A Continued Look at Linux vs Windows

Rogier van Vlissingen writes to tell us Paul Murphy has an interesting writeup on his blog about the continued Linux versus Windows debate with regards to some of the recent insights provided by various groups. From the article: "Disinformation comes in three major forms: innocent mistakes, intentional disinformation (aka FUD), and (self) delusion. Delusions are easily the most dangerous of these. In the IT context the most common delusion is simply that what we know is right in general or applicable to some specific issue when, in reality, it isn't. We know, and we act accordingly - with frequently catastrophic results."

Comments

Stuff that matters, was Re:news?....blogs?

[einhverfr]

We need more analysis of studies like this one.

When I read the SI study, I was *horrified.* The paper was uninformative, the methodology was flawed, and the analysis was unsupported.

My favorite quote though from the article is this:

[The real problem is applying Windows expertise to Linux...] As I've said many times, it's not Linux or its applications that are at fault when this happens: the problems documented in the study are largely the result of applying Windows expertise to Linux - something I see people do almost every day, and something "Mired in Zealand" will be seeing a version of at first hand if his organization transitions from zOS to Linux without a lot of retraining, rethinking, and re-staffing first.

This is absolutely correct. Treat Linux as if it were Windows, or vice versa, and you are asking for real pain.

Re:ok

[Mr. Underbridge]

who is paul murphy and why the fuck do I care what some blogger has to say? /. has gone from a blog reporting on news to a blog reporting on blogs. Why bother?

Well, you could read it and realize that it was a very well reasoned article heavy on original thought and not just the usual link-fest. Or you could actually do some research, and find that he is...

"a LinuxInsider columnist, wrote and published The Unix Guide to Defenestration. Murphy is a 20-year veteran of the IT consulting industry, specializing in Unix and Unix-related management issues."

Do you just blindly look at a source and assume it's valid? Tons of crap journalism gets published in NYT, WP, WSJ, etc. This article was far better than most of those. Use your own brain and don't assume credibility based on the masthead and byline.

Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for...

[eno2001]

...Goofus and Gallant!

Goofus would rather turn on his computer and be a corporate tool for Microsoft without giving a second thought to how much richer the world would be, intellectually speaking, if everyone spent a little more time actually learning how computers worked instead of learning MS specific pointy clickety stuff.

Gallant spends time learning about how to utilize the resources in his PC as efficiently as possible, sharing his knowledge with anyone who will listen and helping people to help themselved by using Linux as the primary operating system and open source applications for true productivity.

Goofus doesn't care how much bandwidth he uses while downloading internet pr0n with his insecure P2P client that has trojaned his system and turned his system into a spam bot while at the same time complaining about how slow his system is because it's over six months old.

Gallant is a polite internet citizen. "Wow. This ISO download of Fedora Core 5 is going to take me good long time to download. I've got 25 meg down available right now, but my neighbors on the cable system might need to download some things too. So I'll lower my downstream during daytime hours to half a meg and only go up to 2 megs between 2:00AM and 4:00AM".

Goofus thinks that pirating software is cool because it saves him money that he can use to fill the tank on his gas hog SUV. "Haw haw!! Adobe thinks that we're all suckers who will pay them what they ask for their crap program! I'll show them! I'm gonna fire up Kazaa and get it for free! I'm a revolutionary who's stickin' it to the man"!

Gallant respects software licensing: "No Jim Bob. You see, even though I no longer use Windows, I am well aware of Microsoft's licensing requirements and you can't just take that copy of Windows and install it again on your cousin's PC because it's a license violation. If your cousin wants Windows XP Pro, he's going to have to buy the legitimate upgrade copy from a valid retailer".

Goofus doesn't care about other people's property or privacy: "Hey... looks like that hot neighbor Jolene's PC is accessible in Network Neighborhood. Well, well, well... Let's have a looksee at what's ono her hard drive. Oooohhh... C:\Private\JPEGs\XXX\Me, Branden and Rand Partying. That looks like a keeper"!

Gallant warns his neighbors that their machines might be insecure: "Sorry to bother you Jenna, but I noticed that your computer is readily accesible to anyone else in the apartment complex. If you want I can show you how to make it secure". Jenna: "Why thanks Gallant! I'd like that. By the way, if you'd like I could make us something for dinner when you come over. It's the least I could do". Gallant scores.