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Why Free Software is a Hard Sell
jeffro writes "Dont know if this has been submitted yet, but the Independent news UK has a rather newbiesh article on the ups and down of Linux software as a free alternative to Windows.
"Perhaps Linux shouldn't be regarded as an operating system at all, but more as a sophisticated multi-player game with a large number of enthusiastic players. You can lose yourself in Linux for hours, tweaking here, updating there. It's great fun if you like that sort of thing. But if you need to produce a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you're still likely to be able to do it faster and better by sticking with the Microsoft devil you know.""
Bullshit. Anybody who creates documents/reports for a living wants the computer to do all of the work of formatting/typesetting for them. Unix has ALWAYS shined at this (troff, nroff, LaTeX, etc.) In a windows word processor not only do you have to do the formatting yourself, but also you have to fight with what the word processor thinks is best, along with the crappy interface that cannot be tailored to the way you work, and the instability (which is getting better, but far from where it needs to be).
And for your resume or quick note/letter, or quick spreadsheet star office works beautifully. And (although they do) no business should EVER be using spreadsheets for day-to-day information gathering, storage, and retrieval, especially if they share that data! That's what a database server is for, and again, a Unix solution shines here.
And for printing, we now have cups. Very powerful and flexible.
So what was this guy's point again?
"But if you need to produce a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you're still likely to be able to do it faster and better by sticking with the Microsoft devil you know."
Bullshit. Microsoft Office is a hideous, convoluted, unintuitive mess. I grew up on WordPerfect, Lotus, Wordstar, AmiPro/Wordpro, and a host of other GOOD productivity software. It never crashed, I never had any problems with "Microsoft Installer" files becoming corrupted and forcing regular reinstalls, etc.. I have and always will be better off working with good software (Lately StarOffice and Appleworks.) and avoiding Microsoft Office like the plague it is. Microsoft Office only got where it is because Microsoft got the US Government hooked on it, and from there it spread to government contractors and finance companies throughout the business world, and by strongarming OEMs into including it with their systems.
Eventually the world will wake up and realize that MS Office is CRAP, and that people really only use it because Microsoft wants you to!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This guy is just shooting off his mouth...
Take this paragraph for example:
"The core problem with Linux is that you've got to work hard to connect USB drivers; really hard to find converters and filters to allow you to read and produce files in Microsoft Office format; and you'll struggle to find a Linux office package with anything like the quality of Office XP."
That paragraph -- the whole thing -- is total trash. First of all, you do NOT have to struggle to find a Linux office package -- EVERYONE either has Star Office or knows of Star Office. For example, SuSE 7.1 bundled it with my distro CDs, and I'm sure 20 other distros do the same. To be honest, I'm surprised this headline was accepted. Haven't we heard 2^n other articles just like this, from 2^n other idiot writers?
Linux IS a viable desktop alternative, if it wasn't I would run windows.
We dance to all the wrong songs.
--Refused.
Do you see any Linux salespersons at the floor in Fry's Electronics? Do you see people flocking to the boxes of Suse or Mandrake because they heard it runs programs 54% faster than previous versions of ...? The opinion of "Free Software sucks" is verry inaccurate. It sucked me in, it sucked you into this slashdot forum, but how much does it suck when you migrated from another operating system that requires up-to-date Anti-virus software to remain safe, steals your data and sends it back to microsoft.com or the FBI, and shows via benchmark that Quake3:Arena runs slower than Linux? That and a bag of chips my friend. RedHat Linux 7.2 costs $50 at retail, is ready to play games with the latest stable X Windows-4.1 and 3D openGL drivers(DRI), faster filesystem, buffered disk-access for faster data, excellent firewalling and network performance, and proven up-time for you, the .user of the system. You own Linux. Microsoft owns you.
But I'm sure you already Gnu that.
That would have been funny if you hadn't then gone on to slate Microsoft. Can't you stupid ignorant Linux pricks develop a sense of humour that isn't based around slagging off successful software companies?
There have been virus' created for Linux, but they all fail because of the way Linux has continued to develop. Those virii are all NULL on Linux now and are no longer a threat; all 40 of them. Linux is only susceptible to something we here call a "Trojan" and no, that ain't a horny soldier. Forms of Trojans are those created in a scripting language such as shell scripting, Perl, Python, and a few others. You can't guard against Trojans until you get a brain and think to not run a program you don't know about, where it came from, or hasn't been reviewd by someone with technical knowledge. However a Trojan is made, all damage is done to files owned by the user who ran it. No shit sherlock! A Linux system is immune unless the user is you, of which an idiot, and you constantly login as "root" user to run Quake3:Arena because you think you are 1337. The best way to protect yourself is to use common knowledge...don't run programs you don't know where they came from and if you do run such a program, don't run it suid root, and it is best to experiment by creating a "test" user and logging in as the "test" user to run the program. Otherwise, just like mother nature, some animals get into stuff you own and chew, break, deficate.
Quake3 may run well on linux/X-windows, but it is an exception to the rule.
I'll let you have that one. You are right, nVidia and Linux can't innovate as well as Microsoft. So we optimize our applications on linux to run most stable and at their best yield in performance, while eating pringles, fetchmail syncronizes 5 users' mail into their /var/spool/mail/? folder, and the latest stable kernel downloads from ftp.kernel.org.
I predict that the popularity of an operating system is directly related to it's stability
That is a very poor prediction. It will always be a prediction because you obviously can't make a hypothesis due to your arrogance. Linux, and its Unix relatives, is an application environment. Applications are given rules and they cannot break such rules. Rules broken is a bug, which in Linux' case of being 100% opensource, will be fixed with 24 hours of happy hacking. You are a simple Sam, so let me dumbdown Unix technology for you... Think of the Linux operating system as planet Earth. Think of your house as your environment. Think of your canned food in your cupboards as your programs. You want to run a program called "whoopass" so you reach into your cupboard, grab that can of "whoopass", and you open it. Understand? Well, that can of whoopass can only run in your house. People can smell that "whoopass" outside your house by getting on "top" of their roofs, noses in the wind, but "whoopass" can't hurt planet Earth, can't change gravity to 0, and can't go into your deskdrawer and throw your income tax return check into your trashcan. There you have it. Microsoft Windows is the opposite and lets programs do all the bad things to your computer. Said and done, Linux is a complex peice of material, just as complex as building a house of brick and mortar, on a foundation of cement slabs. It is stable.
You ever run a windows box with NO 3rd part apps installed? I have, and it's rock solid.
Does Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook Express count as 3rd party? Do you have shit between your ears?
Linux, on the other hand, requires a little more skill to get an application up and running.
That is a blatent lie. Microsoft Windows installation wizards are just as difficult to use as loging in as "root" user on Linux/X Windows and doubleclicking an installation script within Gnome's Naughtilus file browser.
Another blatent lie. I learned how to program in C using GCC. To finish my collection of old DOS software, I purchased Borland Turbo C++ 3.0 and found that even the older legacy DOS Compilers' IDE is harder to use! I bought, tried, and sold Microsoft's MS-DOS QuickC software because it had verry few features and you just can't do things as fast as using commandline tools. I first learned howto program when I learned Microsoft FORTRAN for MS-DOS. I thought FORTRAN was limited because I had to pay $220 for Microsoft Macro Assembler v6.1 at Fry's Electronics just so I can do some advanced stuff like directly reading the keyboard flags at &h417, &h418, etc. When I migrated to Linux and GCC, and learned C of course, I thought it was awesome and easy to use even though I still didn't understand the concept and strengths of this Unix-like environment. Because I learned howto program in C, stricly ANSI compliant by the way, I later learned C++. I tried learning howto program in Visual C++ for Microsoft Windows, for a change, and found that their their IDE was so obfuscated that I stopped and said "fuck this shit. I officially hate Microsoft". All of Microsoft Windows Visual C++ was not portable to other operating systems. I needed a portable GUI Toolkit and discovered GTK+. I am an accomplished GTK+ programmer and to enhance my Unix programs in X11 I program directly in XLib. I have now become a verry good XLib programmer and also take good use of Xt and Xaw/Xaw3d to build business accounting programs to migrate business' from MS Windows to Linux. It is simpe because GTK+ is platform independent and is portable between different operating systems. C and C++ used to be portable, but Microsoft has tried its best to lock you into Microsoft Windows "_your_version_here_". "ToolKits" are Microsoft's enemy, as I learned. They lock you into their systems and products and sell you software that won't be supported by them in a few years. Do you know how many years it took me to forget my QuickBasic, Turbo Basic, and GWBasic programming knowledge? Disgusting of you to lash out at me so arrogantly...
you don't really own linux, any more than windows. Linus still has control over the kernel
This is the last straw. You are lying your last because I shall cut out your tongue the second I see you in person. I raised a a pig upto 230 lbs when I was in agriculture back in my HighSchool days and I wrestled cows. I will personall kick the living bull shit out of your mouth! Linux is free. Linus Torvalds, the original creator, is a kind man and made it free. Linus Torvalds cannot control Linux' development direction because he made it free; Linus Torvalds licensed it under the GPL.
I shall now sniff your packets, kz45...
$ tcpdump
But I'm sure you already Gnu that.
Linux has safety measures for the system against those "bad" programs. It is called GCC and it warns the programmer of bad code pretty damn fast at over 50,000 lines per second on an Athlon. Microsoft wrote a pretty bad application back in the late 1980's and it was called Microsoft Windows 1.0, built ontop of MS-DOS, Microsoft's "engineered" marvel, and from that bad, virus-susceptible code, spawned Windows 3.11 FWG, Windows NT 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.x, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP(erimental). Congratulations on your latest $180+ purchase of yet another Microsoft operating that does that same as its ancestors...run virii verry well.
Happy hacking? An operating system, like ANY large application, needs to be engineered. Happy hacking ususally means 10x more bugs and possible security issues. Something VERY BAD in an operating system.
Boy, it must hurt to be you... Microsoft calls whatever it makes an innovation. Obviously whatever Bill Gates first engineered from his friend (MS-DOS) for $30,000 was engineered pretty damn well. Happy Hacking is when someone writes code that works. Sure, Microsoft mus have engineered IIS because it accepts every worm in existance. In your own words, saying Happy Hacking products 10x more bugs, you simply display your affection to microsoft. You know Linux is just one big party, free beer, free code, and you can wear whatever clothing you want, and you support Microsoft software; buy their software, intall it, and ponder all the engineering put into the blue screen of death. You are a proud individual...
no they[Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook Express] don't [aren't 3rd party software], and no [shit is not between my ears] (otherwise I wouldn't be able to post)
That was a quick answer, you didn't even examplify how such 1st class Microsoft software, ala Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook Express, have matured to the bug-filled, virus prone peices of work to date. Each version of MS Windows had an optimized version of these two Microsoft packages and each version demonstrated even more engineering marvels by the flaws in their software. It just proves to everyone, engineers make just as many mistakes as Happy Hackers, but it looks like Unix programs have the upper-hand in quality, stability, and visual candy.
When I said "Up and running", I was referring to the time it takes to get an application created (learning curve) on a Kde/Gnome as opposed to windows. Compare GTK+ widgets/c++ with visual basic. Most novice programmers would much rather use visual basic. (hence the 1000s of useless applications you see cluttering the internet, written in VB).
Kde and Gnome are desktop environments. Developing specifically for these desktop environments is just a simple code fork that is solved using a toolkit of the programmer's choosing. MS Windows programs are more error-prone and by developing strictly for an operating system or as we know, a desktop, you just hurt your potential userbase. Microsoft demonstrates that in a day-to-day basis. It is called "leverage", and they believe the more programs made specifically for MS Windows, the better for them. Honest point. Microsoft software and development environments, go beyond this idea of non-portable software. The enhance it by building their development environments and their programming language syntax off-standard with each sucessive release!
saying isn't the same as being, im afraid. Usually people that constantly say "im great at X" or "im the best at X", have vast amounts of insecurities.
Yes, we must brag about our skills of utilizing the X protocol because our jobs require such knowledge. Network administrators and you name it require extensive knowledge of X protocol and securing it because many of our customers prefer to login to their office machines with a GUI instead of using just ssh and console commands. We know how are jobs depend on such knowledge and our "insecurity" revolves around money because, as you don't yet understand, it costs money to live in a house with a wife, three kids, a dog, a cage full of rabbits, chickens, and turkeys. Believe me kid, as you grow older, you must depend less on your parents. There is much more than Microsoft Windows and its large availability of games. People must EARN money to live. Our insecurity is shared by millions of people and their own professions. You dare imply we are a bunch of people that are addicted to computers, while someone else is addicted to cooking food, and a carpenter is addicted to building furniture from oak? It is shameful to even respond to your lies lest people see me as a fool to waste my time, but I set grounds for verbal strength that brings out the warrior of every man to fight another tribe's encroachment with their lazy, poor quality, most dispicable fruits of their labor.
As a closing note to you, I must say that unlike Microsoft, everyone is allowed to participate in much of Linux' development. It is a pool of knowledge, bigger than anything Microsoft can develop and contribute. Our pool of knowledge is constructed in our free-time and is higher quality than Microsoft's "engineering" skills. No government, financial status or political status can impede Linux's development and that shall stand for every freedom-phille. We stress the software we contribute to. We don't run another operating system on our free eMail websites(hotmail.com) and say otherwise on our "engineered" software's ability to operate under like-conditions. You are the hypocrite because you know nothing inside of Microsoft's software development ring and have nothing to say other than "it's up" or "it's down". Linux and its supporting software is to be used at everyone's advantage! Nobody alone owns Linux, it is a team effort! You lie too much on topics that other people understand more than you. You'll make a great leader other than providing excellent insight.
But I'm sure you already Gnu that.