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Heya Jeff,
On Fri, Dec 02, 2005 at 01:10:09PM -0800, Jeff Shippen wrote:
> From a Desktop/Workstation perspective, what are the strengths and
> weaknesses of Linux that you encounter? [snip]
> Weaknesses:
> * Installing software of course... dependency hell and such.
> * Location of certain files and directories will vary across distros.
> * Development of many programs seems to be quite slow (which can be
> expected if there is little income from it)
Well you've opened a can of worms on that one. ;-) For me the
solution is to use a distribution which conforms to the FHS.
And to only use that distribution. I don't believe development
of OSS is too slow. Consider that most commericial products
have a 6 month release cycle in which they constantly add
features mandated by a marketing department. In many cases
these features don't really enhance the user experience or add
value. In addition to having fixed release schedules the
defacto standard is release now patch later. Whereas with solid
OSS code bases they release once it's actually stable. I don't
really see those as weaknesses.
In short, every proprietary OS has it's own notions of where to
store files and what to name them which vary far more than the
difference between any given POSIX OS. At least with *nix you
know that certain conventions apply on SunOS, HPUX, AIX, Linux,
and the BSDs (including OS X). You can't really say that for
Windows.
> Strengths:
> * Installing the OS and selecting included software is easy
> * Stability
> * Multiple GUI's
> * Almost all distros can be obtained for free (legally).
I'll add a couple...
* Flexibility, same kernel and toolchain can run anything from a
Nokia 770 to the fastest supercomputer on the planet. ;)
* Trust, I can look at the code... I can see that a security fix
changed this or that and verify it. I don't have to fire up
IDA Pro to guess at what's changed...
* Applications, with distros like Debian/Ubuntu I can install
thousands of applications that have all been built with the
same toolchain and been tested together. Windows doesn't test
every possible software nor build all apps with the same
toolchain, nor even have a standard convention for
installation and removal... bug reporting etc... yuck
* Documentation, everyday the guides for usage, tips and tricks
APIs and pretty much everything gets documented in many
languages and is free to download, print, etc. :)
peace,
core
- --
There is no Death. /\___/\ Charles Stevenson
Only a change of / /\ /\ \ Psychonautified
worlds. | ³ù ù³ | hacker.
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