Ramil Sagum wrote:
Wag tayong magsalita ng tapos. We think OSS is such a good thing kasi we're using it and most of our friends are OSS users in much the same way as Microsofties think their software is good because they use it, they participate in development and most of the people they know are Microsofties.
It's not a good thing just *because* we're using it. I'm a computer hobbyist and my first exposure is digital unix in 1988. No formal computer education whatsoever ('cept for the required wordstar and lotus123 in college). I didn't get into nix and oss just because I came to use it. I discovered it and I thought it was way better than what microsoft has to offer back then. I believe this until now. Appearance-wise we may see oss apps mimicking win32 but we all know this is to "guide" win32 users to shift to linux. Nix has the best apps and microsoft copied it right from the start (you think your msdos commands are a microsoft invention? Even windowing systems were started by Xerox not ms.) Microsoft is good at copying technology and using the terminology as a trademark (the term windows is not their invention).
We all know they are dipping into oss just for the bucks. Microsoft is a business and it will continue to function that way till ends time.
If you're the richest guy in the world, would you stop? I don't think so.
It's good developers and enthusiasts. But not good for companies. Walang guaranteed support. Wala silang isusue kung di gumana yung product. Walang warranty etc. Companies need to depend on the whim of volunteer developers halfway around the world.
The latter is a really good discussion point: while OS people in most cases do care about making end-users life easier, in cases like that it is always "shut up and patch up" stance coming from OS developers, which does turn some end-users away from using OS software, but improves in overall security. However, MS would think twice if they have to do something that would make end-users uneasy because it would force them to change the way they do with their computers - XP service pack 2, if it is true that it might break a lot of existing applications due to severe changes in the kernel, is a good example. Customer satisfaction plays a great role for MS (this is just how it should be in any business), but it seems that they're willing to sacrifice a lot to keep customers belive they're using the most comfortable software in this part of Universe.
If I want reliability, I'd stick to OpenBSD.
Ah! But there are microsoft fanatics! As I said, puro OSS fanatics lang kasi kilala natin.
Oss people love to code and share their code. We all have fun doing that and that's why I'm into nix. I use ms plainly for games. My wife uses ms as a typewriter. I think there's more heart in oss than ms. Two very different idealogies.
>3. Opensource has no Service Pack waiting.. coz you know the >technology, you can fix it ASAP yourself and for good karma you can >share that to the rest of the community.
*IF* you can fix it. Normal users (the majority) have to wait for the whim of volunteers.
Majority of which appears within a week, not counting the 0-day diffs. As for ms, there are still holes out there waiting to be plugged that's even older than my 2-year old kid.
Do not forget that Microsoft doesn't play security game like Open Source people do. It is two different worlds, really. While OS people might just sit down, write a patch and publish it, MS people would have to write patch, submit it to QA, see that it doesn't break something else, see that it doesn't make the end-user experience less comfortable, and only then release it to the public (takes time, doesn't it?).
Technically, it wouldn't be too hard to do very few steps that could eradicate worms/viruses issue as it is present today: if MS would stop shipping MSIE and OE to force people to use third party software, and if they disable some of the features of scripting language used in MS Office, they would disintegrate this monoculture and provide harsh ground for new malware. It isn't so hard to do, but there's this question of end-user experience. People do love to have all those nifty features, although they use 10-20% of them (but "let it just sit there, you never know..."); take most of that unneeded features away, and your customer satisfaction starts to slip. They might be more secure, but they wouldn't like it. End-users, that is. You have to keep them happy, in one way or another.
Now, why MS failed to fix this problem is beyond my comprehension, but it isn't first time it took them a lot of time to provide a fix. However, it seems that this doesn't hurt their sales. This might be because all that customers care about is if they can do something with some tool, not how secure (and reliable) it is. If it wasn't that way, we would talk about majority of people using Linux or MacOS and OpenOffice, wouldn't we?
Ah, and apropos your accountability question - haven't you read your EULA? ;-)
I could go on and on. Pero basically, yun, maganda lang yung tingin natin kasi developers tayo. Sa normal user's point of view, Microsoft is a lot better. (to _The Sword of Truth_ readers, it would be the wizard's
first rule.)
Not for me. My day job is completely not computer-related. I'm a hobbyist. I was into unix even before the internet boom in RP.
What do you mean by normal users? Majority of users sure. Ms has seeped into every corner of the world that's why it has become an unofficial standard for office and household use.
Not better. Easier. Just that. No other reason.
I bet theres an analogous Microsoftie mailing list out there bashing OSS.
=)
As there are forums that say Jesus is an alien.
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