Author: Sune Fischer
Date: 15:41:19 08/12/04
Go up one level in this thread
On August 12, 2004 at 13:48:34, Christophe Theron wrote: >On August 11, 2004 at 03:02:08, Sune Fischer wrote: > >>On August 10, 2004 at 23:53:09, Christophe Theron wrote: >> >>>It turned out I could do everything -or almost- in Linux. When there was >>>something I could not do with Linux, I managed to find alternatives (booting an >>>outdated version of Windows in another partition, or running this outdated >>>version of Windows inside Linux with an emulator like Win4lin or VMware). >> >>So in other words you can't live without windows entirely :) >>Actually, I'm not joking, I had much the same problem. >> >>I know it's possible to do practicly everything with linux, you just have to >>recompile the kernel, install patch number 307im3992slle, run ./configure, edit >>the makefile to suit your environment, login as root and copy the kernel image, >>reconfigure lilo and voila, it works without you "having to lift a finger". > > >No I'm sorry you are wrong. > >I *NEVER* recompile anything. I *NEVER* type "make install" or such things. > >I just look for rpm packages that are compiled for my distro, and I install >them. That's all. Al right, it's been a few years since I ran linux. I guess linux has almost reached the windows level of userfriendliness now. ;) Back then most of the programs I downloaded came only as source and you had to "make" it yourself. Very often it of course wouldn't compile without a lot of changes to the makefile. I remember a fractal program I tried to install as a regular user on a big server once I couldn't get it to work so I asked the admin. He came and used about half an hour, recompiling it several times, he had to install some additional libraries, make some changes to its source code and he wrote a ton of cryptic commands in the console. Finally it worked. I used it for about 5 minutes, it was a boring program. I did not dare to ask him remove it :) Just imagine, this super linux geek which was highly paid and in charge of 60 linux machines needed half an hour to do something that simple. That was a bit of a turning point for me, since then I've resented linux a little bit. >I indeed had to reinstall a different version of the kernel in order to run >Win4lin. But it was really easy. I just downloaded a rpm package and installed >it. It's easy if you know how, but most don't without having to read through 25 man-pages and ask a few questions on usenet. At least that's what consumed a lot of time for me, perhaps if I had known someone with a lot of experience that could have answered all my dumb questions. :) >I would not say that everything is always easy in Linux, but it would be unfair >to say that you spend all of your time downloading sources and recompiling bits >of your system all day long. It's not true anymore. > >You download packages (these can be new applications or updates) and you install >them. There are even applications that allow you to explore the content of >Internet "repositories" and to install these packages in just one click. If that's true then that's great, but as a windows user I would also expect no less. > >In Fedora that are wizards for network configuration. Just as long as it doesn't ask me for gateways and DNS entries, I prefer an autodetect option :) > >>I want to have an update button for automatic patching. I can't imagine having >>to spend time browsing through webpages to find new patches - this should be an >>integral part of the OS and happen as automaticly as possible. > > > >Most major distros offer it now. ok, sounds great. >>Finally, and this is really the biggie for me, lot of great software just >>doesn't exist on Linux, such as 3D studio max, Photoshop and (ugh) Chessbase. > > >You have great (free) equivalents for most (expensive) Windows applications. You also have many great free equivalents on windows for the more expensive software, just count the number of winboard engines :) Software has always been the weak point on linux IMO, there just isn't that much to choose from compared to windows. Most linux programs have actually been ported to windows in some form or another. >When you do not find the equivalent it is possible to use an emulation software >like Win4lin that will allow you to run that Windows application on your Linux >dsktop. I know, and you can run linux on windows by e.g. vmware. I just don't like these solutions. > >So you are telling me that Windows is finally catching up with Linux in >stability? Yes that's what I'm telling you :) I think it even superceeded it for a while. When I first ran win2k it seemed more stable than Redhat with the gnome I was also using. No doubt MS pulled themselves together to compete with linux on this issue :) >Fine. But the problem also comes from the fact that this (expensive) product >comes from a company whose only goal is to get more and more control every day, >and who has abused from its monopoly positions at every occasion. > >There is a very good alternative out there to this company's product, and I have >decided to use it and to tell others about it. > Yes I agree with you, but this monopoly discussion is somewhat different. I'm just trying to look at it purely from a technical POV. -S.
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