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."

Comments

I installed Linux (SuSE) before on my mom's PC

[earthforce_1]

It ran well without a hiccup, but then she said she wanted windows so she could run MS-Office apps. (They didn't have crossover office at the time, and Wine was pre-alpha quality) So I installed windows 9x, and the support calls became unceasing. Screen coming up black, (they had inadvertedly switched to a setting the monitor couldn't handle) BSODs, email connection problems, you name it. Now they are running Win2K which is at least stable, but the thing I found about Linux, is once you have it set up right, it is great for technophobes. It doesn't pick up viruses and is much less prone to break for mysterious reasons.

Re:Have we not seen this before?

[andy666]

windows is better than linux...hehehe

Army of Volunteers?

[bismarck2]

I hear a lot about Linux and Open Source software being built by an army of volunteers. I doubt this is true. I know salaried employees who work full time for RedHat on Linux and I hear about other big-name companies (such as IBM) devoting highly paid staff to working on Linux.

Typically, if a project doesn't offer money it needs to offer prestige, fame, or at least recognition. I see this with lots of smaller projects all over but don't see this with something as big as Linux for example.

I am a full-time software engineer myself and know many others. Most of us easily work 50+ hours per week and time is extremely valuable. I can't imagine a significant number of engieneers devoting many nights and weekends doing difficult work on such a large project and getting little recognition or benefit in return.

20 years of MSThink

[The Monster]

... you have more problems than just trying to reconcile an OS.

Yeah. He has a real problem throwing around catch phrases without understanding what they mean. This paragraph sounds like he's mostly parroting what he's heard from the 'missionaries', but clearly without any comprehension of what he's talking about when he tries to explain things (emphasis mine):

I know it sounds mad, but it's a fundamental tenet of this new religion. Here, software is not made by armies of "Microserfs" employed by a giant corporation, but by armies of volunteer programmers who "donate" their code to the public domain. By making underlying source code available to all, many hands and minds work on the software to improve it - hence "open source".

This guy has heard just enough Linux advocacy verbiage to be dangerous. Anyone who has even attempted to read the GPL knows that it's not about public domain.

Is it just me, or does this stuff read like Dr. Evil, using the finger-quote gesture when he says 'death star' etc.?