I have to agree completely that there are SERIOUS holes that need to be
filled.  A short list of things that I miss every day (a suitable
equivalent would be ok):

egrep
sed
afterstep
xv  (not too big, not too small)
tgif
.
.
.

Oh, "lose with _linux_"... my bad.

I'm just making the point that there are things you _gain_ with linux,
too.  If you're going to miss music composition more than you like a
good Window manager, that's fine, but there _are_ good programs for
linux that aren't available on windows platforms.  We can't forget that.

Other things we can't forget:

Since users won't "use" until apps exist and apps won't be written until
there are lots of users, a slow ascent is as good as it gets.  There is
going to be incrimental improvement in # of users AND # number of apps.
Period.

The linux community is no more RESPONSIBLE for creating applications
than Microsoft is.  Does Microsoft make music composition software?

My point is: Sometimes it feels like we are getting a bit defensive. We
don't need to "defend" linux. There's nothing (major) wrong with it.  If
we want to _promote_ it, great.  But there's no need to defend it.

I no longer sweat it if people look into linux and don't see the apps
they want.  Lots of people who did that 6 months ago are ecstatic linux
users today.  I'll get worried when linux stops moving forward.  Till'
then, I'm enjoying the ride.

                                        -Michael

  Michael Stenner                       Office Phone: 919-660-2513
  Duke University, Dept. of Physics       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Box 90305, Durham N.C. 27708-0305

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