Windows User Experiments With Linux for 10 Days

An anonymous reader writes "Clarence Ladson over at Flexbeta decided to kick Windows to the curb for 10 days in an experiment to find out just how hard it would be to 'quit cold turkey' and move entirely to Linux. It's amazing how many day-to-day operations require the inadvertent use of Windows in our daily lives."

Comments

Necessary Evil

[kkirk007]

As much as we all hate it, we have to keep Windows around for some necessary things.

If nothing else, then at least to play a lot of our games.

Re:Necessary Evil

[TedCheshireAcad]

I don't use microsoft at home or at work. the last time I used windows was when I fixed my fiance's laptop. MacOSX at home, Linux at work. Bada bing.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Stevyn]

dude, win32codecs. it can handle many types of files other than the ones you're interested in.

Re:Necessary Evil

[frinkacheese]

What ever are you on about?

Windows is awesome, because it's already done being made.

Which is why there is Windows 95, 98, 98 2nd edition, 2000, 2003, XP, NT, 2003 gold enterprise server plus pack edition 2, endless huge service packs.

I also gotta ask, what kind of geek friends do yu have that only use Linux to "Tinker with an OS that gives you complete control of your Computer" Sheesh, you gotta get some better geek friends dude!

Re:Necessary Evil

[Tim C]

If you wanna play games, go get a console.

I was round a friend's house the other weekend, and she fired up Halo 2 on her XBox, and I was struck with how primitive the graphics look. Sure, an XBox is a damn sight cheaper than my PC, but I can see why.

Computers are for serious work.

You elitist snob - my computer is for whatever I choose to use it for, and I'll not have anyone tell me different.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Sparr0]

Which games are those? I migrated to Linux a year ago for my sole desktop PC and rarely look back. I play the following on a regular basis in Linux:

World of Warcraft (emulated, faster)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (native, faster)
Neverwinter Nights (native, slower)
Warcraft 3 (emulated, slower)

The only game that has tempted me back towards Windows lately has been Battlefield 2, and that should be working in Linux soon.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Paralizer]

As much as we all hate it, we have to keep Windows around for some necessary things.

Just because I don't use Windows that often doesn't mean I hate it. In fact, I don't even dislike it, I really have no problem with most of Microsoft's software. I don't entirely agree with their business tactics, but I give them credit for making software that is easy to use to even casual users.

Most people I run in to that claim they hate Windows are those who are really just frustrated with the OS because they don't spend the time to learn what exactly it is that they are doing. I'm sure many of the /. readers here would agree, Windows is a great OS for those people who don't have a significant amount of time to learn about open source alternatives such as Linux. You don't really think your grandmother wants to spend weeks learning how to read her email on Linux do you? If they just want normal day-to-day tasks, like reading email or the latest news, go with Windows -- there's nothing wrong with that.

However, I think this idea of dedicating a reasonable amount of time to attempting to learn how to use Linux is a great idea (if of course you have the time and you are genuinely interested). Not to say all the people who participate will stick with it after their ten day trial, but some of them may enjoy the system and either continue to use it on their spare time, to take what they've learned to the Windows community. I'd like to see more programs like this, and less about "schools completely switching to Linux". If you force someone to switch to a more advanced environment when they may not have been comfortable with using a more user friendly one, that's really not going to give you the results you are aiming for. People will become frustrated and lose interest, probably destroying any consideration of looking into the alternative in the future.

Re:Necessary Evil

[wfberg]

Computers are for serious work.

You elitist snob - my computer is for whatever I choose to use it for, and I'll not have anyone tell me different.

Ok ok, let me rephrase that on behalve of the grand-parent poster; computers are for serious work AND porn.

Re:Necessary Evil

[tehshen]

Obviously file size is an issue to someone with such a magnitude (number of atoms scale) of pr0n, as they would need to be compressed to smaller formats such as .wmv to keep storage costs minimal.

However: the majority of .wmvs are short clips from sites that only show a cumshot and fewer holes than you can find in links2; if you are truly serious about pr0n then you should know that it's not the size of the file, it's what's done in it. You may be happy with your cheap shots but the real quality is in the full-length mpegs.

Re:Necessary Evil

[ScrewMaster]

Yes, but have you ever owned a Windows computer?

Re:Necessary Evil

[aussie_a]

if you're dumping windows, you no longer have a need for those games.

No-one ever has a need for games (or at least, only under very specific circumstances that applies to a very tiny minority).

Linux, as it exists today, is a philosophical choice. I'm not supporting Redmond or any of the companies that butter their bread using that damnable product.

I bet you're still supporting illegal (if it were run in America) working conditions and child slave labour by having a computer (if you own a computer solely made in America, sorry for the incorrect assumption). Compared with Chinese working conditions, Microsoft is a very small evil. But most people here refuse to consider that.

I'm not saying you have to refuse to support all the evils in the business world. I'm just pointing out your inconsistency when it comes to which evil you'll support with computers.

Re:Necessary Evil

[NickFortune]

The only problem with windows, is that it is designed for the Average User.

And that it has this pesky forced upgrade cycle thing. Oh, software bloat to drive hardware upgrades. And serious secuity issues stemming from an unwise level of integration. Which is an instance of a larger problem: fundamental technical decisions being made by marketing staff rather than techies. And then there are the licencing terms which mean that you don't own your OS, and which reserve for MS the right to monkey around with your system at any future time. And there's proprietory file formats, and vendor lock in. And some of us have concerns about how spyware-friendly windows appears to be, especially in the light of the Claria/Gator aquisition.

But apart from that, you're dead right. The only problem with windows is that it's designed for the Average User. Oh, and a few of us dislike windows because it supports an illegal monopoly which has a well documented history of unethical and anti-competitive business strategies,

But apart from all that...

Re:Necessary Evil

[Mr2001]

I was round a friend's house the other weekend, and she fired up Halo 2 on her XBox, and I was struck with how primitive the graphics look. Sure, an XBox is a damn sight cheaper than my PC, but I can see why.

It's not just the graphics that are disappointing. You have to control it with a gamepad too, unless you buy a keyboard/mouse adapter, and even then it doesn't quite feel like a real PC FPS.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Haeleth]

You do not need windows to play games. You may need windows to play games designed to run on Windows though. But if you're dumping windows, you no longer have a need for those games.

In other words, "if you don't have any need for Windows, you no longer have any need for Windows". Very profound, I'm sure.

Clue time: anyone citing Windows games as a reason for sticking with Windows probably thinks they still have a need for those games. So, uh, what was your point again?

I'm not supporting Redmond or any of the companies that butter their bread using that damnable product.

Good grief, I can hear the froth bubbling around your mouth from here. Get a grip, man. Windows is not the work of the devil: it's an operating system. Possibly not the best operating system in the world, but not in any way evil. Look, I use it all day and never once have I smelt sulphur or heard the screams of the damned coming from my computer speakers. It hasn't even murdered my family yet. All in all, it's doing pretty well for something you seem to view as the embodiment of Antichrist.

I'm also interested to know how you manage to survive while not supporting any company that uses Windows. For example, that pretty much rules out buying food from anyone apart from the Amish.

Re:Necessary Evil

[dotwaffle]

I think you've gone a bit too far there, the reason why I and a lot of the Open Source community dislike Microsoft (although not to the point of hatred, admittedly I use Windows when there isn't a viable Linux alternative) is the simple fact that I completely disagree with their business practices.

Bill Gates, regardless of the wonderful things he's done for AIDS research and the like (regardless of his motives, he could have chosen any crappy project, but this was a smart move) he and his company are complete arseholes when it comes to code. If a programme is buggy, there are two choices - you can fix it yourself, or you can get someone else to fix it. Noone else is going to fix it unless it benefits them, and the vast majority of the time, it never benefits Microsoft. Without access to the source code, I can't fix those bugs, I can't make the product better for me, and I don't have access to something I have not just a moral right to, but what should be a legal right to as well. It's akin to buying a house and not being able to change the light bulbs or put an extension on without asking the original architect for his permission.

Microsoft aren't also bastards from a software source code point of view, but also in dodgy business practices, mainly involving bribing schools (ok, harsh word, but that's how I see it) with free software to use their products, and not teach the kids about software alternatives.

What about the purchase of companies who are potential competitors in a field (such as the legendary Amiga programme, Bars and Pipes) and then to shut them down, just so that the competition has no way of surviving - regardless of its superior technology (it took more than 5 years for MS to catch up with Amiga)

Microsoft also seem to be bastards when it comes to software patents, but that's for another discussion ;)

Believe it or not, Microsoft will fail. The only way MS will fail is if someone brings out a better product, and if MS buy those products before they reach commercial success, then they win. But if those products can't be bought, or are restricted development due to the GPL - they lose. The GPL is fairly shitty, but I prefer it tenfold to what we have atm.

Re:Necessary Evil

[jasen666]

wmv has several differences. They have scripting abilities built-in, and can indeed make popups, download drm licenses, and in some cases install spyware. It's been documented. Playing a WMV in Windows Media player is about as safe as surfing pr0n sites with IE, if you don't have activeX and scripting disabled.
However, I don't believe other players run the scripts in wmv files. But I could be wrong.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft's business practices are no different than any other corporation and in many respects they're less aggressive, like compared to precious Apple who locks down everything they produce from competition. So you're really not bashing Microsoft at all, you're bashing capitalism and we all know the alternatives don't work so get with the program.

You're right, Microsoft won't be on top forever but will be for a very long time because it's such a well-run and adaptive company. Microsoft is the winner right now because they're outsmarted the competition but nothing lasts forever. That's how the system works.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Pharmboy]

I am in the same boat. Windows on regular desktops, Linux on servers and a couple testing desktops. Just can't run the software that business requires on Linux yet. And so far, most Linux desktops are burdened with TOO MANY choices, making it unnecessarily complicated for the average user.

I personally WANT to run Linux on the desktop, not because of cost (we pitch computers every 3 years, never actually "buy" either) or for political reasons (although I am not fond of MS's tactics). Its about the freedom to use the software, and how much easier some tasks are in Linux vs. Windows. I can hack around with Perl and automate backups, updates, and ssh into each station, which is much harder in windows. Yes, there are ways in Windows, but I already know the *nix ways, which are more universal.

To me, I can get more done with Linux on the desktop, I just can't run the software I need in a production environment. So the most productive way for us is Windows desktops/Linux servers.

Re:Necessary Evil

[digidave]

Actually, configuration aside, learning Linux tends to be easier than learning Windows. Email, Internet and office are virtually identical. Users don't have to learn the hard way about email viruses. They don't have to learn the hard way that the Control Panel can be dangerous. All they need to learn is to click on the three or four icons at the bottom of the screen.

I put my mom on Linux and she has never used a computer in her life. Yes, she had a learning curve, but that was mostly with how to use the mouse. Now she's burning CDs (easier with Gnome than Windows) and emailing digital pictures (again, easier with Gnome than Windows' shoddy digital camera support).

Re:Necessary Evil

[pjt48108]

It's really not the SIZE of the pr0n file, it's what you do with it.

Re:Necessary Evil

[Gorath99]

It's akin to buying a house and not being able to change the light bulbs or put an extension on without asking the original architect for his permission.

Unfortunately, this is actually a reality in many countries, my own (the Netherlands) included.

You see, copyright law states that artists can refuse others the right to "deface" their artwork. Since architects have somehow turned from engineers to artists, they have the right to prevent their customers from making adjustments to their buildings.

Thankfully, many architects don't use this right, but the ones with the biggest egos (the really expensive ones) do. My university built a huge library a couple of years ago, which cost them a couple dozen millions of euros. Turns out they're not even allowed to rearrange the bloody "designer" desks!

Re:Necessary Evil

[blackicye]

" Hmm - did you ever actually watch an entire movie at once? Were you at any point in the past a girl?

Ehhhhh? How else are you going to understand the storyline?

*blinks innocently*

Re:Necessary Evil

[noisymime]

pffft. pr0n IS serious work.

Re:Necessary Evil

[MBGMorden]

Hurray for you, but you do realize that your viewpoint isn't the only one don't you? There are people out there who play games on their computers. As a matter of fact there are people who build their entire system around playing games. To these people, switching to Linux would make now sense.

There are plenty of people out there who don't give a damn about games, video editing, office apps, development tools, scientific programs, or databases. That doesn't somehow invalidate the needs of those who DO use those types of applications. Use whatever works best for you. Too often Linux users are trying to push the view point of how few sacrifices you'll need to make when switching to Linux. In reality, for people to truly switch from one platform to another, they need benefits, not a shorter list of things they're loosing.

Re:Necessary Evil

[raehl]

It hasn't even murdered my family yet.

I've had the same problem. Do I need to change something in my control panel to get this feature to work?

Re:Necessary Evil

[tarunthegreat2]

instead, they included it into the windows install which took away any choice the majority of users would have

Umm excuse me? They offered something additonal for free and this limited consumers' choice? No. They were guilty of leveraging their monopoly in one market to exploit another, but they did not limit consumers' choice in this one instance. You were and still are absolute free to run any other browser on Windows - including Netscape. It's just that IE will be sitting there pre-installed. That's only a limitation of choice if you're down to your last 4 MB of space on your hard drive, and the un-bundling of IE would have saved that space for you to use otherwise. But you never have to click on it (unless you run into an ugly asp IE-only site - but again THAT is not MS's fault. The site should support multiple - and standards compliant - browsers).

Re:Necessary Evil

[Shaper_pmp]

Nope, sorry - latest news is that "Evil" has been pushed back into a service pack, available some time late 2030.

But Microsoft would like to emphasise that it's still definitely worth buying Vista, for all the... y'know... stuff.

Re:Necessary Evil

[STFS]

Yup, we here in Iceland have that problem too. In my school we had to do without trashcans for a few months because the architect had chosen some designer trashcans from Italy and instead of puttin in "ugly" replacements we had to wait until the Italian ones arrived!

And don't dare mod this as funny! It's true!

Re:Necessary Evil

[drsquare]

Windows is a monopoly? Funny then, this Linux thing I'm using now must just be an illusion. There is more competition for Microsoft on PCs than there is for Apple on Macs, but no-one complains when Apple clamps down on people trying to run OSX on x86. Maybe that's a monopolistic tactic.

An alternative operating system to Windows is as simple as buying a Mac or installing Linux.

Re:Necessary Evil

[SillyNickName4me]

Windows is a monopoly? Funny then, this Linux thing I'm using now must just be an illusion.

Having an economic monopoly does not mean having 100% of the market, it does mean having such a large majority share of the market that you can basicly dictate your conditions to the market.

Regardless of it being 75,80 or 90% marketshare, MS has an economic monopoly in several software related markets, regardless of the existance of Linux or other systems.

I suggest you go learn a bit about what an economic monopoly is, and while at it, take a peek at what the various laws have to say and maybe remind yourself of the fact that MS has been convicted of using its monopoly in illegal ways. MS being a monopoly with illegal business practises is not just the opinion of quite a few slashdot readers, it is something which is defined by law and confirmed by courts.

Oh and I suggest rereading a few of the slashdot stories about this thing of Apple tryng to stop people from running OS X on generic x86 hardware, this time actually try to read things, you may notice a lot of people complaining about it.

10 days?

[Limburgher]

Why stop there? Except for work, not using MS software is pretty much my life. Work, OTOH, I'm working on defenstration. Should be easier once I'm in management.

Now, if only that were likely. :)

Re:10 days?

[Seumas]

I'm not sure what things the blurb poster was talking about, but I use OSX, Solaris and Ubuntu for my desktops at home and work EXCLUSIVELY and Debian on my production server on the west coast. The only thing Windows does for me is play my games - which I barely even do anymore anyway.

So seriously, what's so great about windows that linux or OSX can't do for you (obviously solaris isn't as geared to a few of these things, but still...)? Calendaring? Email? Managing your website? Writing letters and documents and spreadsheets? Personal wikis? Photo albums? Dinky little flash games? Instant messaging? Watching movies? Listening to music? Making music? Coding? P2P/Bit Torrent?

Exactly what is there that you can't do on a non windows box?

Re:10 days?

[Reaperducer]

Play "Blue Screen of Death" and "Guess Which Driver Is Causing A Problem Today."

Today the Microsoft database index at work ate itself and I'm waiting seven hours for it to re-index a couple of million documents. I said to one of the guys trying to fix things, "How come every time you guys tell me something bad it begins with the word 'Microsoft?'"

Re:10 days?

[Com2Kid]

• and "Guess Which Driver Is Causing A Problem Today."

Instead, under Linux, you get to play:

"Guess which driver is not supported today."

For instance, when I did a kernel upgrade, I lost video driver support, my vid driver was too old, OK, go get another one, hey look, my video card was NO LONGER SUPPORTED by the newest video card driver.

Gee thanks Nvidia! Because we all know that Linux is primarily about gaming and that no one would dare use an OLDER video card on a Linux box? Right? ...

Granted this particular problem is Nvidia's fault, but then there are the sound drivers. . . .

Oh and why does something as simple as getting a frame buffered console require me to recieve conflicting advice on exactly which packages to emerge, and then editing of a script file? ...

Installing Java on Linux, hey, just as much fun! Only 3 or so files to edit in order to get the paths setup right. Don't count on advice from any ONE site since every distro is different! Fuuuun....

Wow

[Saiyine]

There is a problem with the database that is preventing the site from working.

Looks like that a database is one of those windows-only thi
--
Dreamhost superb hosting.
Kunowalls!!! Random sexy wallpapers.
ngs!

Wow...

[Matilda the Hun]

I didn't get past the first page yet (slashdotted), but it would appear that this is...stupid. One, from his references of going to school, this is still a student. Two, his mentions of "using windows whether we know it or not" basically come down to one, the ATM which may or may not have embedded Windows. All of his other examples aren't things that most normal people have, let alone people who chose linux over windows (a Windows CE palm? a Windows Media Center connected TV?). I call possible bull.

Re:Wow...

[Daimaou]

That's funny. I worked at Microsoft a few years ago (2000-ish).

I remember the bank tech coming in one day to service the ATM machine in the cafeteria. As it booted up, you could see the OS/2 logo. I asked him about it and he kinda mumbled that he tried not to let people see that.

Re:Wow...

[Virak]

Page two isn't much better:

Not only is it pretty much the most popular desktop environment available with this distro but it's also the most recommended to new users as it offers a very clean and attractive GUI (general user interface).

Coral link

[JavaRob]

This technically isn't working at the moment, because the site is well and truly hosed... but PLEASE only try this link instead of hitting the main one, and eventually it will recover:

coralized link

Future submitters: PLEASE PLEASE use coralized links! It's easy -- just add .nyud.net:8090 to the domain name.

Re:Coral link

[Lord Haha]

Just wait I managed to copy the text of the article....

  There is a problem with the database that is preventing the site from working.

An email has been sent to the administrator notifying them of the problem. Please try again later.

-> Hum must have went back to Windows and blue screened.

Re:Coral link

[slavemowgli]

Unfortunately, Coral only seems to have cached the error message about the database not being available, but here's the Google cache of the page. It's text only (naturally, since Google doesn't cache the images), but at least it allows you to read the article.

Re:Coral link

[Anonymous Coward]

That is just a cache of the first page.
The google cache of the full article (printable version) is available here

He Brings Up Good Points

[Aeron65432]

I know myself, I haven't been able to quit Windows cold turkey. In general I use linux, but there are many Windows-specific things, several of which he mentions.

I'll list a few big ones.

Games, of course.
Certain programs.
Family.

Re:already /.ed

[vcv]

Funny you say that.. because it is a linux server.

10 days is not enough

[andy753421]

"It's amazing how many day-to-day operations require the inadvertent use of Windows in our daily lives."

Maybe this is true at first, however after several months of using Linux I began to see the FOSS alternatives to using windows and now I haven't had windows installed for about 9 months.

It seems like switching to Linux should be more gradual. Linux has a steep learning curve. If you try to jump in all at once your more likely to get a bad impression when you can't figure out how to play a dvd, or even 'mount' the cdrom drive.

Re:10 days is not enough

[nmoog]

I keep trying Linux, and keep moving back to windows. Each time I go Linux I stay there for longer and longer. Until I do stupid things and Linux wont boot because I tried to re-compile the kernal without reading any docs.

The thing that I've got out of it though, is that my windows environment is becoming more and more open-source-filled. I cant believe I was so used to using WinZip and pressing "Accept" everytime I wanted to open a zip file, etc.

Whenever I look for any kind of program now I go straight to sourceforge. I only started doing this because of my rounds of Linux using.

Eventually, Ill master Linux and never come back. But until then I think Ive got it pretty good with the "best of both worlds"

Re:10 days is not enough

[Sparr0]

I went through the exact same cycle. I guess I just started a few cycles earlier. My latest stint in Linux is up to a year, over numerous kernel recompiles, with no sign of stopping. Most of the programs I use every day now dont even have counterparts in Windows. I do not know what I would do without access to the simple shell scripting tools in Linux (how the hell do I copy every file created on any day after 12PM in windows?).

Re:10 days is not enough

[MoogMan]

This is the wrong way of thinking, IMO. Linux shouldn't have a steep learning curve (and many distributions are starting to effectively tackle this... Ubuntu, Fedora).

Why would I want to mount my CD? I expect to just put it in and it to be available. Same with my DVD. I expect to put the DVD in and click "Play DVD" or "Open [Totem] Movie Player".

Ok, I personally don't think that Linux installation is going to come anywhere close to be installable by the average computer user - it's *not going to happen*. But for the large majority of things people use it should "just work".

Take music for example. I want to play my mp3s.

Hurdle 1: I can't find them because they're on my WinXP/NTFS partition.
(Solution: An init script (or preferably, an install module) to scan for non-ext3 partitions and automatically add them to fstab.)

Hurdle 2: I find my music player. Why won't it play my mp3's? Licence? What licence? I don't have to get a licence on my xyzfoobar player in Windows.

This is just one of *many* situations that need to be resolved before users start sticking to Linux.

Having said that, the last year or two have made leaps and bounds in terms of user-friendlyness, but there's still much room for improvement.

At present, Linux for the end user lacks the polish it needs to be usable by the majority of PC users. I use (and love) it, but I seem to be able to see from the viewpoint of the average user - something many geeks cannot do.

Re:10 days is not enough

[Mad Merlin]

I keep trying Linux, and keep moving back to windows. Each time I go Linux I stay there for longer and longer. Until I do stupid things and Linux wont boot because I tried to re-compile the kernal without reading any docs.

In the future, try adding the new kernel as an additional boot option, rather than replacing the old one. Trivially simple to do with LILO and I would presume the same with Grub, though I've never used Grub myself. you should have System.map-$VERSION, config-$VERSION and kernel-$VERSION in your /boot directory, open up your LILO config file (usually in /etc/lilo.conf), copy and paste the block of text that you're using for your current kernel, and replace the version numbers, label it something that you'll recognize. Save the file and run lilo as root, it'll update the MBR and you'll see a new option the next time you boot. If the new kernel doesn't boot, you can just pick the old kernel and try again.

Re:10 days is not enough

[dtfinch]

I went through that cycle too. My main system always ran Windows. I'd set up an old system to run Linux, play with it for a few weeks, then eventually stop using it. I did this probably three times. First Red Hat, then Slackware every time thereafter. About two years ago I finally decided to just switch for good. My current PC at the time had some hardware problems that caused the display to appear scrambled in both DOS and Linux, so I spent about $500 on a new Dell no-OS PC to run Linux. They cost more than with Windows nowadays, but I'm pretty sure they cost the same back then.

After the system arrived, I installed my favorite distro slackware on it. When I tried using it as a desktop, many programs under KDE crashed very often and predictably. The crashes went away when I switched to another distro. I tried several. There was still one problem left. Anything that used OpenGL with hardware acceleration would crash the system within a minute, on every distro I tried. This problem went away with my switch to Ubuntu Hoary last year when it was still in development, and my system has been pretty stable ever since, due to bug fixes that came with their switch from XFree86 to X.org. I have yet to find a development environment for Linux that I really like, but it hasn't really stopped me.

I use both Windows and Linux at work, but at home my Windows PC has collecting dust, and its keyboard is usually buried under a thick pile of paper, wrappers, equipment, and soda cans. At work, we're pushing towards open source mostly due to increasingly unjustifyable licensing costs, and sometimes due to security issues or simply superior software quality. There's only one program left that we're unable to migrate. A third party ERP system can lock a company into Windows desktops for many years.

I've never managed to render a Linux system unbootable, short of hardware failure. Even then, at work we have a Linux server that's been running smoothly with BAD RAM while we wait for the replacement to arrive in the mail. Linux can be configured to work around the bad parts, which allowed me to bring the failed production server back up within the hour. Another non-production server lost both hard disks in the same week, which would have gone unnoticed if I haven't checked the logs because it just kept working, having enough cache to serve requests from ram. After that happened I've been checking logs and hard disk temperature twice a day now with a simple script that polls all our servers at once. I'm not an IT person, but somehow my programming job has gradually expanded to include absolutely everything that nobody else knows how to do, whether or not I knew how to do it either.

Re:10 days is not enough

[Jussi K. Kojootti]

Hurdle 2: I find my music player. Why won't it play my mp3's? Licence? What licence? I don't have to get a licence on my xyzfoobar player in Windows.

Do some research on this -- you might be surprised. Either the distributor of xyzfoobar has bought a license and gives it to you (it's one of those free lunches) or someone is using the codec without a license...

This is just one of *many* situations that need to be resolved before users start sticking to Linux.

This is a situation resolved best by either not using mp3 or buying an mp3 codec (stand alone or bundled with Windows or a commercial Linux distribution). This is not a technical problem as you suggest, but a legal/economical one.

all depends

[bigwavejas]

Windows is business worlds industry standard, with companies using programs such as, Powerpoint, MS Project, Outlook (to name a few). It seems to even try to function as a business professional without Windows you're asking for HUGE headaches.

Linux strikes me as more the OS of choise for tech types (engineers, IT pros, etc), as its much more robust at those type of applications than Windows.

I think it all depends on the environment.

Re:all depends

[Wylfing]

It seems to even try to function as a business professional without Windows you're asking for HUGE headaches.

I am a business professional. My desktop is 100% Linux (Ubuntu) and has been for a long time. I've never bothered to tell anyone I was using Linux, and as far as I'm aware no one has any clue. My pain level is zero. (Actually, my pain level is "negative," since from time to time tasks crop up like mass file renaming, which I get done in a few moments but the Windows users take hours and hours to do. Manually. One file at a time. For hundreds and hundreds of files. THAT is pain.)

Re:Myth TV?

[tealtalon]

http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html

I had no luck with it, and went to ubuntu, but that should do it.

My Wife, my mother and Linux...

[MosesJones]

I put my aged PII 400MHz home computer over to Linux a few years ago (well 2002 actually) and since then my Wife has suffered not a single case of having to reboot using the plug-socket, not a single crash and not a single failed application.

Until she got her iPod... so now we are buying a new PC, just so she doesn't have to use my work machine for iTunes.

My mother had an horrific attack of the virii which has meant I had to do a complete re-install of windows, and I've lobbed SUSE onto the other partition to help the recovery next time. My mother has elected to use SUSE to access the internet, and just go into Windows when she has to use the software from work.

My wife does email, internet, work processing and accounts, pretty much the same as my mother. BOTH have faired perfectly well with Linux (SUSE), with less hassle to me than on Windows.

And here is the kicker... installing Windows on a SATA drive was a pain in the arse, my mothers machine having no floppy drive and Windows not being able to detect the SATA (even in an SP2 install) SUSE 9.3.... had no issues and went straight on.

I couldn't WORK on Linux yet... but for the majority of INTERNET users who just want EMAIL, a browser and OpenOffice.... it really doesn't matter.

Re:My Wife, my mother and Linux...

[brokenwndw]

If your wife doesn't use iTMS, there are Linux sync solutions, e.g. gtkPod. Have you tried them?

Re:My Wife, my mother and Linux...

[ciroknight]

Um, no offense, but gtkPod is like trying to interface with a parallel port with a few bits of wire, some chewing gum, and a 9v battery. You have to be MacGuyver to get it right.

That being said, I have 3 iPods, a third gen, a fourth gen, and a fourth.five gen color, all 20GB. Only the third gen syncs with gtkPod without much error, and it's running an extinct version of the iPod firmware.

I tried interfacing with the newest one, and it completely destroyed the filesystem on the iPod. Don't ask me how, but my attempts to plug it into a Mac and a PC both failed, so I had to flip it over to iPod-harddrive mode, and format the bastard. Luckily I didn't lose anything, but it could have been catastrophic.

iTunes is really the best way to use an iPod. If you've got a problem with that, don't buy one. If you don't have a problem with that, like myself, and many I know, buy one, and be happy. And now that iTunes works with Linux, there's no reason not to use it.

Re:My Wife, my mother and Linux...

[MaestroRC]

You're exactly right. The iPod uses an internal database for the song and file structure (the files are really just hidden if you use disk mode on a mac, but apparently are visible in windows). The reason for this is so that when you are browsing the songs from the browse mode on the iPod, it doesn't have to index the files every time, instead it just grabs a quick list from the database that the computer generated. This provides a much smoother, and faster user experience on the iPod.

If you've ever used a Rio or other device that merely drops files on, browse around and notice how much slower the listings show up. This is because it is grabbing a file list every time you change menus.

Office environment

[flokemon]

I cannot truly reply to the article considering it was /.'ed before any reply was posted, but I have been part of a trial of Linux workstations at work. Our sysadmins are Windows folks, but with a good original image, I can't see a Linux transition being that hard.

I haven't had many problems at all. Our main issue was that we still use a native OS/2 application, and because we have ditched OS/2 we need a remote desktop connection to a Windows box to then launch Virtual PC and our OS/2 app. Not the easiest and lightest of setups, but it works.

We need Wine for a few apps too, but they run fine under it. Sometimes I'll get Lotus Word Pro or 1-2-3 documents that I cannot return in their original format as Open Office won't let me save in .lwp or .123 format, but it has not been a big issue.
(If after all those hints you cannot guess what company I work in, you really need to think harder...)

Anyhow, maybe I wasn't sure after home use how easily Linux could be considered in an office environment, but our main problem really is some intranet pages being designed for IE only.

I eventually got the first page of that article to load, which leads me to think the author may be criticising how difficult it can be to get everything working - but if you have built a solid image, there is no reason why Linux should be any more difficult to use than Windows.

Re:COM

[msobkow]

Funny that you'd mention that, as COM and DLLs are just a weird hack for implementing shared libraries and IPC (inter-process communications.) *nix has had that functionality since the mid-eighties.

About five years later, Windows 3.0 was released. :)

Re:I kicked Windows to the Curb, too!

[MustardMan]

Disclaimer: I use OS X, and openoffice.

There is NO WAY IN HELL NeoOffice/J or OpenOffice replace the MS office suite. No matter what people claim, they still break plenty of office docs that get emailed to me, and forget about replacing powerpoint. Apple's Keynote does a pretty good job but isn't anywhere near as feature-filled as powerpoint. I try to use alternate software as much as possible, but I keep a copy of MS office installed too.

And there's still the occasional app I run on my windows box at home that just doesn't have a replacement on OS X. I love my mac, but we're a long way from a M$-free world.

Re:I kicked Windows to the Curb, too!

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I'm not touching MS Office in part because I can't pay for it and I'm not going to do this copyright infringement thing.

I think it would be hypocritical of myself (and others) if I / they complain about GPL infringement when the complainers themselves don't care that they themselves are committing acts of infringement themselves.

Re:already /.ed

[IO ERROR]

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:www.flexbeta. net/main/printarticle.php%3Fid%3D106&hl=en&lr=&str ip=1 An actual link that works. Enjoy!

qemu + winXP

[the-build-chicken]

I haven't needed windows for many years now, however my girlfriend does. I run KDE with a seperate user called "windows" which runs qemu with WinXP full screen on login. She chooses to use her standard KDE login most of the time, but some of her uni cds are windows only.

QEMU is so good, it not only does her needs, but I've started playing around with .NET (which I never bothered to do before because of the effort of buying another machine or partitioning etc etc).

The speed is excellent, it works with the CD, SAMBA to the host machine (home drives) and sound...it's got everything we want...plus, running full screen on a seperate login it's just like if you partitioned the drive except that you can switch in real time using KDE 'switch user' feature and share data between the two by making your home drive a samba network drive in windows.

Linux and Windows finally operating seemlessly together, thank you QEMU :)

Re:already /.ed

[aussie_a]

Or we can just use stuff like coral cache and not destroy the person's server. Yeah, it's slower. But it's cheaper for the person whose server it was, and everyone gets the article.

An idea for teaching Linux in schools

[falloutboy]

Over the last few years I've read some comments on slashdot about schools teaching linux, and I've just now had an idea that I think might be practical.

I remember in elementary school, once a week or so my class would be herded into the computer lab to learn how to use a word processor and spreadsheet app on the school's Apple IIe computers. I spent a lot more time playing Oregon Trail and playing around with BASIC on those computers, but I definitely learned the underlying concepts about using a word processor or spreadsheet, and was able to really easily transition to Wordstar 5 for DOS and later other apps.

It wasn't so much about typing a letter to the editor or whatever we were doing back then, as it was about being comfortable accomplishing a certain set of steps with a computer.

I wonder, then, if you had 30 third grade students in a computer lab, 10 using Windows, 10 using Mac OS, and 10 using Linux (perhaps Red Hat? whatever is dominating is probably wisest), could you ask them all to accomplish essentially the same task? Of course, I mean that they should rotate to each machine, although not necessarily during a single class session, and be exposed to all the machines.

Any teachers out there? Does this idea make any sense?

Re:An idea for teaching Linux in schools

[patio11]

That requiers having teachers who can trouble-shoot all three architectures. I love public school teachers with a passion -- half of my family does it and I've taught myself. But do you realize what the average level of computer expertise is? I can introduce you to that lady all the tech support sites make fun of for using scissors to "reformat" a 5.25" disk into a 3.5" one. Most of my colleagues had post-it notes on their monitors for the button sequence to run MS Word ("Start (bottom left) -> Programs -> MS Office -> MS Word"). Schools are one of the worst places for a mixed operating environment (they're also one of the worst places to learn anything about computers). Stick to reading, writing, and arithmatic, learn the computers somewhere else.

Re:An idea for teaching Linux in schools

[MikeBabcock]

Assuming the teacher dealing with computers is as educated in computers as an English teacher ought to be in English, this shouldn't be a reality.

I know it is, but that just requires that we explain our requirements to the public school boards that computer-educated teachers work with the computers for grade school students.

Linux / Windows

[Exter-C]

I have traditionally been a windows user. Up until I got sick of all the b.s. that came along with it. I installed Slackware (my favorite server distro) on my desktop and have been running with it for 18months. I have even got my girlfriend into using the desktop (KDE). Yes there are some problems with Office documents and features etc But for the majority of people power point presentations etc are not something that needs doing on a regular basis and there are some excellent html/java slide show creators that can do very similar jobs. Taking all that on board YES there is a long way for KDE/Gnome and the others to improve on the desktop but at the same time it has come along way and for the majority of internet users it would have more than enough features and software for average joes and jills at home browsing and chatting...

Re:I kicked Windows to the Curb, too!

[Morganth]

Keynote is not as... feature-filled? As Powerpoint?

Are you nuts, or something?

I may be a Linux user, but I've had to put together my share of presentations. I've used Powerpoint, I've used OpenOffice. But then one time, while I was borrowing a friend's Powerbook G4 for a few weeks, I put one together in Keynote. It is, at the very least, the best presentation software ever written, and what's more, it's a pleasure to use. Aligning elements is easy with smartly-coded guides, the output for the presentations are wonderful with elegant themes and fonts, and the transitions are elegant with accelerated 3D transitions and such. But more than anything else, the damn program just "got out of my way." I didn't spend hours tweaking this or that text element a few pixels to the left or right. The damn presentation just came out beautifully even though I had never used the application before.

Powerpoint more featureful? Give me a break.

Re:I kicked Windows to the Curb, too!

[danharan]

MS Office still breaks a lot of MS Office documents.

Choose your poison

Re:I kicked Windows to the Curb, too!

[kuzb]

[..]we're a long way from a M$-free world.

Actually, we're there now, considering there is no company on the planet called 'M$'

Featureful does not mean works better

[putaro]

Sometimes FEWER features makes for a better program. Until you get something from some PHB who just had to use some obscure feature that you can't import.

Microsoft in schools

[tolkienfan]

I absolutely agree with everything you said about Microsoft (not the GPL), and just wanted to add a little peeve. Actually a big one:

It is my understanding that Microsoft will ONLY give schools "free" software if they agree not to use software from other vendors, including Linux and other free and/or open source software.

I don't think that should be even legal.

Re:Microsoft in schools

[inphorm]

Actually this is a perfectly normal practice within business. Do you see Coke and Pepsi together in any chain fast food store?? No. McDonalds and Burger King (Hungry Jacks here in Australia) both sell Coke, KFC sells Pepsi.

Not that I'm defending Microsofts Business practices, although I'd have to say that we could all learn something from Bill Gates, the guy is obviously successful in what he does.

- paul

Re:Microsoft in schools

[Anonymous Coward]

Apples and oranges. Coke and Pepsi sell their product to these companies, and in many instances, actually own them as part of their diversified portfolio. At one time Pepsi-cola owned KFC. Don't know if they still do or not.

Microsoft gives schools the software, takes a tax break for it, and then locks the schools down to using only their software, which benefits them financially in the long run.

And after the school has removed all Linux and gotten rid of the techs that used it, MS may NOT give them more software the next time they need it. In fact, they may force them to buy it.

This has happened. MS made a school remove GIMP, then refused grant to cover purchasing Photoshop.

Of course, I'm not saying this isn't brilliant. MS gives the school a disc which costs 27 cents and "bills" the US Gov for list price (through IRS), and creates a whole new generation of MS button monkeys.

I just think it's laughable to call it "charity."

Re:Microsoft in schools

[advocate_one]

You thinking having to give away for free, that which could have got your monopoly a shitload of revenue, lack of punishment?

it is a lack of punishment when Bill Gates himself has said this about piracy "... about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

It's pretty obvious he wants to get the schools and pupils addicted on this free software

The painful switch-over

[nimid]

I can't read the article at the moment seeing as their database doesn't appear to be able to cope with the Slashdotting but simply put, switching over is a nightmare.

Before all the BSD/Linux/OSX users jump me, let me tell you I'm desperate to get off Microsoft software, however, I can't very well dump 10 years of computing experience and instantaneously learn 10 years of FreeBSD.

My 1 year plan of attack:
1) Start to use Open Source software on Windows
2) Move exclusively to Open Source software on Windows
3) Move over to FreeBSD

Right now, I'm almost at stage 2. I'm waiting for a decent calendaring solution and I'm good to go*.

Everything else I use is now Open Source. It's been a painful 8 months but I'm working hard to give this a chance.

Now, the interesting part comes when you start to move over to a new OS. It's a complete nightmare!!!

I've heard a lot of people say it's as easy as putting in the RHL disk and clicking a few buttons and I agree. It is, so long as you're only wanting to do office grade work!

Don't get me wrong, I can install RHL, Debian, FreeBSD and run it fine so long as I only want to use the web, send email, create some artwork, etc but if I want to install PHP, Apache, PostgreSQL, Postfix, BIND and connect to a network (Samba) then I'm going to be here for a good few months just to get it working (properly and securely - not hope-and-pray).

Once I've got it working, should something go wrong, I'm down for another day/week if I don't understand how things work.

I am an Open Source advocate but I don't for one second believe a switch-over is going to be easy and neither should anyone else here.

What we need to do is manage people's expectations of moving over. If you think it'll take less than 6 months to do the switch, then you're probably not a developer and I imagine most of the Windows users here do some form of development.

Anyway, enough of the ranting. I look forward to the day I can finally switch over.

Here's a big thank-you to all the Open Source developers who work so hard to give us our freedom!

* I still have to use IE for work to make websites 'work'.

The problem is

[Sycraft-fu]

How do you do it gradually? I've actually been running Linux on my desktop at work some, because I need to learn more about it. We are going to start offically supporting it and unlike Windows and Solairs, we don't really have any gurus, so we all need to learn more about it. The problem is, that I find I have to force myself to boot in to Linux. Why? Well it, at best, does things as well as Windows does and in many cases does them much worse, or just not at all.

So of course I do the natural thing, I take the path of least resistance and just leave my machine in Windows, espically whenever I get busy.

Now I'm willing to do this, I'm a tech worker, it's my job to understand how to support our systems. However how is this supposed to apply to an average user? They are going to be very unimpressed if you tell them "Ya well you can do some of what you want easily in Linux, the rest you'll just have to figure out or do without." They are likely to just go back to Windows perminantly.

I think it's fairly difficult for most people to switch if there isn't an ideological reason behind it. You just don't find any advantages as an end user. For some it might seem like it initally, those that are spyware'd all to hell will probably find Linux a relief initally since it'll be faster and work stable, but soon, very soon, other annoyances and problems will creep in and they'll be frustrated all over again.

This is really the area that Linux needs to improve in, if the objective is to penetrate the mass market and really compete with Windows. It needs to be easy for completely non-technical people to switch over. This is getting more true as MS is slowly erroding advantages Linux once had.

Time was, Windows just wouldn't stay up. It wasn't a question of if it went down, just when. Not the case anymore, a good XP system will basically never crash, and it'll handle patching while you sleep so from a user perspective, it's never down. Likewise spyware and exploits were/are major problems, but they are clamping down on that too. The included firewall stops nearly all automatic worms, and their spyware tool is really quite slick and I imagine will make a major dent when it is in a release state.

So really what Linux needs to concentrate on is an easier end-user experience. Now leaps and bounds have been made in that area. I remember the first time I tried Linux in 1996 and had to get a friend who was an expert to help me even get it installed, now for most research systems in the department I drop an FC3 CD in, install, patch, setup LDAP, run our automount script and call it good. However there's still a long way to go.

One thing, for example, is the install process. For almost all Windows software, including most OSS, the install process invloves clicking on an executable which launched a nice graphical installer. This walks you through any options, and then does all the install needed. Any libraries that need updating are updated, all settings are taken care of, etc. In Linux, things are usually at best a make script. Now when it works, it's pretty easy. Config, make, make install, what's so hard about that?

Well it's intimidating. Normal users, and even us tech peopel that can't program, get intimidated by the compiler. It's something that's way outside the experience of normal users. And then what if something goes wrong? I've had make scripts fail and generally I'm sunk, I don't understand the errors because I don't know C or compilers. Imagine how an artist feels.

So things like that really need to be improved, if Linux in teh mainstream is a goal. Most users won't give a new OS months, many won't even give it a week. It'd better do what they want for word go, or they'll dump it.

Re:For most people...

[MBCook]

Crap.

Pure crap.

That is absoultly not true. I've done it. ANYONE can do it. My brother did it too. Linux may not be there, but OS X is. It's just as stable and secure as Linux. But it has commercial applications. It many not have Money, but you can run GNUCash, or Quicken as I do. You can run Open Office, or just use MS Office as I do (I actually think the OS X version is better than the Windows version). You want a nice IM client? You could use any open source one, or there is iChat. It already has all those nice little do-dads. Graphics apps and format compatibility? Have you ever heard of Photoshop? I've got that on my Mac and it opens just about ANYTHING. I've got a DVD player (called... DVD Player). I can run Vi, EMACS, Nano, TextEdit, BBEdit, and many others. Want to run Visio? Omnigraffle is MUCH nicer.

I'm a techie also. I like messing around in Linux. But OS X provides the Unix environment that I love so much, with the commercial applications of Windows, stability, and much more. I am always finding little things on Windows boxes that just annoy me. Little things I DON'T have to do under OS X. Little things I never thought about untill I tried something better.

There are only two applications that I haven't found replacments for (not that I looked very hard). MS Project, and SQL Plus. Both run just fine in Virtual PC.

Not using Windows IS an option. It's an EASY option. Most large computer stores have an entire section devoted to it. It's called a MACINTOSH. This isn't a two horse race. There is a third and most people don't see it because it's far out in front.

TFA

[BrokenHalo]

Oh, and a few of us dislike windows because it supports an illegal monopoly which has a well documented history of unethical and anti-competitive business strategies,

Indeed.

And if the submitter of the story had taken the trouble to read it, he might have noticed that nearly every link supplied points at Microsoft. Even the link supposedly referring to OpenOffice.org points at a Microsoft propaganda article.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Released

[WindowsWasher]

Microsoft Security Bulletin

MS08-021
Windows User Experiment Could Promote Linux Code Execution And Loss of Revenue (8399801)

Summary

Who should read this bulletin:
Users running Microsoft ® Windows ®

Impact of vulnerability:
Run code of users choice

Maximum Severity Rating:
Critical

Recommendation:
Windows Systems administrators should apply nicotine patch immediately.

Re:What if I don't want to have control of my comp

[GaryPatterson]

I think the parent post makes an excellent point.

I've been using computers since 1981 (ZX-Spectrum), and I've seen stuff come and go. I have used PCs since DOS, Macs since 1985, Amigas, Atari-STs, CP/M machines and many, many others.

I can run pretty much any computer and OS on the market and do what's required to keep everything up-to-date and working smoothly. It's not hard, but I just can't be bothered.

I want a computer that has the apps I need, works well and doesn't require me to spend my days keeping it running.

For me, a Mac is exactly that. I don't want to have total control over my computer. I'm happy to let the OS do things for me, and I'm happy to have Apple arrange things to suit how I work.

Is it perfect? No.
Is it better than spending my time managing the computer? Absolutely.

10 days is not enough time to learn a new system

[hattig]

Disclaimer: I'm a Mac OS X convert as of two months ago. Before that I was a FreeBSD / Linux person that used Windows for various things (Office, games, etc) but without much enjoyment.

Windows: Tries to get in your way, force you to do things its way, doesn't provide a decent option to de-dumb globally. Office is a nightmare of over-featured bloat that most users will never use. When something goes wrong, it takes ages to fix because whilst you know what is wrong, Windows tries to stop you fixing it.

Linux / FreeBSD: Works well. If you know your stuff, it is easy to fix stuff and set up. I've had issues with upgrades however, after some time it will eventually mess up. Desktop applications are a mishmash of good and bad, or poorly thought out in a single crucial aspect whilst being very powerful.

Mac OS X: Doesn't get in your way. Allows you to actually get work done. Many applications are much more specific in their task (alternatively known as not having as many features, but the features that it does have actually work as you expect them to). Dashboard sucks. I don't think it can be beaten as an end-user operating system, however I can see that it lacks certain things that corporations would like in a desktop computer.

Computers come down to personal preference and what you are used to. If you only know how to do something in Windows and you aren't of a mind to sit down and learn how it is done in Linux or Mac OS X, then you are simply going to state that you need Windows for that task. Despite the frustration that you might have with it in Windows (e.g., tables in Word).

One thing that I like about Mac OS X is that it generally eschews the dozens of small icons in a toolbar that you can't really make out that well and thus never really use. Applications like Pages, Keynote, Mail and so on have a few buttons that bring up or hide inspectors or sidebars. A good design guide means that you'll always know how to do the common tasks (save, open, print) and you don't need a small icon that is hard to hit (Fitt's Law) present.

However it will take you a while to get used to this alternative way of working. Once you are there though, you will know you are more productive and find computing much less of a drag. What is unfortunate is that this goes for migrating from Linux or FreeBSD as well as migrating from Windows.

Also there are issues such as Logitech's APPALLING lack of support for Mac OS X for their webcam range. Canon's DIRE support for their scanners (hurrah for ScanVue). Samsung's AWFUL support for their printers (can't use my 1 year old ML-2250 under Mac OS X, but you can under Windows and Linux, sheesh). Now that the Mac seems to be having a small revival, maybe some companies will spend a little time on supporting it. When you run into something like this, it can be very demoralising, and appear as a negative against the OS.

But is there anything I *must* use Windows for? I can't think of anything in my line of work that couldn't be done in Mac OS X. However I think that there are big gaps in the software range for Linux, such as good finance/accounting/tax applications. Specialist software is another area where Windows can have a stranglehold, and if you use some of that, then you'll have issues.

Even better link...

[Kamiza Ikioi]

Read Entire Story here

This link has entire story cache'd, and looks more like original site. Enjoy.

And the other big myth:

[Hosiah]

The biggest myth of all: Windows is easy to learn and use.

Oh, yeah? Tell me, Windows loyalists, did you ever get Outlook Express to understand the concept of multiple email accounts and different stationary/spam filters for each? Figure out how to stop Windows from dumping icons all over the screen? Get rid of the MS Network and Network Neighborhood because you never use it? Get Windows to recognise your new graphics card without a struggle? Stop Real Player from firing up at startup and immediately demanding your whole machine's resources? Completely remove software you uninstall, without having to go in and manually delete folders? Confess to you where it hides ALL the cookies and let you clean them ALL out? Not show the taskbar?

Yes, I'm sure everybody's done some of what's on this list... but you weren't born knowing how? Right? You had to...guess what?...READ some DOCUMENTATION to learn how to make it do what you want! After all, if Windows is just SO-O-O-O silly easy, why were manuals written about it "for Dummies" flying off the bookstore shelves from 1985 to 1995 or so? Why would people need things simplified to the "Dummies" level if it were as simple as could be, already?

Linux comes with it's own "for Dummies" docs, free. Man pages, info pages, html docbooks, et cettera ad infinitum. Just have a gander through /usr/share/doc and you learn everything in Linux just like the "for Dummies" books in Windows!

Troll

[the_womble]

Either you are trolling, or you have tried soemthing like Red Hat 6 and nothing since. Every single problem and "hurdle" you come up with are things that have been dealt dealt with long ago.

Re:You're stupid

[tarunthegreat2]

Just because the average consumer doesn't want to go through the trouble of informing him/herself about which operating system is better doesn't mean s/he doesn't have a choice. The choice at least of August 2005 is large. You can pic Windows, Mac, Linux or Unix and many others, that I as a lazy consumer am not aware of - whose fault is that? Microsoft's? In a non-internet world, you'd be partly correct, because Microsoft's marketing dollars would yell the loudest. But we have the Net see, the "Great Equalizer". You want a good operating system. Look it up. If people are too lazy to research, they deserve the monopoly they end up with. The same applies to political candidates.

Re:I did it too...

[pe1chl]

When I started with Linux, Windows did not even exist as an operating system (there was a GUI running on top of DOS that was called Windows as well).
Before Linux, I used Unix. I was very pleased that I finally could run a decent OS on my home system. Before that, the alternative was MS-DOS.

When Windows appeared as an OS (first Windows 95, later NT) I found myself in the same situation as you are now. With Linux, I could do anything, to use Windows beyond "install it and click on some things" I needed to read a lot. And there was not even sourcecode to read, only "user manuals" that often spent more than 60% of content on basic principles like how to insert a floppy disk.

So indeed, it is not really a difference between Linux and Windows, just a difference between what you know and what is new.