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Windows and Linux User Interfaces

Anonymous Coward writes "Greg Raiz, Boston based interface designer and former Microsftie takes a look at Linux and outlines key shortcomings and strengths of an OS that could take on a giant."

10 of 566 comments (clear)

  1. regarding the gnaa. by Kerr · · Score: -1, Troll

    timecop sucks.

    --
    Don't try to outweird me, three-eyes. I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal. -- Zaphod Beeblebrox
  2. Re:Summary. by advocate_one · · Score: 0, Troll
    /me Waves hands...

    Linux is not the OS you are looking for...

    now run along back to your Mac... Linux and its concepts is obviously too different for you to grasp...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  3. Re:Linux is FINE by ifwm · · Score: 0, Troll

    "ENOUGH already with this GUI/desktop debate. It is over and done"

    You're right.

    Linux isn't ready, people who aren't zealots know and admit this, and the argument is done because people like you will never be convinced.

  4. Re:Linux is FINE by ifwm · · Score: -1, Troll

    "For a moment, I though that the fact that quite a number of people use linux on desktops was a good point."

    That's because you're stupid. The fact that "quite a few people" are using it on a desktop means only that "quite a few people" are using it on the desktop.

    It says nothing about whether Linux is ready for said desktop.

    "Now I understand that he was a zealot, and that there's no way linux could possibly be used by computer illiterate people."

    There's your stupidity again. The question is not USING Linux on the desktop (a browser is a browser, etc.) but rather, administrating the desktop.

    Equating the two is extremely disingenuous, but also extremely common among you Linux zealots.

  5. Re:Maybe true, but not necessarily desirable by RouterSlayer · · Score: 0, Troll

    you're full of crap.

    there are MILLIONS of programs, you can download a single binary, on linux, unpack it, and run it. done and done. easy as pie.

    there are another BILLION program you get the tar/gz, unpack it, configure, make, and run. Hey, it's open source, you get the source. do what you want with it. Windows doesn't have this, so stop griping.

    there are another BILLION rpms you can download, install, and run, no fuss, no muss. just like your supposed windows install. uhm, except in windows its "ok, yes, next, next, next, next, next, NEXT, OK ALREADY JUST F-ING INSTALL ALREADY!, yes, yes, yes, next, next. AUGH!!!!"

    with rpms its install. done. run. whew, that was hard (not!)

    With SUSE, use YAST, my god its hard to use (ahahahaha! not!)
    or with SUSE you can use apt-get or yum or whatever else you want to use.

    There is WAY more software for linux out there than windows. oh yes there is, take a look at sourceforge, freshmeat, and the mother of ALL places - SimTelNet! there are probably billions of programs on SimTel... probably the worlds oldest and longest running archive anywhere.

    I dunno, to me, windows is inept. its slow, flaky, crash-prone, and has no ends of headaches. where as unix systems just plain work.

  6. The Truth by STUPiDflY · · Score: 0, Troll

    This article makes alot of good points. You blind zealots just cannot see it objectively anymore.

    The biggest point to me is the new software installation. If I want a new MP3 player for Windows what do I do? I get on the net and search for 'winxp mp3 player', right? Regardless what what piece of crap site I end up at I will be able to download install.exe or the like that I can simply double-click. THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE EXPECT!

    Now that uncle Bob wants a new mp3 player for Linux he will most likely do the same thing, right? So he gets on the net and searches for something like 'linux mp3 player'At this point he will be lucky to end up at a site he can download a binary from. Even if he is lucky enough not to be staring blankly at something like this: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-fedora.html or this http://downloads.videolan.org/pub/videolan/vlc/0.8 .1/rpm/fedora/fc3/vlc/, I can almost gurantee that whatever packaage he downloads will have additional dependency requirements.

    If he was zealous he spent awhile searching around for something like xorg-x11-XFree86-glue-Mesa-libGLU-4.4.0-2 . . .

    But now uncle bob is rebooting back into Windows . . .

    --


    --------
    Linux is only free if your time is of no value.
  7. Re:Now, now, let's not be rude to the noob. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    Moderators: Please note that "twitter" is a known fanatical sycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft bashing. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" or "fanboy" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, twitter is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

    I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or Mepis or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

    If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

    To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. This is an article about email disclaimers. The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx, because "is teh free".

    Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

    Here's that drive-by advocacy and FUD in motion: twitter goes on about some topic and then drops the usual "oh and M$ is teh evil" because "WMP phones home" or some such. Called on his FUD, he then claims that WMP stores every song and movie you've ever played in a file, somewhere. Pressed further, he just sort of slithers out of sight, his FUD-spreading complete. This is not about some Microsoft technology that nobody likes anyway; it's about lying for the sake of lying. Way too many of his posts are exactly like this one.

    More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one. Or this one.

    Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.

    M

  8. Re:Windoze Fonts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
    Moderators: Please note that "twitter" is a known fanatical sycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft bashing. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" or "fanboy" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, twitter is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

    I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or Mepis or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

    If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

    To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. This is an article about email disclaimers. The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx, because "is teh free".

    Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

    Here's that drive-by advocacy and FUD in motion: twitter goes on about some topic and then drops the usual "oh and M$ is teh evil" because "WMP phones home" or some such. Called on his FUD, he then claims that WMP stores every song and movie you've ever played in a file, somewhere. Pressed further, he just sort of slithers out of sight, his FUD-spreading complete. This is not about some Microsoft technology that nobody likes anyway; it's about lying for the sake of lying. Way too many of his posts are exactly like this one.

    More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one. Or this one.

    Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.

    M

  9. OSX Blows by tgunnnnnn · · Score: 0, Troll

    OSX Blows .....Sorry, but this pissed me off to see so many people saying OSX has everything. Try to support OSX for 2000 users and not give them Admin rights. And Try to find software that allows for that, oh yeah then try to find an OSX server that doesn't have to be rebooted routinely. The hardware is the cheapest constructed crap on the face of the planet. From the loudest fans I have ever heard on the Xserves.To the shoddiest constructed Ibooks, with keyboard marks on the screens, cheap hinges, soft white plastic,one Button Mice? We bought 300 airports all of which had to be returned and replaced. As far as the OS. Their updates to OSX break so much more than it fixes. Try using Workgroup Manager, don't break your list. How about 100mb Homedirectory Preference files. How well do you think that works wirelessly if at all.Think logins are slow? Font cache is fun. Owe yeah Using 10.4 with Word and network logins is impossible in a restricted multiple user environment. Mobile accounts that have to be recreated rather routinely. Don't try and setup location preferences for mobile users and expect them to beable to login with out changing their location prior to the move. Check out resolv.conf and see what network preferences actually reports. Managing the Dock with workgroup manager you never see ?'s it always works, right. Don't even think about using shortcuts to network shares. Launching Adobe Acrobat as a nonpriviledged user the first time for a 1000 users, then having to authenticate them. DVD Region Codes have to be set for each machine manually as administrator. Printer Drivers, don't get me started. Watch how apple talk only binds to one Network device, that is fun when using printers using appletalk. Yeah appletalk, another hunk of crap that is. How many friggin harddrive partitions do you need apple? Machines that simply logoff to a blue screen. What is up with Netbooting acrossed subnets yeah we can do it, but it wasn't fun at first, needing helper addresses and such. The Browser situation is the worst. How many company's really write for Safari, We have to struggle with IE on the Mac for many of our WebApps. Safari Fonts just losing touch with everything at random. Ipod Batteries they are great, That whole situation sucks. Apple is strung out in too many directions this is blatantly obvious when you try to get anything that resembles tech support. It is sad when you have someone come to your business and setup an XSan and admit that he know much more than any of the engineers at apple. What is even more sad is realizing he is right. His famous last words were don't start the metadata controllers out of order or you will blow the raid, not bad when we spen 130K on an XSAN backup solution we spent 4 months with only beta Backup software that the company would not install cause of lack of reliability. Apple is just putting stuff out with out supporting it or even expecting any sort of reliablility or consistency out of it. They make their money on preying on the ignorant abusing the concepts shiek and mystery. Pardon the run on rambling and lack of puncuation and spelling. If it wasn't for the lack of solid hardware construction I might recommend apple products to novice users. That need email, word processing and internet. I don't have the heart to recommend to people that they spend more money than they should and not get quality hardware. I have seen the consistency of 1000's of apples work come and go over the last 6 years. I don't like what I see. PS, the only thing that is cool about OSX is Expose, Thats it, As far as the french they use. That is plain cheezy, They need youth or someone with a clue to come up with better names for stuff. How about black instead of white for everything, would that be alternative, goth or what? I ain't proof reading this cause I am busy working on Macs.