On Thu, 3 Jan 2002 at 21:42, Dean Michael C. Berris wrote: > - have you used Windows? did you like it? why? why not?
Yes I have used Windows, and in a lot of ways I still use (have to?) it today. I started out my "second wave" of learning how to live with computers on a Windows 3.1 box. I wired our company with everything running on Windows. And got Linux initially because I couldn't afford a Windows NT Server we needed for a fileserver. Now that I've found Linux, though, I know there's a way out to what I saw as a painful downward spin of Windows and the entire product line of Microsoft, mainly thanks to bloat, bugs, and security through obscurity. While Windows is perceived to be user-friendly, I'm finding that this is only so because of three things: First, Windows (up to ME I think) does not have any true sense of security, allowing anyone to mess with an installation. So it's "easy to fix things" (or so people think), because anyone can do it, or die trying. With Linux OTOH you need administrative privileges for most things, which is good, but I guess takes getting used to. Second, people are used to Windows. No matter how pathetic a tool, you learn how to live with it if "there is no other alternative". Which is a fallacy I think LUGs like PLUG can help clear out. Linux is an alternative. And it's not the only free alternative, at that. The BSDs are there too (albeit for much different audiences). Windows is also supposed to be pretty. But IMHO if you want pretty, the Mac rocks. But then a Windows user wouldn't be used to the Mac either, and would find it "non-user-friendly". ;> Third is most PCs come with Windows pre-installed. This is perhaps -the- factor that makes Windows "user friendly". A properly configured Linux installation is user-friendly too. And this is -N-O-T- speculation. I know this for a fact. Our "computer illiterate" sales personnel have gotten used to the stability of Linux that they had difficulty using a Windows box we had lying around. Besides, ask the average Juan dela Cruz enjoying the "ease of use" of Windows to reinstall the software (-NOT- from those "simple backups" from computer manufacturers that simply dump a pre-configured Windows installation but from the true installation discs) and I doubt it'll be that easy anyway. But maybe this part's just me. ;> > - (assuming that you do use linux) what linux distribution do you use? I started out with RedHat. I'm not an avid Debian user. > - what are the things you see in linux that are not found in Windows? if > any, what are the things in Windows that you don't see in linux? In one word? Quality. :) > - what are the things in Windows that you would want to see in linux? Nothing. "Ease of use" is relative, and is largely a matter of getting used to things. :) Some people will say "I want the games", but the games are -NOT- Windows. They run on Windows, but they're not Windows. Games are developed on Windows for a lot of reasons, but I think the most important is because that's where the market is. Hopefully we can do something to shift the market from Windows to Linux. The game developers will follow. Or maybe we can help the game developers lead the flock to our OS of choice? > - why do you think Windows users aren't switching over to linux by now? There are a lot of reasons I think, but mainly it's perception. Not many people know about Linux, and since Windows is more popular, they think that's the way to go. A lot of people are also under the impression that Linux is a hacker's OS, as it started out as, and they don't want to try something that difficult out. This is not their fault. I read this article about oldbies and newbies awhile back, and basically it's the oldbies' fault, by large. When we smack a newbie with contorted hackerish ways of solving a particular problem, s/he gets scared, as s/he probably has difficulty keeping up with the plethora of commands used to handle such a simple thing. I think a lot of Linux distributions exist that are "dumbed down", so to speak, and newbie-ready. We really just need more installfests where oldbies (ready to use "dumbed down" distributions) can help newbies get a headstart on their paths to Liberation from the Evil Empire. ;> --> Jijo -- Federico Sevilla III :: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Network Administrator :: The Leather Collection, Inc. GnuPG Key: http://jijo.leathercollection.ph/jijo.gpg _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
