If you want easy and clean installs, with checks for consistency with other packages, option for uninstall to previous versions and logging of what's done, RedHat Package Manager does all this and more. Gnome comes out with GnoRPM which isn't a too bad a GUI for those who can't stand to read the manual pages and work out the simple commandline. I have yet to see its like on any Wintel platform.
Btw, I'm not sure I understand why Everything has to go through your browser nowadays, even upgrades. I guess it's a feature for the masses, and an attempt to be hip. Because if they really cared about convinience, they should have used the time to make a real installer than the wussy InstallShield *puke*. The added layer of everything having to pass through IE sounds to me like the biggest security hole of all.
Warning: Long and a bit off-topic. But perhaps interesting, who knows? Sowwy.
I've yet to try BeOS, I don't think it's worth $70 bucks just to test it out on my notebook and ISDN-LAN at home. If something don't work, its useless. I've never bought Windows as a stand-alone package, but I now wish I had knew enough to buy a machine WITHOUT Windows on it. I will do that the next time. It's not about the money, it's about the Principle.
But even so, there still are those people who likes to Sponsor and paying for Developing for propertitary software (or Blackbox software). You pay for the Service the software brings you, not any access to the source. Hopefully there is enough documentation included, or you'll have to buy a Book or Bible (hint, hint). And when anything fails, you have to Wait for the next version, a patch, or Buy new hardware. Sometimes your hardware that works perfectly are rendered "Obsolete". Then you're at the mercy of a Company. Usually a lost situation.
People also like to believe the Manufacturer is Responsible for any mishaps you may have if the bought OS fails miserably. But if you think about it, in countries where you can get sued by the millions for spilling coffee, that would ruin any software company. The usual EULA makes you give up that right (unknowingly but freely).
What's even more funny is how Dedicated some people become in OSes. You have Fanatics in every OS department. They think they Own the OS together, and is a Part of something. If there's someone that deserves to be names Zealots, it's them. Many Linux users deserves the Title, but so does MacOS followers, BeOS acolytes, Amiga worshippers, Windows developers(?) [who don't even know what regexp is!] and OS/2 freaks (a compliment really;).
Oh, how miserable they get when they discover that they are at the Whim of the worshipped Company. When the Company makes decisions without asking them first! Usually they leave that particular OS, after years of public cursing, and starts Preaching even louder for another OS. (Trying to get everyone else WITH them this time)
Why do we (sain?) people put them down like that? Mostly because they ARE THE LOUD ONES. With every fibre in their body they shout out their gospel about OO (which have as many definitions as there are programmers), clean GUI (which usually means noone has access to the underlying code), beats all other OSes in a given task (displays their ignorance to the open public), open-source (which they mistakenly DEMAND must remain free of charge), stability (until something goes Wrong), superior server capabilities (in obscure tests unrelated to real-world situations), full hardware support (with thousands of faulty non-generic drivers), user-friendliness (usually ribs you of all choices, or you have to search for hours for a way to do an Oscure Thing [ie. what hackers do]), etc.. etc. If you've read this far I've caught your interest;)
Ok, you probably disagree with alot of what I've said. That May be good. It Could mean you're thinking for yourself! Now what was the author here trying to say? After reading all this, I'm sure you'll get the conclusion pretty fast: FUD. No need to comment on that further.
He has discovered an OS that he actually likes, and doesn't crash too often (unless you start up Netscape making Linux go into a frentic memory hogging mode starting to swap in your entire swap partition). But he's afraid that not everyone else is going to go with him. Mom and Pop has been suggested. Actually I think my "Pop" could handle Linux pretty well. My "Mom" would probably too if she had the interest, or someone could help her out with the installation or get it preinstalled. After all, once an OS is installed with the programs a lowtech user needs, there's no need for them to know everything. Plus, if you get directed to good documents and HOWTOs for a distribution, you'll get the information you need. No need to underestimate people. You'll only get surprised some day. And all FUD you send out will eventually get back at yourself.
So you see, there are always more sides of something. And I must say I deeply respect the people who are NOT speaking all the time. Those who don't get all excited and joining the War.
"The War? What is that?" You ask. Well, as all wars it's mostly driven by our inner fears, doubts and inner rage. And as all wars it's both both constructive and destructive. It's constructive in a way that things get done when people compete. Especially within Science and Technology. But it's also about heavy losses, both material and emotional. And it's very hush, hush. (ssh! Don't tell anyone!;)
The weapon of the War is among others FUD. The goal is domination (as in most wars). The drive is fear. Underlying that an attempt to repair disrespect for Self. The only way to raise your opinion without losing your neutrality is bringing a balanced view on the matter. Inform, or bring ideas, maybe crazy ideas? It doesn't matter. Just don't take yourself so seriously or put yourself on a pedestal (is that correct word for it?). Respect others' views.
Why don't you want to lose Neutrality you ask? Well, because the more emotions you put into the War, you'll receive tenfolds back! Perhaps not directly in answered notes, but just think of how many people gets annoyed and offended by your one-sided view note! They tend to blind people, making them shoot out in the dark, perhaps at others. Thus you may have a chain-reaction, in effect creating the War.
And if you think this doesn't go beyond sporadic flamewars, you're not looking deep enough. In fact we're lucky to have Internet nowadays. It is a great and safe forum to letting out steam. I'm not saying the War is necessarily a Bad Thing(tm). I'm just saying we will be better off when we manage to be without it.
"When does the War end?" you may ask. Well, in this respect it's a bit different than RL wars. It's a Personal war. It ends For You, when you admit it's just a war, the real problem is in our selves and you have to do something about it (geez, sounds like AAA). In fact, other people have nothing to do with it! Phsycologically, when we lash out at other people, we are in reality lashing out at our selves.
Now you think I'm a crazy madman:-) Well, perhaps I am. Or you think I'm against BeOS. Well I'm not, I wish I could test it out and know more about the OS itself. But sadly that is not the case. Or perhaps you think I've been making fun of you - an OS advocate. Well, I must admit I have. I hope you don't take it too seriously though. Perhaps you see that there really should be choices in the world, and advocacy is not always helping (but sometimes it is!).
I have reservations about proprietary software though (like the author) and listed them in the beginning. Many takes offense to that, so in this respect I join the War, although reluctantly. In the end however, every person has a right to choose to believe what's right for them.
I think it is allowed though, to calmly discuss the case, without letting your ego get in your way. I think I've failed miserably in this note, but maybe I'll do better in the future;*)
So long, and don't label yourself and others as XXX and YYY-users so much. You're not that different from eachother.
- Steeltoe
PS: I believe the authors underlying motive here was a miserable attempt to FUD BeOS Inc., to open up the source. Remember: Open source isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't have to be free of charge. As always people could copy the product, but it would surely Be:) more cumbersome, use more space and give more frustration compiling than just making an ISO of the installation-CDs. So there is perhaps a good point here somewhere;)
Again sorry for a lengthy, (a bit?) off-topic note. If the admins see it fit better somewhere else, please do move it:)
Slashdot Mirror
If you want easy and clean installs, with checks for consistency with other packages, option for uninstall to previous versions and logging of what's done, RedHat Package Manager does all this and more. Gnome comes out with GnoRPM which isn't a too bad a GUI for those who can't stand to read the manual pages and work out the simple commandline. I have yet to see its like on any Wintel platform.
Btw, I'm not sure I understand why Everything has to go through your browser nowadays, even upgrades. I guess it's a feature for the masses, and an attempt to be hip. Because if they really cared about convinience, they should have used the time to make a real installer than the wussy InstallShield *puke*. The added layer of everything having to pass through IE sounds to me like the biggest security hole of all.
Warning: Long and a bit off-topic. But perhaps interesting, who knows? Sowwy.
;).
;)
;)
:-) Well, perhaps I am. Or you think I'm against BeOS. Well I'm not, I wish I could test it out and know more about the OS itself. But sadly that is not the case. Or perhaps you think I've been making fun of you - an OS advocate. Well, I must admit I have. I hope you don't take it too seriously though. Perhaps you see that there really should be choices in the world, and advocacy is not always helping (but sometimes it is!).
;*)
:) more cumbersome, use more space and give more frustration compiling than just making an ISO of the installation-CDs. So there is perhaps a good point here somewhere ;)
:)
I've yet to try BeOS, I don't think it's worth $70 bucks just to test it out on my notebook and ISDN-LAN at home. If something don't work, its useless. I've never bought Windows as a stand-alone package, but I now wish I had knew enough to buy a machine WITHOUT Windows on it. I will do that the next time. It's not about the money, it's about the Principle.
But even so, there still are those people who likes to Sponsor and paying for Developing for propertitary software (or Blackbox software). You pay for the Service the software brings you, not any access to the source. Hopefully there is enough documentation included, or you'll have to buy a Book or Bible (hint, hint). And when anything fails, you have to Wait for the next version, a patch, or Buy new hardware. Sometimes your hardware that works perfectly are rendered "Obsolete". Then you're at the mercy of a Company. Usually a lost situation.
People also like to believe the Manufacturer is Responsible for any mishaps you may have if the bought OS fails miserably. But if you think about it, in countries where you can get sued by the millions for spilling coffee, that would ruin any software company. The usual EULA makes you give up that right (unknowingly but freely).
What's even more funny is how Dedicated some people become in OSes. You have Fanatics in every OS department. They think they Own the OS together, and is a Part of something. If there's someone that deserves to be names Zealots, it's them. Many Linux users deserves the Title, but so does MacOS followers, BeOS acolytes, Amiga worshippers, Windows developers(?) [who don't even know what regexp is!] and OS/2 freaks (a compliment really
Oh, how miserable they get when they discover that they are at the Whim of the worshipped Company. When the Company makes decisions without asking them first! Usually they leave that particular OS, after years of public cursing, and starts Preaching even louder for another OS. (Trying to get everyone else WITH them this time)
Why do we (sain?) people put them down like that? Mostly because they ARE THE LOUD ONES. With every fibre in their body they shout out their gospel about OO (which have as many definitions as there are programmers), clean GUI (which usually means noone has access to the underlying code), beats all other OSes in a given task (displays their ignorance to the open public), open-source (which they mistakenly DEMAND must remain free of charge), stability (until something goes Wrong), superior server capabilities (in obscure tests unrelated to real-world situations), full hardware support (with thousands of faulty non-generic drivers), user-friendliness (usually ribs you of all choices, or you have to search for hours for a way to do an Oscure Thing [ie. what hackers do]), etc.. etc. If you've read this far I've caught your interest
Ok, you probably disagree with alot of what I've said. That May be good. It Could mean you're thinking for yourself! Now what was the author here trying to say? After reading all this, I'm sure you'll get the conclusion pretty fast: FUD.
No need to comment on that further.
He has discovered an OS that he actually likes, and doesn't crash too often (unless you start up Netscape making Linux go into a frentic memory hogging mode starting to swap in your entire swap partition). But he's afraid that not everyone else is going to go with him. Mom and Pop has been suggested. Actually I think my "Pop" could handle Linux pretty well. My "Mom" would probably too if she had the interest, or someone could help her out with the installation or get it preinstalled. After all, once an OS is installed with the programs a lowtech user needs, there's no need for them to know everything. Plus, if you get directed to good documents and HOWTOs for a distribution, you'll get the information you need. No need to underestimate people. You'll only get surprised some day. And all FUD you send out will eventually get back at yourself.
So you see, there are always more sides of something. And I must say I deeply respect the people who are NOT speaking all the time. Those who don't get all excited and joining the War.
"The War? What is that?" You ask. Well, as all wars it's mostly driven by our inner fears, doubts and inner rage. And as all wars it's both both constructive and destructive. It's constructive in a way that things get done when people compete. Especially within Science and Technology. But it's also about heavy losses, both material and emotional. And it's very hush, hush. (ssh! Don't tell anyone!
The weapon of the War is among others FUD. The goal is domination (as in most wars). The drive is fear. Underlying that an attempt to repair disrespect for Self. The only way to raise your opinion without losing your neutrality is bringing a balanced view on the matter. Inform, or bring ideas, maybe crazy ideas? It doesn't matter. Just don't take yourself so seriously or put yourself on a pedestal (is that correct word for it?). Respect others' views.
Why don't you want to lose Neutrality you ask? Well, because the more emotions you put into the War, you'll receive tenfolds back! Perhaps not directly in answered notes, but just think of how many people gets annoyed and offended by your one-sided view note! They tend to blind people, making them shoot out in the dark, perhaps at others. Thus you may have a chain-reaction, in effect creating the War.
And if you think this doesn't go beyond sporadic flamewars, you're not looking deep enough. In fact we're lucky to have Internet nowadays. It is a great and safe forum to letting out steam. I'm not saying the War is necessarily a Bad Thing(tm). I'm just saying we will be better off when we manage to be without it.
"When does the War end?" you may ask. Well, in this respect it's a bit different than RL wars. It's a Personal war. It ends For You, when you admit it's just a war, the real problem is in our selves and you have to do something about it (geez, sounds like AAA). In fact, other people have nothing to do with it! Phsycologically, when we lash out at other people, we are in reality lashing out at our selves.
Now you think I'm a crazy madman
I have reservations about proprietary software though (like the author) and listed them in the beginning. Many takes offense to that, so in this respect I join the War, although reluctantly. In the end however, every person has a right to choose to believe what's right for them.
I think it is allowed though, to calmly discuss the case, without letting your ego get in your way. I think I've failed miserably in this note, but maybe I'll do better in the future
So long, and don't label yourself and others as XXX and YYY-users so much. You're not that different from eachother.
- Steeltoe
PS: I believe the authors underlying motive here was a miserable attempt to FUD BeOS Inc., to open up the source. Remember: Open source isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't have to be free of charge. As always people could copy the product, but it would surely Be
Again sorry for a lengthy, (a bit?) off-topic note. If the admins see it fit better somewhere else, please do move it