True enough, esp. if you have vendors selling 'certified' hardware where every component checks out. Point taken.
Normally I'm a big linux advocate - I run linux on my 'server' / main desktop, and I own a gp2x, I went through that linux newbie's 'gotta install linux on everything that I can possibly do' syndrome etc. but in this case I'm skeptical of its ability to match the routers whose hardware/software is designed from the ground up to switch / route information, as quickly and reliably as possible. Esp. running on consumer grade hardware.
HOWEVER
if the price is right and the margin of difference isn't so great, the open source solution may indeed turn out to be the most cost effective as long as you can cop the lower reliability. Just means we won't be seeing open source x86 core routers for quite some time;) but for your router that connects your local office to the VPN that only handles 2 connections (LAN back to office, WAN to corporate network), it looks pretty promising.
Well if you have ethernet over fibre available all well and good, but not everywhere has enough infrastructure to deliver ethernet all the way to the CPE without going through another WAN protocol somewhere.
I may have been brainwashed by Cisco....:) but as a regular open source (Fedora) user I'm not convinced consumer grade x86 hardware, no matter how good the software is, will be able to match Cisco/Alcatel etc. for enterprise applications. Not without lots more downtime and the (obvious) support issue which everybody's already thrashed to death. Imagine the nightmare hodgepodge of components, different firmware revisions, etc. etc. (anyone who's had wireless issues with linux on an older card and had to slog through id-ing the firmware, finding what flash images it can take, dunno if its even a hardware issue etc. etc. will see the point right way)
For home / small business though it sounds like way to go, just like for home / small business, an entirely open source solution is eminently practical and in many ways advantageous
No what you're saying is that you don't want to give up your windows knowledge (i.e. years of experience) to learn a new OS. That's like saying "I spent a year building up my world of warcraft characters and I don't want to play another MMORPG coz after one weekend my character still sucked and it wasn't any fun". (disclaimer: I do NOT play any MMORPGs)
All the problems you have mentioned above can be fixed in a relatively short time. OK several weekends isn't exactly a short time but how long do you reckon it took for you to learn all you knew on XP? PLus its a matter of smart googling. IF you used Fedora for example I can give you a "type this exact command in" style FAQ that sets all of this shiz up and it will only take a few hours (mostly waiting for downloads etc. NOT actual work). In Ubunbtu, there's that automatix script. Why didn't you try those?
Language support fair enough (though note I have no issues reading Chinese, but I haven't tried typing it).
If someone gave you a brand new OS which you don't know much about do you really expect to be able to sort out all the issues in one weekend?
why do all these posts turn into Windows vs Linux arguments, usually sprouted by people who know not much, or nothing at all, about linux. (on the other hands most Linux people know a heck of a lot about windows, if only having it rammed down their throats @ work). Personally speaking I learnt how to use PCs on MS DOS 5.0 / Windows 3.0 and have only been using linux for two years. Now my home setup is full linux aside from the media centre (yes certain hardware issues is still linux's biggest problem).
For the record my last role was as network manager for those "phone switches" you so casually mentioned. Not that you don't have plenty of spare time to get up to speed, why, being in a call centre and all where the most important component is... er... the phone switch
Aside from geek points, is it worth taking a look if you're currently running a happy stable Fedora setup?
Been reading a lot of hype that's all but there's nothing specific that I want to do that SUSE can and Fedora can't, at least from what I can tell. Anyone who knows both well, would appreciate your input.
I think it boils down to which one you had a good experience with FIRST.
After a long hiatus from computing, I bought an ATI 9800Pro and have never looked back. Replaced it with an X850, happy as larry as we say down under.
Windoze stability issues.... meh, never had em. Catalyst problems... do full uninstall, clean up the old drivers (u can get 3rd party freeware utilities specifically to do this, google it), install new ones, never had any issues.
Now on the topic of linux support... yes ATI does sux in linux, right up to the default -RHGB kernel option crashing in fedora (first boot... not encouraging! hehe), and 3D does seem far more sluggish than in windows. So next time I upgrade I'll be paying close attention to 'nix compatibility, though to be honest, coz I don't play any games in 'Nix I don't really care too much beyond compatibility and stability....
The last 'new-gen' phone I got was a Nokia 6230 which I went for due to (what I thought) was MP3 support. That was ALL I wanted: voice, text, MP3. Got a 1 gig MMC card. Then I realised:
a.) Proprietary dock, no headphone jack, nokia headphones bite. OK no big deal, i had read about this online, and purchased a 3rd party nokia port --> headphone jack thingy from ebay for like 30 bucks. I'll deal with it.
b.) To take the MMC card out requires taking the battery out and restarting phone, no plug and upload/download. A pain when you're a music geek
I can live with the above two as mere annoyances, then the real whoppers
c.) Phone cannot play files even alphabetically or via a playlist, it always plays MP3s in the EXACT ORDER THEY WERE UPLOADED. And you need to manually create the playlists in an external program, then upload them to a special hidden folder. God forbid, if you changed the file structure on your card and had some out of date playlists referencing non-existent files, the thing crashed.
= every time you wanted to put a new CD onto the thing it took 10 minutes of fscking around.
Then d.) The random crashing hit and I gave up, bit the bullet and bought a replacement for my (terrible but at least it worked, but that's another story) Creative Nomad. hehehe.
Seriously, it was only a minor software issue that prevented the phone from playing MP3s in ALPHABETICAL ORDER FFS its not a big deal eh. Instead they make you jump through hoops. What about UMS browsing of file contents w. normal 3.5mm headphone jack and normal USB connection. Its not technologically advanced or costly is it!!! All that phone needed to become that mythical phone+ipod combo was a USB dock, normal headphone jack, and MP3 functionality like any cheap flash player.
I'm thinking all someone needs to do is design an elongated phone case over any normal candy bar phone, and cram a flash MP3 player into it, viola
Yeah I know, but I don't count it as "core" part of linux as its only available in specific remixes so to speak and u will need to be nix techie to even get it off the ground (aside from the koroaa live cd of course). i.e. its not available out of the box. Though Fedora 6 should have AIXGL built in as standard and something similar I believe for the upcoming ubuntu releases etc. (I'm a red hat guy so bear with me if I'm mistaken)
anyhoo 3D desktop is all good but like I said the rest of Vista's great leap forwards (i use that term intentionally) is merely catching up to the curve (ooh it pains me to praise Macs but there u have it)
More example of M$ making an inferior product, then passing off 'improvements' that merely bring it up to par with everything else, as great leaps forwards
witness Win2000 vs Win95: massive improvement, but when u think about it, shouldn't 95 have been in that state when it was released????? (lets not even mention Win98 or ME)
'Nix and Mac OS already have 95% of those so called "improvements" as CORE COMPONENTS of their design for years. Aside from the 3D desktop, which is really the least critical part of the OS from a productivity / stability / security / speed POV....
One year ago I was a 'nix n00b. Now after posts galore I'm a happy Fedora user who has managed to migrate everything over to 'Nix aside from my media centre (damn proprietary remote controls LOL) and games (DOH)
W/out the happy helpful Fedora community I would not have been able to learn more about Nix in a year than 8 years of M$ (and I am an old school DOS 5.0 man who spent their first month of PC usage reading the DOS manual)
The community is one of the BIGGEST factors in getting new users into 'Nix + letting us explore these digital sandboxes. The squillions of how-tos and FAQs around are a testament to that. WHen u take a step back its actually quite impressive how one can run a fully featured enterprise solution on nothing but whiteboxes and free software (well u won't quite get active directory LOL not unless you're an LDAP guru - doh) and large dollops of community goodwill.
I'm no programmer (never was) but I'm a dedicated techie and I now take the time to try to help newbies troubleshoot, just like how experienced FEdora users helped me troubleshoot my new install only a short 12 months ago. Its a virtuous cycle of participation and IMHO the biggest strength of the open source movement. If you're in any doubt, just check out all the other Net forums where people ask n00b questions about Windoze and watch the insufferably arrogant responses from the script kiddies (who think they're l33t coz they can install codecs by double clicking on an.exe file)
Then again I've never had the privilege of participating in a Debian forum LOL
I disagree and I think you're reading his post wrong.
Open source does NOT have to be about creating incompatibilities. Some choice examples
a.) over half the web is run on apache. b.) samba (SMB) works better on linux servers than windows
And much of the time open source is faster, more stable, requires less maintenance, runs on slower / older hardware. Those are bottom line benefits to the business. And more and more functions are being taken over e.g. embedded systems, servers, etc. EXACTLY as per your description - in cases where the open source solution is COMPATIBLE with M$ standards. e.g. web user points IE @ a site hosted on apache.
Note that he used the word "choice". I choose to run 'Nix w/ samba on my file server instead of shelling out for another copy of windows, and guess what, it provides the same functionality I need. We can "choose" open source solutions that are still compatible with M$ protocols (many of which BTW are nicked from others or second rate).
I'm running FC4 on my file server and FC5 on my desktop. I have to say that Gnome 2.14 is HEAPS faster, nautilus is much less crash-prone. I know you can stick Gnome 2.14 onto any distro really but with FC5 its nicely integrated out of the box. Also, the new gnome-bar thingy is fabulous. Like google deskbar on steroids. Integrates well with desktop search which seems to use less than half the resources for equivalent windoze products. Config menus seem much better organised.
Apart from that the underlying stuff seems pretty normal (e.g. how services are organised, init runlevels, etc.). I haven't tried Xen yet.
Horses for courses...
stable server environment = CentOS or Debian
general purpose desktop = ubuntu
electronic sandbox = fedora
I learnt 'Nix from scratch via wrestling with FC4. Sometimes it was like wrestling jelly but now I'm keen as mustard to see what FC5 can do. Anywayz, since you were in class, whats the problem? More faults = more learning. If everything just works you learn nothing!
The only thing I have trouble now with FC4 is proprietary video card drivers, and I'm not the only one / only distro with issues with bloody ATI:)
This skeptic is not convinced
-Reduced Memory fragmentation: already available on linux and mac? check
-Sleep mode: what, system standby on another name? check
-Superfetch: I'll believe it when I see it, alternatively, just more bloat
-Caching VM onto external, unpluggable memory? REAL SMART
-Improved network stack: already available on linux and mac? check
-Media Centre: hmmm u mean like use any decent 3rd party media app with remote support and OSD? check
-3D GUI: unnecessary, won't work on non-gaming rigs
Meh I can't really be bothered to keep going but y'all get the drift. What really grinds my gears is how M$ keeps pushing these features as whizbang new improvements when they should have been there in the first place. Instead they manufacture cr@ppy OSs with crippleware that causes headaches for decades to come, then sell fixes for the problems they'be caused in the first place. Anyone remember "640k is enough for everybody"?
Then again I should stop getting annoyed at this, its all par for the course
Like many have already pointed out, the list is merely listing things that are offered for free (Nix) / as part of other OSs (Mac). Even XP can have most of those features w/ the right third party apps.
Backup? Parental Controls? IE 7? aargh! FFS who cares - and anyone who does will have already found a perfecly usable solution by now. E.g. anyone who is technically proficient and values their data already has some kinda backup routine / system that works for them, even if it is as simple as periodically copying your data directories lock stock and barrel onto another machine or medium.
Eye candy is moot, you use your OS to do things, NOT for eye candy. If you want eye candy, you watch a movie, or look at some visual art, or play the latest 3D game. Seriously who really cares about how good their office application looks as long as it works and doesn't make you sick just looking at it.
As for security and multimedia, coming from M$, I'll believe it when I see it. Bidirectional firewall... er... you mean like all those nice FREE 3rd party firewalls? Or that nice 'iptables' thingy that comes by default with Nix? oh. Multimedia? You mean DRM? AAARGH
DOS, Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP. Note the trend: needs faster computers to run, all do fundamentally the same thing, but we're forced to upgrade when the software we want to use stops being supported by the legacy OSs. Oh yeah, and the cr@ppy security and networking 'features' that were built into the OS in the first place. Not to mention the good old "640k is enough of everybody" saga that led to years of fun with EMS, XMS, conventional memory et al and windows 95 putting the window dressing over the fact that the problem still existed until 2000.
Maybe I'm a cynic, but I can't wait till I'm confident enough to port everything I do over to 'nix, and keep windows strictly for those one or two killer apps + games. Now if only Nix would fix them damned driver issues... hehehe
It really puzzles me why the linux community persists in flaming each other when we should all be pulling in the same direction: KILL BILL;)
Only recently have I tried out linux, more specifically, Fedora Core 4. And tell ya what: I'm BLOWN AWAY. It rocks the haus. My only gripe is the resource hog that is Gnome and from what I read its being massively optimised in v2.12. I've learnt more about how my PC works from several weekends of installing and tweaking FC4, Samba, FTP, VNC, etc. than years of checking boxes in Windoze. OK my Windows box is still faster, better tweaked and easier to use COZ I"VE BEEN USING WINDOZE FOR A DECADE but at the end, there's almost NOTHING that I want to do that I can't do in linux (except for games, 3D graphics and wireless as many have noted), even if it may involve a bit of googling and forum hunting. I reckon I'm around 1 year from complete migration (ie windows purely for games and proprietary apps I need that don't exist in linux).
So I'm darned keen to check out FC5. I haven't tried any other distros except for knoppix, but seriously, who really cares, if ya wanna apt-get Debian or whatever its all good!!!!! Fedora is stable, its easy to learn if you have half a brain and a grain of effort.... at the same time I'm sure there's lots of other linux distros that are just as good or do some things better etc.... but that's no reason to knock an excellent OS. If the shoe fits, WEAR IT
Slashdot Mirror
True enough, esp. if you have vendors selling 'certified' hardware where every component checks out. Point taken.
;) but for your router that connects your local office to the VPN that only handles 2 connections (LAN back to office, WAN to corporate network), it looks pretty promising.
Normally I'm a big linux advocate - I run linux on my 'server' / main desktop, and I own a gp2x, I went through that linux newbie's 'gotta install linux on everything that I can possibly do' syndrome etc. but in this case I'm skeptical of its ability to match the routers whose hardware/software is designed from the ground up to switch / route information, as quickly and reliably as possible. Esp. running on consumer grade hardware.
HOWEVER
if the price is right and the margin of difference isn't so great, the open source solution may indeed turn out to be the most cost effective as long as you can cop the lower reliability. Just means we won't be seeing open source x86 core routers for quite some time
Well if you have ethernet over fibre available all well and good, but not everywhere has enough infrastructure to deliver ethernet all the way to the CPE without going through another WAN protocol somewhere.
:) but as a regular open source (Fedora) user I'm not convinced consumer grade x86 hardware, no matter how good the software is, will be able to match Cisco/Alcatel etc. for enterprise applications. Not without lots more downtime and the (obvious) support issue which everybody's already thrashed to death. Imagine the nightmare hodgepodge of components, different firmware revisions, etc. etc. (anyone who's had wireless issues with linux on an older card and had to slog through id-ing the firmware, finding what flash images it can take, dunno if its even a hardware issue etc. etc. will see the point right way)
I may have been brainwashed by Cisco....
For home / small business though it sounds like way to go, just like for home / small business, an entirely open source solution is eminently practical and in many ways advantageous
No what you're saying is that you don't want to give up your windows knowledge (i.e. years of experience) to learn a new OS. That's like saying "I spent a year building up my world of warcraft characters and I don't want to play another MMORPG coz after one weekend my character still sucked and it wasn't any fun". (disclaimer: I do NOT play any MMORPGs) All the problems you have mentioned above can be fixed in a relatively short time. OK several weekends isn't exactly a short time but how long do you reckon it took for you to learn all you knew on XP? PLus its a matter of smart googling. IF you used Fedora for example I can give you a "type this exact command in" style FAQ that sets all of this shiz up and it will only take a few hours (mostly waiting for downloads etc. NOT actual work). In Ubunbtu, there's that automatix script. Why didn't you try those? Language support fair enough (though note I have no issues reading Chinese, but I haven't tried typing it). If someone gave you a brand new OS which you don't know much about do you really expect to be able to sort out all the issues in one weekend? why do all these posts turn into Windows vs Linux arguments, usually sprouted by people who know not much, or nothing at all, about linux. (on the other hands most Linux people know a heck of a lot about windows, if only having it rammed down their throats @ work). Personally speaking I learnt how to use PCs on MS DOS 5.0 / Windows 3.0 and have only been using linux for two years. Now my home setup is full linux aside from the media centre (yes certain hardware issues is still linux's biggest problem).
That's definitely something to be proud of.
For the record my last role was as network manager for those "phone switches" you so casually mentioned. Not that you don't have plenty of spare time to get up to speed, why, being in a call centre and all where the most important component is... er... the phone switch
Say hi to those Bangaloreans on your way out
Aside from geek points, is it worth taking a look if you're currently running a happy stable Fedora setup? Been reading a lot of hype that's all but there's nothing specific that I want to do that SUSE can and Fedora can't, at least from what I can tell. Anyone who knows both well, would appreciate your input.
I think it boils down to which one you had a good experience with FIRST.
After a long hiatus from computing, I bought an ATI 9800Pro and have never looked back. Replaced it with an X850, happy as larry as we say down under.
Windoze stability issues.... meh, never had em. Catalyst problems... do full uninstall, clean up the old drivers (u can get 3rd party freeware utilities specifically to do this, google it), install new ones, never had any issues.
Now on the topic of linux support... yes ATI does sux in linux, right up to the default -RHGB kernel option crashing in fedora (first boot... not encouraging! hehe), and 3D does seem far more sluggish than in windows. So next time I upgrade I'll be paying close attention to 'nix compatibility, though to be honest, coz I don't play any games in 'Nix I don't really care too much beyond compatibility and stability....
Agreed!!!
The last 'new-gen' phone I got was a Nokia 6230 which I went for due to (what I thought) was MP3 support. That was ALL I wanted: voice, text, MP3. Got a 1 gig MMC card. Then I realised:
a.) Proprietary dock, no headphone jack, nokia headphones bite. OK no big deal, i had read about this online, and purchased a 3rd party nokia port --> headphone jack thingy from ebay for like 30 bucks. I'll deal with it.
b.) To take the MMC card out requires taking the battery out and restarting phone, no plug and upload/download. A pain when you're a music geek
I can live with the above two as mere annoyances, then the real whoppers
c.) Phone cannot play files even alphabetically or via a playlist, it always plays MP3s in the EXACT ORDER THEY WERE UPLOADED. And you need to manually create the playlists in an external program, then upload them to a special hidden folder. God forbid, if you changed the file structure on your card and had some out of date playlists referencing non-existent files, the thing crashed.
= every time you wanted to put a new CD onto the thing it took 10 minutes of fscking around.
Then d.) The random crashing hit and I gave up, bit the bullet and bought a replacement for my (terrible but at least it worked, but that's another story) Creative Nomad. hehehe.
Seriously, it was only a minor software issue that prevented the phone from playing MP3s in ALPHABETICAL ORDER FFS its not a big deal eh. Instead they make you jump through hoops. What about UMS browsing of file contents w. normal 3.5mm headphone jack and normal USB connection. Its not technologically advanced or costly is it!!! All that phone needed to become that mythical phone+ipod combo was a USB dock, normal headphone jack, and MP3 functionality like any cheap flash player.
I'm thinking all someone needs to do is design an elongated phone case over any normal candy bar phone, and cram a flash MP3 player into it, viola
Yeah I know, but I don't count it as "core" part of linux as its only available in specific remixes so to speak and u will need to be nix techie to even get it off the ground (aside from the koroaa live cd of course). i.e. its not available out of the box. Though Fedora 6 should have AIXGL built in as standard and something similar I believe for the upcoming ubuntu releases etc. (I'm a red hat guy so bear with me if I'm mistaken) anyhoo 3D desktop is all good but like I said the rest of Vista's great leap forwards (i use that term intentionally) is merely catching up to the curve (ooh it pains me to praise Macs but there u have it)
More example of M$ making an inferior product, then passing off 'improvements' that merely bring it up to par with everything else, as great leaps forwards
witness Win2000 vs Win95: massive improvement, but when u think about it, shouldn't 95 have been in that state when it was released????? (lets not even mention Win98 or ME)
'Nix and Mac OS already have 95% of those so called "improvements" as CORE COMPONENTS of their design for years. Aside from the 3D desktop, which is really the least critical part of the OS from a productivity / stability / security / speed POV....
One year ago I was a 'nix n00b. Now after posts galore I'm a happy Fedora user who has managed to migrate everything over to 'Nix aside from my media centre (damn proprietary remote controls LOL) and games (DOH) W/out the happy helpful Fedora community I would not have been able to learn more about Nix in a year than 8 years of M$ (and I am an old school DOS 5.0 man who spent their first month of PC usage reading the DOS manual) The community is one of the BIGGEST factors in getting new users into 'Nix + letting us explore these digital sandboxes. The squillions of how-tos and FAQs around are a testament to that. WHen u take a step back its actually quite impressive how one can run a fully featured enterprise solution on nothing but whiteboxes and free software (well u won't quite get active directory LOL not unless you're an LDAP guru - doh) and large dollops of community goodwill. I'm no programmer (never was) but I'm a dedicated techie and I now take the time to try to help newbies troubleshoot, just like how experienced FEdora users helped me troubleshoot my new install only a short 12 months ago. Its a virtuous cycle of participation and IMHO the biggest strength of the open source movement. If you're in any doubt, just check out all the other Net forums where people ask n00b questions about Windoze and watch the insufferably arrogant responses from the script kiddies (who think they're l33t coz they can install codecs by double clicking on an .exe file)
Then again I've never had the privilege of participating in a Debian forum LOL
I disagree and I think you're reading his post wrong.
Open source does NOT have to be about creating incompatibilities. Some choice examples
a.) over half the web is run on apache.
b.) samba (SMB) works better on linux servers than windows
And much of the time open source is faster, more stable, requires less maintenance, runs on slower / older hardware. Those are bottom line benefits to the business. And more and more functions are being taken over e.g. embedded systems, servers, etc. EXACTLY as per your description - in cases where the open source solution is COMPATIBLE with M$ standards. e.g. web user points IE @ a site hosted on apache.
Note that he used the word "choice". I choose to run 'Nix w/ samba on my file server instead of shelling out for another copy of windows, and guess what, it provides the same functionality I need. We can "choose" open source solutions that are still compatible with M$ protocols (many of which BTW are nicked from others or second rate).
I'm running FC4 on my file server and FC5 on my desktop. I have to say that Gnome 2.14 is HEAPS faster, nautilus is much less crash-prone. I know you can stick Gnome 2.14 onto any distro really but with FC5 its nicely integrated out of the box. Also, the new gnome-bar thingy is fabulous. Like google deskbar on steroids. Integrates well with desktop search which seems to use less than half the resources for equivalent windoze products. Config menus seem much better organised.
Apart from that the underlying stuff seems pretty normal (e.g. how services are organised, init runlevels, etc.). I haven't tried Xen yet.
Horses for courses... stable server environment = CentOS or Debian general purpose desktop = ubuntu electronic sandbox = fedora I learnt 'Nix from scratch via wrestling with FC4. Sometimes it was like wrestling jelly but now I'm keen as mustard to see what FC5 can do. Anywayz, since you were in class, whats the problem? More faults = more learning. If everything just works you learn nothing! The only thing I have trouble now with FC4 is proprietary video card drivers, and I'm not the only one / only distro with issues with bloody ATI :)
This skeptic is not convinced -Reduced Memory fragmentation: already available on linux and mac? check -Sleep mode: what, system standby on another name? check -Superfetch: I'll believe it when I see it, alternatively, just more bloat -Caching VM onto external, unpluggable memory? REAL SMART -Improved network stack: already available on linux and mac? check -Media Centre: hmmm u mean like use any decent 3rd party media app with remote support and OSD? check -3D GUI: unnecessary, won't work on non-gaming rigs Meh I can't really be bothered to keep going but y'all get the drift. What really grinds my gears is how M$ keeps pushing these features as whizbang new improvements when they should have been there in the first place. Instead they manufacture cr@ppy OSs with crippleware that causes headaches for decades to come, then sell fixes for the problems they'be caused in the first place. Anyone remember "640k is enough for everybody"? Then again I should stop getting annoyed at this, its all par for the course
Like many have already pointed out, the list is merely listing things that are offered for free (Nix) / as part of other OSs (Mac). Even XP can have most of those features w/ the right third party apps. Backup? Parental Controls? IE 7? aargh! FFS who cares - and anyone who does will have already found a perfecly usable solution by now. E.g. anyone who is technically proficient and values their data already has some kinda backup routine / system that works for them, even if it is as simple as periodically copying your data directories lock stock and barrel onto another machine or medium. Eye candy is moot, you use your OS to do things, NOT for eye candy. If you want eye candy, you watch a movie, or look at some visual art, or play the latest 3D game. Seriously who really cares about how good their office application looks as long as it works and doesn't make you sick just looking at it. As for security and multimedia, coming from M$, I'll believe it when I see it. Bidirectional firewall... er... you mean like all those nice FREE 3rd party firewalls? Or that nice 'iptables' thingy that comes by default with Nix? oh. Multimedia? You mean DRM? AAARGH DOS, Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP. Note the trend: needs faster computers to run, all do fundamentally the same thing, but we're forced to upgrade when the software we want to use stops being supported by the legacy OSs. Oh yeah, and the cr@ppy security and networking 'features' that were built into the OS in the first place. Not to mention the good old "640k is enough of everybody" saga that led to years of fun with EMS, XMS, conventional memory et al and windows 95 putting the window dressing over the fact that the problem still existed until 2000. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I can't wait till I'm confident enough to port everything I do over to 'nix, and keep windows strictly for those one or two killer apps + games. Now if only Nix would fix them damned driver issues... hehehe
It really puzzles me why the linux community persists in flaming each other when we should all be pulling in the same direction: KILL BILL ;)
Only recently have I tried out linux, more specifically, Fedora Core 4. And tell ya what: I'm BLOWN AWAY. It rocks the haus. My only gripe is the resource hog that is Gnome and from what I read its being massively optimised in v2.12. I've learnt more about how my PC works from several weekends of installing and tweaking FC4, Samba, FTP, VNC, etc. than years of checking boxes in Windoze. OK my Windows box is still faster, better tweaked and easier to use COZ I"VE BEEN USING WINDOZE FOR A DECADE but at the end, there's almost NOTHING that I want to do that I can't do in linux (except for games, 3D graphics and wireless as many have noted), even if it may involve a bit of googling and forum hunting. I reckon I'm around 1 year from complete migration (ie windows purely for games and proprietary apps I need that don't exist in linux).
So I'm darned keen to check out FC5. I haven't tried any other distros except for knoppix, but seriously, who really cares, if ya wanna apt-get Debian or whatever its all good!!!!! Fedora is stable, its easy to learn if you have half a brain and a grain of effort.... at the same time I'm sure there's lots of other linux distros that are just as good or do some things better etc.... but that's no reason to knock an excellent OS. If the shoe fits, WEAR IT