First of all, NT is very stable in a workstation environment. As soon as you start using it in a server environment all bets are off. Also as soon as you slap IE4 on it all bets are off. I use NT on a pretty regular basis in a workstation environment, and it seems to me that as soon as you install IE4 you lose everything that makes NT a better OS than 95. And now with Win2k they're extending that even further. From what I've read about Win2k, I'll be surprised if it takes the user market by storm.
As too Linux's configurability, I'll agree that that is one of the primary reasons I like Linux so much, unfortunately that is also one of the primary reasons it is very unlikely that Linux will ever make a serious dent in the Windows stranglehold on the SOHO market. People (as far as I can tell) don't want configurability. They want everything to be done for them. Why? Because most people who use computers don't have half a clue about the machine they're using, and further more they don't want to have even a quarter of a clue. "Just make it work" is Joe Public's request to software developers, so phenomena like Windows should come as no surprise. To someone who uses 2-3 applications and plays some games, Windows9x will seem the most stable thing around. And it takes care of all the "hard computer stuff" for them. Like so many fads, the success of Microsoft can most easily be attributed to the general ignorance of the computer user base, and as the computer rapidly supplants the television and telephone as the primary means of entertainment and interpersonal communication this ignorance will grow with leaps and bounds. Does this remind anyone else of those bad sci-fi stories of the 50's and 60's where the world is ruled by machines and humans have devolved into lithe little critters devoid of intellectual pursuit? Sean Ed Cogburn wrote: > Hamish Moffatt wrote: > > > > On Tue, Dec 22, 1998 at 02:36:23AM -0500, Ed Cogburn wrote: > > > - M$'s decision to do the absurd merging of WinNT and Win95/8 into > > > Win2000 will guarantee new refugees from the M$ world, along with > > > > Considering what I hear from this group and the 'debates' in c.o.l.a., > and elsewhere on the Net, WinNT isn't that stable as it is now. > Finally, one the important things about Linux is its configurability, > especially > being able to trim the kernel to just what is needed. The idea that they can > build > an OS that is not only good at being a mainstream desktop OS while at the > same time > as being a strong enterprise server, all from the same shrink-wrapped box, > smells > real funny to me.
