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Windows Tech Writer Looks at Linux
An anonymous reader writes "Three days ago I accepted Linux into my life and while I'm not yet a convert, the experience has shaken my faith in Windows. It's hard to reconcile because for nearly 20 years I've mostly stayed on the one true Windows path."
fp, boo-yah! w00t!
I don't know how to defrag, but I'm familiar with vm. Am I ready for this religeous "experience"?
-Satan ( aka Anonymous Coward )
Good to see someone new to Linux. Now if we can get slashdot moderators to stop modding conservative views to troll or some other negative status, we may have an even better change. I can dream...
Dawn of the Dead
Go back to the closet, byteboyz, snarf a Twinkee and take your meds. Fact is, pad'res, Unkil Bill$ various Windoz have given more practical computing power to more Lusrs than ALL other OSs combined. Even now, with real money involved, elitist, obscurist *nix distros provide NO leverage for the non-corporate home Lusr. Interesting, eh, that FOR-PAY Windoz still serves that single home_lusr best while RedHat - SusE etc brown-nose the corporate boardrooms. *nix as code-facist eh ... kinda has a bad smell. Just who is freeing whom from what?? You tell me which OS best serves the majority, modern yeoman? Code_spewing weiner_dudes DONT amount to cockroach-spit ... not even a stain far as total output work is concerned.
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It
All I can say is that he must've had a ridiculously horrible experience on Windows if Linux seems great in contrast.
Why not Apple? He could've ditched (or, more realistically, 'sold') his Intel crap and bought a nice Apple machine (starting at $799 for desktops, $999 for portables) and then had the most stunningly spectacular experience imaginable. I mean, cripes, with all the dinking around you gotta do to get Linux to behave on the desktop, running a Mac is nirvana.
I did C/++ development work on DOS/Unix in the early 90's, but our desktops were primarily all Macs, I loved Macs then and it was a FAR superior OS till Win3.11 rolled out, that is when I made the switch. I remember laughing at a co-worker playing with Win2.0!
Course it will be awhile till I switch to Linux, I currently develop Access Apps for a living. Don't laugh, it's a decent living. Maybe it's time to learn MySQL, Python, and Java?!?!
CrossOver Office does not support Access XP...
Ha! I caught both AMD-references in your post right there! ;)
Interesting - since I didn't intend to make them. B-)
(Must be subliminals from working with the guy who managed the K6 project...)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way