> Interesting editorial from osnews found on /. > > "The Fast-Food Syndrome: The Linux Platform is > Getting Fat" > link: > http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=7324&page=1
Yes. Majority of Linux distros are now bigger resource hogs than Windows XP. We have Windows XP machines facing everdyay real world use with only 112MB of RAM juggling Office XP + a few additional apps and background services fairly happily.
While I would not even consider using a Windows-based OS for a server platform before, what I have heard of Windows Server 2003 (leaner YET meaner) makes me want to, at the very least, evaluate it. Not that I particularly believe it would make an excellent platform to host open source server technologies on (which, btw, I heavily prefer over overengineered MS server technologies like ADO, IIS, ADO.NET and ASP.NET, pleh)
I've never been a believer in Linux for graphical clients. Linux the kernel is amazing considering what it gives you for free, but X is overengineered, and I'm still waiting for the day when they replace it with something built from the ground up (on which toolkits like Gtk will hopefully still run on top of so we don't up reinventing wheels again).
We really shouldn't be holding up Linux-based OSes (I'm referring to the distros, not the kernel itself) as the standard bearers of open source success. There are so many other cool open source technologies (many of which, incidentally, run great on Windows for development purposes) out there which prove that open source is a very viable software development model.
Seeing as how Linux distros may held up as being the most visible example of such though (however inaccurate that might be), I am concerned about how much of a bad name it might actually lend to other open source technologies.
That's what happens when you put ideology and politics above practical considerations. You get nowhere fast.
> excerpt: "It's a very sad state of affairs. > Linux was supposed to be the liberating OS, > disruptive technology that would change the > playing field for computing. It was supposed to > breathe new life into PCs and give third-world > countries new opportunities. It was supposed to > avoid the Microsoftian upgrade treadmill; > instead, it's rushing after Moore's Law. Such a > shame."
But guess what? Linux still IS the liberating OS (kernel-wise)! Precisely because like Windows, it comes with a lot of device support and highfalutin features (probably even more heavy duty than NT), but unlike Windows, you are free to mix and match what you run on top of it to a FAAAR greater degree.
Linux is clearly liberating for techies (but don't think that Microsoft is not aware of this and won't try to make their OS attractive in this respect as well), it is mainstream Linux /distros/ that are NOT necessarily liberating for end users.
Clearly, Linux was a grave threat to Windows, Microsoft fought back admirably and to its credit now has a product that's better than ever (the security holes still suck esp. for end-users who do not know how to use firewalls) which /does/ offer a very compelling alternative to Linux (after factoring in my experiences with both Linux and Windoze XP, I have to say I am _very willing_ to pay for the latter!) Linux, on the other hand, coasted by with a mix of technical excellence by a small core group and a lot of half-assed zealotry and politicking by juvenile-minded people who saw themselves as messiahs of a new age that did not come to pass the way they thought it would.
There's still hope for the Linux zealots though. Bill Gates is now supposed to be directly involved in the development of the next generation of Windows technologies. Considering the mess he made of Windows 1.0 (a dog and 2 years late to boot iirc... the really successful Windows incarnations were all handled by product managers other than Bill), and seeing as how the same seems to be happening to Longhorn and Yukon (delayed YET again), perhaps that will give Linux some breathing room to catch up in the GUI / desktop client department.
-- reply-to: a n d y @ n e t f x p h . c o m
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