s. keeling wrote:
Incoming from Andrew Graupe:Believe it or not, game consoles are limited. I play MS Flight Simulator 2004, which borders on an obsession with me. I play it because it is good, has the most addons, and the most support. I even have a flight console, complete with yoke, throttle, gear, flaps, mixture, and RPM controls that only works with MS. I am not about to give this up. That being said, I have entered the world of linux gaming with Neverwinter Nights and Unreal Tournament 2004. Thank you, Atari, for producing linux versions of these games. I also have City of Heroes. Sometimes consoles don't have the control necessary for these games or, for whatever reason, the developers choose not to port them. I go freely between the new systems. I usually do mundane tasks on Windows (the ones that I don't care about) and school work/other things I wouldn't want to lose on linux. This way, if one should fail (guess which) for any reason, I will have another. Linux CAN fail, just so you know.
In my probably 6 years of using Windows (since Windows 98), Windows has only borked itself once. It came at a relatively convenient time, since I wanted to upgrade to XP anyway. I have had my share of BSOD, but it always boots back up. I think it would be better if the linux community took the stance "linux is better because it was programmed to be reliable and is incredibly stable, not to mention several other things" instead of "linux is better because MS sucks". MS is not as bad as we
I never say Linux is great because MS sucks. Not to mention it's illogical, it's irrelevant. MS can, and does, suck all by itself with no help from free software.
Your attitude is classical denial behaviour. You don't want to give up MS. It runs your games. Marvy. I think it would be smarter to buy a game console, but that's your choice.
For me, free software is great for many reasons:
- When I want something, I can "apt-get update ; apt-cache search BLAH ; apt-get install WHATZIT". I don't have to settle for something from a computer store that I can't try before buying, and can't return after it's been tried. If I don't like WHATZIT, the same tools remove it, completely, with no hidden after affects. If I find deficiencies in WHATZIT, the author/maintainer not only wants to hear about it, but also works with me personally to nail down just exactly what's going on so he can either fix it or better document it.
Wait wait wait... you mean "emerge WHATZIT"...
This is one reason why linux will eventually pull further and further ahead of windows. If there were a good VB equivilent, and more information on game programming, then the final nails would be in MS's coffin, for the most part (see situation above).- When I want to build something, I don't have to go buy development tools (which may or may not be adequate to the task). They're already here.
- I won't have to throw away my machine when my vendor releases a new version of his product. I upgrade on my schedule, not his.
Why would you now? Do you mean a new version of Windows?
- The software I use isn't a magnet for malware.
It will be soon, but that will all be fixed due to its free nature.
<sarcasm>I would NEVER directly disobey a EULA. That would be unethical</sarcasm>- The software I use conforms to open standards.
- I don't have to pay for a poorly implemented support contract for
the software I use.
- My software understands and interacts well with each other. I can use my editor with any language in which I happen to be developing. My tools behave and use standard, open file formats so the output from one can be the input to another.
- I don't have to learn an entirely new interface everytime I want to do something new.
- My software works the way I want it to work. It's not driven by inapplicable usability studies designed around people unlike me. If I want something to work in the background, it works in the background, no questions asked.
- My software isn't marketing division driven. It's driven by feedback from its users, and the decisions of its authors.
- My systems are safe from spy-ware, don't phone home, and consider me the boss.
- I essentially own my software. You are licenced to run X number of copies of your software on Y number of systems supporting Z number of users.
I am a steadfast linux user. I find it offensive that you would refer to commercial software authors as "mine".- The authors of my software are encouraged by competition from similar packages. Yours is suing the pants off anyone who may be attempting to infringe on their "space."
Some things improve. FS2004 was a huge improvement over FS2002. Just because you pick examples of the worst proprietary software, doesn't mean that all similar software follows those rules.- My software improves year by year. Your software vendor's excuses as to why it never seems to improve grow ever more tedious year after year.
Gentoo (etc-update, specifically), nearly made my system unbootable. It was easy to fix, but a bit of a headache. Could someone explain why it would be set to overwrite /etc/fstab with a copy that is SURE not to work?- The fact that it _never_ shoots itself in the head _is expected behaviour_, not simply an added benefit.
Every time I say MS doesn't suck as much as you all think, someone invariably says "Linux is better because of foo". I accept that foo does, indeed, make linux better.
-- My computer beat me at chess, I beat it at boxing. We're even.
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