I never said that Windos users didn't have bad habits. The issue here is that
my idea of "bad habits" differs slightly from yours. In my opinion, a "bad
habit" is something that locks you into something, whether you like it or
not. I like the configurabliity of Linux, and it is getting better all the
time. We need to have a starting point, and for simplicity this should be
similar to that of other popular OSs, in order to win support. With time,
however, we will break free of these so-called "bad habits" and have a fully
configurable OS. WMs like Enlightenment and Sawfish are doing this already.
It will take a while for this to happen to KDE, however, since it is made to
be easy for people migrating from M$-land.
OS/2 failed for a number of reasons. The first two versions were actually
made by M$, so this gave M$ valuable experience when it came to writing
Windoze. It also put IBM at a disadvantage, since they had to get people who
hadn't worked on it before to develop it, once it's partnership with M$ was
over. OS/2 was written mostly in Assembler, making it difficult to modify and
maintain. OS/2 advertised itself as "A better Windows than Windows", since it
could run win16 and win32 apps. This needed a copy of Windows installed,
however, so people just used Windows. Developers didn't develop for OS/2
since Windows software worked in both Windows and OS/2. The final blow was
the lack of interest in the upper echelons of IBM. If they had decided to
market it harder and better, and put more money into its development, OS/2
could have easily beaten Windos. OS/2 Warp 3 was pushed reasonably hard, but
this was less than a year before the release of Windows 95, so by then it was
too late.
Besides diehard OS/2 fans, who really wanted to see OS/2 succeed anyway? In
the short term it may seem good, but if the dominant OS was actually
competant then no one would want to switch to something even better like
Linux. OS/2 may be fully 32-bit (Windos still has lots of 16-bit code, over
ten years since Intel released the fully 32-bit 386 CPU), but it is still a
single-user OS, not built for networks from the ground-up like Linux, BSD and
Unix are.
On Thu, 21 Dec 2000 23:29, David Raleigh Arnold wrote:
> Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> > Not a bad idea, but most mice out there still have only one or two
> > buttons.
>
> That was the doing of Bill Gates.
>
> > While three-button mice are cheap nowadays, many people will not switch
> > to Linux if they have to buy a new piece of hardware, no matter how cheap
> > it is.
>
> If the folks at IBM hadn't been too stupid to throw a 3 button mouse
> in the box, os2 might still be a player. I have seen them sell at
> retail for $2.00. Besides, they can use alt keys instead, which is
> *very* bad ergonomics, as enlightenment offers instead of 7 buttons.
> The thing has hurt linux already, and continues to do so.
>
> > (it's psychological). Also, new users of Linux can become easily confused
> > by too many buttons.
>
> Aha!
> Now you admit that windows users have bad habits!
> And that they are so easily confused that they need wheels instead
> of buttons?
>
> > > > > > > Xwindows Mouse Installation Wiz
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Button 1 [add] list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 2 [remove] list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 3 or 1+2 list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 4 1+2 or a-1 list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 5 1+3 or a-2 list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 6 2+3 or a-1+2 list of functions
> > > > > > > Button 7 1+2+3 or doubleclick 1 list of functions
> > > > > > > list of functions
> > > > > > > list of functions
> > > > > > > etc etc etc......
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > He should be able to get to this by entering "xmouse" at
> > > > > > > a command prompt. This is mouse0. Mouse1 should be also
> > > > > > > configurable, bearing in mind that you can't have two
> > > > > > > *separate* ps2 mice, tho I understand that you can hook up
> > > > > > > 2 and use them. The buttons would share. They're just
> > > > > > > switches, after all. (So is a computer :-))
> > > > > > > Some of the functions need dialogs for pressure, axis, etc.
> > > > > > > We don't have this because W$ users have bad habits, and they
> > > > > > > continue to have a bad influence.
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan.
Your mouse has moved. Windows must be rebooted to acknowledge this change.
