I think there are several issues involved.
1 One is that there are 30 years of experience behind Unix networks,and
heck , the Internet grew up on them. Again, Linux is a total Rewrite from
Bottom up ( Which is one of the answers to the Myths at microsoft).
2 It carries on from where Unix left off thanks to the Licencing of System
V as a copyrighted product by AT&T, Which stopped the Free exchange of Ideas
, which has been a characterestic of Unix From Day 1 when Ken Thompson First
Wrote It..All this happened due to events in 1984, which was the worst year
for Computers in general as Everything started getting copyrighted from
them. Things which were Free and considered natural like the LZ algorithim
for Data Compression , which Terry Welch copyrighted as LZW started to
atifle the freedom prevalent till theen . Orwell had perhaps seen this!
Computers were of age , at least the Consumer age and Big Business was the
Watchword. Those who were against the Restrictive practices regarding
Knowledge also fought back - GNU due to Richard Stallman, the FreeBSD
initiative , which has the best TCP stack in the world. and so on.
Incidently, it seems that Microsoft has also decided to show it's TC stack
in source form in universities.
Linux has in this way a Back to the Future thing which captures the feelings
which permeated the Computer Community before 1984.
3. Linux has the status of an underdog still and the entire world loves an
underdog.
4. The Pricniples which drive the open source movement are akin to the
principles of freedom which are dear to many people's heart. The internet is
still the last frontier and has the trappings of the Wild west where
everyone can pitch his /her tent and gain on the basis of his/her ability.
Commoditized software has the potential to hand the software industry to a
few business houses which will effectively kill the creativity and the
passion which goes into s/w development now. Picture this, hardware is still
so cheap thanks to moore's law that programmers' now calling themselves
developers get away with sloppy coding and Bloatware. Try making this with
open source. Code is subjected to so much of peer Preview that bloatware in
the form prevelent now cannot exist. This is the primary problem with the
Windows platform. DO not tell me that it a lousy platform without
specifying your gripe. The crashes that we associate with windows software
is due to bloatware which escape into the real world before being optimised
, due to customer pressure or pressure from higher up .No programmer likes
his product to have errors as it is an item of his creativity and something
he watches more carefully than a mother her child. Errors are never
delibrately introduced. They occur because of inadequate testing and
insufficient development time. Try writing a program in VB6 and in GCC. I
think you will agree that VB6 is far faster at getting on with the job. Look
at the Code size - the difference is 1:100 at least. It is stupid to say
that size does not matter now a days. It DOES . Code that does not exist
cannot have bugs. It loads faster. It makes for a leaner system and better
response.Remember VB version 1 . It was fun working with it. Even Dos
programming was fun as one worked around limitations.Even today, everyone
learns C++ by working with Turbo C++ for Dos.All this goes to say that
creativity is not limited to Linux, it never was. But the fun you used to
have with a desktop with all the OS which ran on them is now somehow totally
transmuted to Linux , simply as dos is dead and the vast majority of techies
and intelligent users simply hate being lead by the hand by an OS which
assumes you are brain dead. Why after all these years Windows does not have
a command shell worth it's salt is beyond me. It cannot be due to lack of
ability. Have a look at the things the wizards of redmond have done with
win95 ( I mean the assembly dump of the kernel ) . The ideas such as beyond
64k Moves in real mode are simply brilliant. They have some gifted techies
too.
The keyboad is always faster than the mouse. This is my fustration with
windows and it's Philosophy.I hav nothing againt the software you run on it.
Far from it. My favourite debugger is softice and office suite is Office in
all it's forms. But again , due to the mouse philosophy , the editor which i
use for win32 programming is still Vi for Windows.
5. Another thing is that Linux is proving more useful in the server market ,
specifically with ISP's which are populated with techies anyway.It allows
them to do exactly what they want because they know their wants , needs and
their minds very well.
6 The source arguement for the kernel is specious now. I can follow the
Minix source , even in v 2 form.The Linux kernal is of mammoth size now and
extremely difficult to comprehend now. The Linux kernel is near 40Mb is
size. It would take the better part of 3 years to understand it ,keeping in
mind the frequent patches available.Tell me , just how many people in this
mailing list have ever recompiled their kernels and how many times?
7 it forces you to know the Machine better which interests many. Windows and
The Mac excel in keeping you at an arm's length.
I personally feel that reasons 1 to 5 are the actual reasons for Linux's
popularity and fanatic following.
. It would be better to my mind if next time we are prepared with the
reasons for our loyalty to our favourite OS before embarking on a FLAME
contest.
shanker
-----
Original Message -----
From: Indranil Das Gupta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 1999 7:43 PM
Subject: [ilug-cal] Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 19:48:28 +0530
> ApprovedL ilug-cal.t8he4qqe
> Received: from web604.mail.yahoo.com (web604.mail.yahoo.com
[128.11.68.168])
> by humanist.netshooter.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id IAA24191
> for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Wed, 13 Oct 1999 08:28:32 -0400
> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Received: from [206.103.11.131] by web604.mail.yahoo.com; Wed, 13 Oct 1999
05:28:32 PDT
> Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 05:28:32 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Robin Chatterjee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: [ilug-cal] Why are u using Linux??? was --> Microsoft
Sponsored Linux Myths
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> erm - none of the above ?
>
> Maybe a bit of no 4 -linux is cool. Also because it's
> somethingI'd like to know about - but certainly just
> because linux is cool/free or whatever it doesn't mean
> that I automatically qualify as a M$ basher :). It
> certainly helps/forces you to learn a lot more about
> your machine which is a good/bad thing , so that's why
> I love/hate linux.
> Cheerio
> Robin
> oh and maybe quake 3 arena :)
> though i haven't installed it yet
>
> --- Indranil Das Gupta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Hi friends,
> >
> > I would like to put forward a question to all... why
> > the _heck_ are you using Linux??? Although you maybe
> > mislead into
> > thinking otherwise, I am dead serious, and would
> > really like to hear from you.
> >
> > 1. You are a hacker...and you won't be seen dead
> > using any other non-free "OS"?
> >
> > 2. You are required to admin Linux box(en)... you
> > don't like it, but it certainly puts the daily bread
> > on your table?
> >
> > 3. Your boss threatened to fire you or withhold that
> > raise unless you upgraded your knowledge-base to
> > include Linux?
> >
> > 4. You think Linux is cool..and want to be part of
> > the Cyber Age 31337?
> >
> > 5. You are just a normal user, who after years on
> > suffering at the hands of MSFT s/w tried Linux, and
> > found it to be
> > something you had always wanted to use...?
> >
> > 6. You have been a *nix user, and using Linux has
> > been part of the natural progression?
> >
> > 7. You are a corporate entity and want to jump to
> > the Linux bandwagon, as you want a slice of the pie
> > before everyone
> > (namely other corporate entities) discover how good
> > it tastes?
> >
> > 8. You really believe in the idea of Opensource.
> > When you go in for a job interview, instead of
> > saying -- "show me the
> > money"... you inevitably end up saying "show me the
> > code or else...." (*imagine the scene as it might
> > have taken place
> > between Bruce Perens and ESR* ;-)
> >
> > 9. You are a closet masochist and not even remotely
> > interested in Linux -- rather you're basically
> > looking for a
> > socially acceptable form of inflicting pain on
> > yourself, as you have heard it is painful to use?
> >
> > 10. Your vendor (yeah, one of those darned
> > "enlightened", move-with-the-times types) sold you a
> > multi-booting PC,
> > with Linux as the default boot option. You, a long
> > time Windows user, have always been habituated to
> > let the s/w make
> > the
> > decisions for you. You wonder why you no longer have
> > a BSOD... and think that the 'X" in the X Windowing
> > System comes from ActiveX??
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> > --Indra.
> >
> >
> > ----------
> > > From: Ankush Borse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Subject: Re: [ilug-cal] Microsoft Sponsored Linux
> > Myths
> > > Date: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 10:58 AM
> > >
> > > Hi
> > >
> > > I seen the article. Well, I agree with these all
> > > points and myths.
> > >
> > > But despite of the all security, crashproofness
> > and
> > > scalability, I have some doubts here.
> >
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > with the body
> > "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line.
> > FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
> >
>
>
> =====
> Robin S Chatterjee
> mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Robin's Poetry Pages
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Metro/5952
> Robin's Perl Pages
> http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/8312
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