I regret that I don't understand your kool-aid remark.
But, to me constructive criticism is filing bug reports, feature requests, discussing different ways things should be done, etc. Constructive criticism is NOT saying "I've lost 7 years of my life with Linux and now I've switched to Mac and I'm happy". Why? 1) Out of respect for all the developers who have worked many hard hours on various open source projects. Have you? 2) Because such a thing hurts Linux, and Linux and open standards benefit all of us.
Your experience with Linux has been bad, but yes, Linux has grown very fast in the last years. Many non-technical people I know use it without problems on the desktop. A bit of inquiry into a HCL is a good idea before purchasing any esoteric hardware but otherwise you are good to go (assumin g you use the desktop friendly distros). Would you argue that any thingie I buy from best buy will work on your mac? Or do you only buy your hardware in the Apple Store? Or, how about we ask some Windows users how often do they reinstall their computers? Thinking about pros and cons now, I don't think Linux is much behind, if at all.
You have settled with an expensive, proprietary architecture. Mind you, my mileage with linux was different and my computer costed less than how much you payed for your OS, but whatever.
In the end, though, your flaming does no useful purpose. Linux did not cheat you in any way, you did not pay for it and definitely should not have expected any warranty.
Your flaming, in fact, works only towards destroying the communal contributions of many of your fellow techies and benefits a closed-source corporation. Mind you, they are not even a very open-source-and-standards friendly corporation.
So, if you are not going to help, at least don't work towards making derogatory remarks. Linux and other OSS products are made for the benefit of the entire world. Try selling Macs to two thirds of the people around the world not living in USA, Japan or western Europe.
People keep on comparing linux desktop with Windows and OSX in this thread. Well, a few things you are missing:
- both of those OSs have single desktop environments (IMHO, both unusable compared to X desktops). Linux provides at least three different desktop environments (Gnome, KDE and XFCE) and a plethora of window managers. It is only natural that there are problems in keeping the desktop unified, however this is becoming much better with the adoption of freedesktop standards. And finally, try one of those single-DE distributions, such as Ubuntu. They do a good job of keeping everything nice and unified.
- OSX and Windows are primarily aimed at the desktop market. Heck, OSX even works only on proprietary hardware. The point is: desktop Linux has never been the focus of Linux developers (at large) as Linux has always been superior primarely in the server market. I still can't see the argument behind entrusting your server to a non-modular, secret/proprietary architecture.
- Finally, Linux is Free. There is no money from Microsoft and Apple to finance developers making pretty GUIs. However, you are welcome to come and help if you do not like the present status of desktop Linux.
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Woah... Windows if _far from_ being POSIX compliant. Only Unices can be Posix compliant.
I regret that I don't understand your kool-aid remark.
But, to me constructive criticism is filing bug reports, feature requests, discussing different ways things should be done, etc. Constructive criticism is NOT saying "I've lost 7 years of my life with Linux and now I've switched to Mac and I'm happy". Why?
1) Out of respect for all the developers who have worked many hard hours on various open source projects. Have you?
2) Because such a thing hurts Linux, and Linux and open standards benefit all of us.
Your experience with Linux has been bad, but yes, Linux has grown very fast in the last years. Many non-technical people I know use it without problems on the desktop. A bit of inquiry into a HCL is a good idea before purchasing any esoteric hardware but otherwise you are good to go (assumin g you use the desktop friendly distros). Would you argue that any thingie I buy from best buy will work on your mac? Or do you only buy your hardware in the Apple Store? Or, how about we ask some Windows users how often do they reinstall their computers? Thinking about pros and cons now, I don't think Linux is much behind, if at all.
Fine.
You have settled with an expensive, proprietary architecture. Mind you, my mileage with linux was different and my computer costed less than how much you payed for your OS, but whatever.
In the end, though, your flaming does no useful purpose. Linux did not cheat you in any way, you did not pay for it and definitely should not have expected any warranty.
Your flaming, in fact, works only towards destroying the communal contributions of many of your fellow techies and benefits a closed-source corporation. Mind you, they are not even a very open-source-and-standards friendly corporation.
So, if you are not going to help, at least don't work towards making derogatory remarks. Linux and other OSS products are made for the benefit of the entire world. Try selling Macs to two thirds of the people around the world not living in USA, Japan or western Europe.
People keep on comparing linux desktop with Windows and OSX in this thread. Well, a few things you are missing:
- both of those OSs have single desktop environments (IMHO, both unusable compared to X desktops). Linux provides at least three different desktop environments (Gnome, KDE and XFCE) and a plethora of window managers. It is only natural that there are problems in keeping the desktop unified, however this is becoming much better with the adoption of freedesktop standards. And finally, try one of those single-DE distributions, such as Ubuntu. They do a good job of keeping everything nice and unified.
- OSX and Windows are primarily aimed at the desktop market. Heck, OSX even works only on proprietary hardware. The point is: desktop Linux has never been the focus of Linux developers (at large) as Linux has always been superior primarely in the server market. I still can't see the argument behind entrusting your server to a non-modular, secret/proprietary architecture.
- Finally, Linux is Free. There is no money from Microsoft and Apple to finance developers making pretty GUIs. However, you are welcome to come and help if you do not like the present status of desktop Linux.