>i have installed a STOCK redhat 7.2 on an ACER travelmate
>laptop. i close the laptop and linux goes to sleep.(almost
>instantly). i open it and it wakes up in less than 5 seconds.
>(and this is NO EXAGGERATION). i have done the same for
>boxes with ATX power supplies and suspend features too.

Does this mean you can turn off a Linux box, *unplug it*,
then turn it on again and end up in the *exact same state*
as you did when you hibernated?  Because this is what
Windows hibernation is about. It does wonders for 
productivity. I wonder what it would take for the Linux
kernel to have this ability. (KDE desktop save/restore
is quite imperfect).

>> Rock-solid stability.
>ow. another subjective statement. Linux is rock solid.
>look everybodyi made a subject statement too. gee wiz.

By rock-solid stability, I mean being able to work for 
as long as I want to without the OS crashing.  Win 9x was
completely unsuitable for development (or even graphics
production) purposes because I get blue screens every
couple of hours or so.  This is the reason why I seriously 
considered moving to Linux as my environment of choice 
despite the fact that it took more effort to figure out
how to get tasks done which I take for granted under 
Windows and there was a dearth of usable, sophisticated,
applications for it.

With Win2K, this is no longer the situation.  W2K Pro
remains stable no matter what I do. This is a HUGE 
improvement.  In Win2K's case, Linux still goes from
bootup to KDE desktop much faster so there's still a bit of 
a plus for Linux there.  However, with Windows XP's very
rapid bootup, shutdown and hibernate/restore features,
there now remains very little *practical* reason to use 
Linux [for development and desktop purposes] except, like 
I mentioned, PRICE.

It may pain the Linux 'fundamentalists' to face up to the 
fact that Windows is now competitive (or may even beat) 
Linux in terms of stability and many other critical areas, but 
that's the reality.  It doesn't make Linux less of an OS, but 
there's much less of an incentive to switch.

I still like using the powerful GNU tools which I became
familiar with under Linux before and happily I can use them 
via Cygwin, MinGW, and straight Win32 ports (i.e. file 
utilities, sed, etc...).

Windows was able to catch up with Linux's stability and
was able to trim itself of bloat.  On the other hand,
in terms of applications and usability, while there
is undeniably progress in the Linux side, the gap 
between the two has probably widened.

I do maintain that for server purposes, it would be smarter 
to use Linux (or even better, OpenBSD, if you're hardcore 
enough to wrestle with that is).  Windows server security
is truly horrible.

For learners and tinkerers, I find that Linux is the most 
ideal.

> stability i will still argue about XPs stability. i
> will just leave you to your own opinions. i have
...
> stability on the other hand another question.
> XP still crashes on me though. but, i think that is
> because M$ sofware do not like me personally and that
> is why they crash.

Currently, I have heard some reports of XP boxes 
rebooting spontaneously due to driver problems. Based
on 2K history though, it shouldn't be long before
more certified drivers are available for XP and
that should no longer be a problem.

Frankly, after being exposed to all the open-source 
propaganda, I'm shocked that it is actually possible for 
a company like MS to make a solid, stable OS.  But the 
proof is in front of me, every crashless productive day 
I spend working under Win2K, and I'd be a truly rabid 
imbecile to deny it.

> deployed a number of XP boxens. frankly, i find them
> cute. 

Actually I find XP to be too eye-candyish to the point
of distraction! =)  I always catch myself staring at
those shadowed menus. So I guess you could say that's
a negative point in terms of productivity :-).


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