On Tue, 2003-10-21 at 04:47, Eric Livingston wrote:
> I'm curious regarding the penetration of linux as a comprehensive solution
> for all computing tasks in a normal day. i.e. what percentage of Linux users
> are 100% linux, or even 100% Gentoo for that matter.
> 
I am a hardware guy, so I'm not sure my vote counts much here.

I run 3 machines at home. 1 is Gentoo, one XP, one ME. I am not 100%
Linux, for two reasons:

1) I have to keep two home machine running Windows to do my composing
and recording. There are no Linux apps that come close to Pro Tools for
functionality, and  I have another machine running GigaStudio and
Reaktor that are Windows apps. No way to run them under Linux.

2) My main home machine is Linux, for doing email mostly. I browse on
this machine, but out-of-the-box Linux setup is not very good for
browsing the web. Gentoo doesn't some set up for any form of audio, and
I need Alsa for my recording work, so KDE and Gnome environments don't
work well for me without customization. Mozilla doesn't even come set up
to view a pdf file on-line without configuration. It's just too
difficult for us end-user types, and I don't get that anyone in the
Linux development world is all that interested in making a distribution
that solves these problems out of the box, so I guess it won't happen.

As I said though, I'm not a software guy, so it's difficult for me to
get things configured.

Since this is the case I end up doing most 'fun' browsing from my
Windows XP machine.

That said, when some distribution out there takes us end-user types
seriously and fixes these problems, then I'll probably go 100% Linux for
my day-in/day-out computer. I'll have Windows XP around for the next few
years at least to run Pro Tools and other Windows audio apps, so I have
no reason to do the work myself. I'd rather write music than configure
computers.

As for work, we tried to switch, but couldn't. The problem is no M$
Office compatible applications that are 100% compatible with Word and
Excel, so we have to run the real ones. I haven't looked into Crossover
Office yet, but plan too.

- Mark


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