Business Week Online Laughs at Win2K

ethereal writes, "Business Week Online has a really humorous article about how we're all going to end up running Win2K. There's a small pro-Linux wrap-up at the bottom, however. " The surprising thing about this article is that it was written by Sam Jaffe, who is a stock market writer, not a tech guy. I had one nit-pick with the story (that I'm sure many of you will pick up on), but it was minor. This was such a blatant Linux plug that I almost (but not quite) felt sorry for Microsoft after reading it.

Comments

99.9%? It's the Boundary Conditions that count.

[CabanaBoy]

99.9%, aka 999/1000 sounds like a nice ratio, until you consider that (as every programmer worth his salty snacks knows) the /real/ problems occur in the boundary conditions. You know, that eventuallity that you didn't plan or lay code for? Like trapping certain nasty but rare exceptions?

Now this really _is_ nit-picking, but what eventuallities does this 99.9% cover? Successive pings? I don't really care about the ordinary stuff that users do. What happens to /me/ when I hit one of those boundary conditions? Do I get to sleep that night? That *week*?

Now, the Journalling-NTFS will help... Maybe... I'd feel better about it if MS had a better history of writing good file system standards and disaster recovery code. Do I really trust MS to rollback dirty writes?

The answer is typically 'No'.

The "nit"

[davie]

When I read this article yesterday, I was surprised to learn that Linux hadn't had a widely-accepted GUI until six months ago, when KDE and GNOME were born (I suppose that as far as some writers are concerned, nothing exists until it's been hyped in the media).

I'm sure Mr. Jaffe will receive hundreds of polite emails like the one I sent with a short background on X, window managers, etc.

My quandary is, where do these trade writers keep getting these silly notions about Linux not having a GUI? Is the MS FUD that pervasive?

Re:The "nit"

[Anonymous Coward]

If KDE and GNOME are GUIs, then GUIs are terrible, clumsy get-in-the-way-of-work systems. It's by biggest disappointment that so much energy has been spent imitating the Windows interface, as if it is the best thing ever to come along. Just as Jaffe points out:

...most companies in the world will eventually end up using Windows 2000 -- or a competitor that by necessity will have been heavily influenced by it.

I cannot and do not believe that anyone that works with a computer really thinks that a Windows/CORBA/whatever 'environment' is better than fvwm and eight xterms. If linux must follow Windows, it will never surpass it. Sorry, but it's so bliningly obvious.

I really beleive that w2k will kill Linux. I think it's sad, but, there will be little reason to choose Linux over W2k except the ones we little people like (open-source, cheaper.) But w2k will be a better server, will be leaps and bounds beyond Linux as far as consistent GUI goes and it will have great games. Wish it weren't so, but I see KDE and GNOME as being the defeating tactical "catch-up" error. You must look way ahead---it's how Linux got so good to begin with. Pray for plan-9.

Lets complain some more

[nadador]

Sometimes I think slashdot readers are like Pittsburgh football fans -- it doesn't matter whether they win or lose, they complain afterwards.

So an article written by stock market analyst with presumably no technical background comes close to being a reasonable interpretation of the truth. Factually not entirely correct, but the difference between the truth and his version of the story is only wide enough to cram a couple of 14 year old script kiddies in.

In a non-technical article, a non-technical writer managed to adequately and intelligently discuss both Windows2000 and Linux, without bowing to almost any FUD. There was no "Windows is so easy to use" or "The command line is scary." There was no "Linux is so hard to install" or "There are no applications for Linux." He managed to avoid the most oft-repeated, mind numbing FUDs, and you still complain.

I just don't get it. Be happy that for once, someone without any techincal credentials almost got it right. That means we're starting to win a couple of battles.


Andrew Gardner

Sigh...

[landley]

I'd like to point out that a Journaling filesystem is a high priority on NT for the same reason that parachutes and fire extinguishers were high priorities on the Hindenburg. If the primary cause of system crashes is a backhoe taking out the power, quickly recovering from crashes isn't a primary development priority. On a system that crashes in the presence of large flowers or brightly colored wallpaper, rapid crash recovery is a big time development priority. On Linux, JFS is primarily for bragging rights, isn't it? We're focused on not crashing in the first place. Rob

"so-called source code"?

[bushido]

and here all this time i thought there was such a thing. jeez, do i feel silly (and have i been wasting a lot of time with this whole CS degree). why do some many writers put quotes around terms that are even very technical like "operating system" or "source code". i think the average reader can figure it out from the context.
if it wasn't "so-called source code", it must just be computer elves then. i heard if you leave a 486 under your pillow, they will leave you a new p3.

Linux not feature-rich?

[eponymous cohort]

I haven't spent any significant time using W2K betas, our local copy took several minutes to display the start menu after clicking the Start button, but what do they mean by feature-rich? It seems that a good Linux distro comes with far more tools and Applications out of the box than any version of Windows I have ever seen.

Are they talking about these wizards that can "automatically configure XYZ" for you then fail or crash during the auto-configuration because your system is slightly non-standard?"

True story: I've used a serial mouse, and just bought a PS/2 mouse. When I booted Windows, Windows detected that I had new hardware, and automatically removed the video driver for me! It took about six reboots to get the system right.

let's cut him some slack

[Mr. Punch]

It seems to me that Mr. Jaffe did a pretty darn good job with this article. He's not a technical writer, yet it seems that he has kept himself fairly well informed about the state of the OS market. (Is "market" the right word for a system containing a free product? Hurm. Might "situation" be better?)

He talked about Windows 2000 in ways that would make sense to businessmen, and I bet they wouldn't like what he said. Similarly, he talked about Linux in comprehensible terms, and he painted quite a pretty picture of it. While errors and misinformation are not good, in this case, he made Linux look *better* because of it -- he wasn't saying "There is no GUI," but rather "Look how quickly they made a GUI!"

This article is exactly the sort of thing Linux needs if it is to gain credibility in the business world. System administrators need opinions like Jaffe's as ammunition to fire at the managment of their corporations in order to convince them that Linux is a workable responce to their needs.

I'll be pretty disappointed if his next column is about how he was brutally flamed for one minor error in an otherwise sterling article.

Good article

[Restil]

It states the obvious facts (that win 2K WILL, whether we like it or not, be used on a great many computers in the near future). However, after mentioning the positive aspects of it, it starts to display its disadvantages and even takes the occassional jab at the operating system. I like the Sysadmin quote.

And the take on Linux wasn't the usual FUD. The article pretty much sticks to the facts, that Linux is growing and is slowly becoming the only major competitor to Microsoft's server market, but that it still lacks in features by comparison. The author also doesn't make the usual claim that linux will eventually be overcome, and even presents a few good reasons why.

I also like the "Poor Microsoft" comment. If that doesn't say something about the efficiency of the company when with all their money and power, Linux is still creeping up on them and investors, whom the article seems aimed toward, should be careful to notice.

-Restil

the most important program ever written.

[ethereal]

Granted, as others here are sure to point out, this probably wasn't intended to be a humorous piece. Any article which contains It is, declares one Microsoft executive, "the most important program ever written." can get a laugh out of me, however. Microsoft: we're nothing if not overweening.

(first submission!)