> I run Linux at home but have to deal with Windows 2000, XP and Vista > at work. We install windows computers with touch screens with POS > software. They have to work on a network and have Internet access > and have to be secure and safe from all the garbage. The software > we sell and support will run on Linux but I have not been able to > convince the owner or the developers to use Linux yet. I think > when, we can no longer get Win 2000 and have to start purchasing > Server because we can no longer set up enough boxes without it they > may decide to give it some serious consideration to switch to > Linux.
I run Windows at home/work, and take due precautions - firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, strip attachments into a different partition. I run in user mode, not admin mode. I run Windows because it runs the software that I need to be productive. I have used Ubuntu, Red Hat and SuSE, BeOS and Zeta...and it all comes down to this: Can I get my work done on these systems? And for most of the things I need to do, in the formats that my industry demands, the answer is a resounding "No, not yet." Even when alternatives exist, with the NOTABLE exception of OO, the vast majority of the alternatives in Linux are harder to use, feature-incomplete, or documented in Rot-13 Urdu panagyrics. Doing the last 10-20% of an app that makes it "usable for a non-geek" is about 70-80% of the work in developing it. It's the boring part of coding. it's dealing with clueless lusers and noobs, and people who write trouble tickets like "Problem in Writer." without giving you anything to go on. And it's the part of coding that very rarely ever gets done in the Open Source world, because it's hard to get volunteers to muck the stables and deal with idiots like me, who know enough about what a makefile is to know that you get a real IT guy to deal with it, or you do without whatever it was. OO.o is one of the few exceptions to this that I've seen. So, I take my very stable, cautiously and stridently maintained Windows system, and figure one of these days, someone will manage to tap the Open Source zeitgeist to make programs for end users rather than kewl programmer toolz, and I'll be able to switch. One of these days. But that day isn't today, it isn't going to be tomorrow, either. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
