So they ran a distro other than Gentoo and were therefore (understandably) disappointed. What else is new...
Seriously. Why does this article matter at all. The lines are more or less drawn now. People choosing Linux, even if just for their servers, are not going to be swayed by an article saying that Linux is crap, because they'll compare that to their personal experience and write off the author as a nut. People who have choosen Windows as their base platform will read the headline, and say "see, I was right to choose MS", and congratulate themselves. Both groups are kinda being stupid though. Most people are somewhere in the middle however. Linux does the things Linux excels at, and Windows is assigned tasks that it's best for. When someone says that Linux can't meet their software needs, they may well be right. This isn't to say that it never will, but here are a few examples where Linux falls on it's face today. CRM Software. News Services (Reuters or Bloomberg). Integration of past applications (Access, even XL's VBA, etc). Desktop Management (remote application deployment). Groupware If you have a business that depends on some or all of these, then you WILL find it hard to switch. I can't access my Fax messages without using MS Terminal Services, because Avaya's Message Manager doesn't run under linux (including Winerack). Kontact is no where near Outlook's equal, though I've heard that Evolution is better. We have some bigger spreadsheets, and converting them to Kspread/Calc is a frightening task. Sure, they'd run in Winerack, but is there really any benefit to switching OSes and then running an emulator so I could pretend I was using the same OS that I ran before? Heck, we still have a user here running Lotus 1-2-3 because converting to XL isn't worth the effort for him. Kword still screws up more word docs than it succeeds with, and if it's a PDF, forget it. xPDF works fine, but it's ugly compared to Kword. Access is even worse. What would you even convert it to at this point? I know there are groupware packages out there, I'm happy with the product I'm running now (though their sales team sucks). But there aren't any products as complete as Exchange yet... Neither Reuters nor Bloomberg will connect to anything except MS Office, and neither has any plans on the table now to change that. This is mission critical for us. Novell may do wonders for the management if they bring ZENworks to Linux desktops, but it isn't here today. CRM software is absent too. I know that it's coming, but all I'm saying is that for now, I can see someone saying that Windows is better on the desktop than Linux. They're probably right in many situations. Not all, but many. If you need mail (with no centralized address book, calendar, free-busy, etc), and can abandon your historical data (or you have none), then you'd be stupid to go with something other than a Linux Server, and thin clients. Linux would rule in a School environment. Linux would rule in a Hospital. Linux would rule for bank tellers. Linux would suck for people who trade commodities. Linux would suck for people with lots of small satellite offices. Linux would suck for people with lots of historical data already in proprietary systems. Kev. On April 4, 2004 05:50 am, Brian Horncastle wrote: > Heya, > > This isn't the first anti-linux article I�ve seen on Forbes, but this one > seemed particularly harsh, in my opinion. > > http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/17/cx_ld_0617linux.html > > This article makes all kinds of inflammatory comments such as: > > QUOTE: "Judging from the holy war being waged by proponents of Linux PCs, > it's clear that Linux is becoming the OS/2 of its time." > RESPONSE: How is Linux anything like OS/2? I don't see similarities on any > level. This comment is completely unsupported. > > QUOTE: "There is also a lack of mainstream applications for Linux PCs, and > that's not going to change anytime soon. Sure, there are open-source > software suites like StarOffice and OpenOffice, but beyond that it's slim > pickings." > RESPONSE: Hrmmm... I guess the 90084 applications on Sourceforge and the > 51482 applications on Freshmeat don't count then? I guess all those Open > Source applications used in industry today don�t count? This reporter so > easily dismisses the whole Open Source model, implying that Open Source > software is somehow inferior� just because she doesn�t see software in a > box she assumes there is none. > > QUOTE: �To be sure, computer users have been tempted to smash their Windows > PCs to bits. After all, freeze-ups, shutdowns and fatal errors are still an > all-too-frequent part of the everyday computing experience. And because > Microsoft tends to take a kitchen-sink approach to software development, > most users pay for features they will never use or don't even know exist. > But, for most, it's better than the Linux alternative.� > RESPONSE: In this article she completely contradicts herself. On one hand > she says how frustrated people are with Windows and then suddenly jumps to > saying that it�s still better than Linux. Well why? Why is it better than > Linux? She doesn�t explain or support this comment at all. > > QUOTE: �Mainstream computer users (those uncomfortable opening, programming > or reconfiguring a computer) would not be satisfied with Linux PCs. Large > and medium-sized corporate customers are probably not a good fit either.� > RESPONSE: This statement makes me wonder if she has ever seen or done > anything with Linux. If she had used Linux any time in the past 4-5 years > she would be well aware of the advancements with desktop environments such > as KDE and Gnome, which are easy to use for both �mainstream� and corporate > users. Not to mention the constant improvements being made in Linux > distributions. She just needs to look at Knoppix, Red Hat, Mandrake, and > Suse to know that configuration is anything but difficult�. certainly no > more so than on Windows. In most cases configuration is easier. Heck > Knoppix auto-detects and auto-configures practically everything. Sure if > someone wants to spend the time recompiling their kernel all the more power > to them, but the fact is it�s not required. > > QUOTE: �That leaves technically savvy individuals and Microsoft haters to > make a market for Linux PCs.� > RESPONSE: Well considering her previous comment that �computer users have > been tempted to smash their Windows PCs to bits� I guess that means that > everyone is on our side. > > > Overall this article seemed to be somewhat all over the place. Most of the > points made were either contradicted or ill informed. Anyway, this article > got me a bit steamed up so I thought I would share. Be interested to hear > what others think. > > Regards, > > Brian > > _________________________________________________________________ > Add photos to your messages with MSN Premium. 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