Never ceases to amaze

[Patrick Thurmond]

	Well hate to break it to you but that's how ALL OSes deal with
CD-ROM installs and replacements (unless its external, but that's a
different story). Not trying to diss Linux but buddy, I have never had
trouble with any of my Windows boxes taking CD-ROM drives right off the
bat without any reboots or anything. The only Windows version that would
have even the most remote of chance of having trouble with it would have
been 95. 
	On the other hand I have been playing with Linux for about 4 or
5 years and good solid plug and play has only been available (from what
I have seen) on Linux for about a year. Up until about RedHat 7 or 8
have I seen any real no fuss plug and play with device variety on any of
my systems. Before 7 my system was pretty much hosed if I had to change
any major components. Linux is making its way to the top and seems to be
progressing quicker than Windows in the last few years but I am sorry to
say this... There are just some things WINDOWS is still BETTER at.
Course there are also some things that Linux is much better at than
Windows but in some cases its merely circumstantial.
	In the case of security, yes Linux is better, but then again the
user base of good and bad people is MUCH larger for Windows so the
frequency of security breaks is in turn going to be more frequent (kinda
like the larger the city, the more crime you will see). As Linux users
become more and more common, so will the malicious users of it and then
so will viruses and security threats become more common.
	In the case of being just downright user friendly, Windows takes
the cake here. Sure its nowhere near as customizable, and sure it can't
be tweaked or stripped as easily, but when it comes to the bottom line
Windows just reacts better to the user presence. Windows XP is the
perfect example. In most cases, within a few seconds of plugging
something in it pretty much installs it for me, unless it's a rare case
that it doesn't have suitable drivers for the device. Try the same thing
in RH8 and I have to reboot and go through clunky prompts that are not
straight-forward and don't actually explain what will happen between
each option. Now I have yet to try RH9 (because I don't have a free
system at this time) but I doubt its improvements are that drastic,
considering its quick introduction after the upgrade to 8.
	Another example of those clunky menus and install process is
using RH8 on my laptop, when I decided to disconnect my USB mouse, when
I rebooted it started asking me about keeping the device, updating the
profile, removing it, etcetera, I just wanted it to keep the driver for
future use so I selected that option and I lost my touchpad completely
and was unable to use the mouse unless I had the USB mouse connected.
Also if I installed RH8 with the USB mouse on I would have to reinstall
just to be able to get it to use the touchpad. However when they both
did work, they worked great and at the same time. I like its new program
manager, which still needs work but is a major improvement. It still
gets tiring when you install a program and have no idea where on the
file system it installed to, no links to it, and not even being sure
which file to run it with. That's a major pain.
	In all I am not a die-hard Windows fan, nor am I a major Linux
player either. Both are good operating systems, and I really hope that
Linux enters the mainstream PC user market, and it can, but it is still
not ready for the everyday user. I am in tech support and I get enough
retarded calls on Windows machines, I don't even want to think of what
nightmare it would be to support ordinary users on Linux. The phone
calls would be never-ending. Currently Windows has its place for the
mainstream market, its slowly getting booted from the server market
which is good, that is not where it belongs with all its problems,
that's where Linux comes in. Linux is a great server. I love the
versatility and the power, but just like Windows is not right for
servers, Linux is still not right for most end-users.

Keep an open mind, open up to the possibilities! There are always light
and dark of all things.

-Patrick

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-kclug at marauder.illiana.net
[mailto:owner-kclug at marauder.illiana.net] On Behalf Of Jim Herrmann
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2003 12:41 AM
To: KCLUG
Subject: Never ceases to amaze

It never ceases to amaze me when I put in a new piece of hardware and 
boot linux.  At least, when I replace a piece of hardware.  No drivers 
to install, no hassle, no reboot two times to unistall the old hardware 
and twice more to install the new.  It's times like these that I really 
feel justified in tumbing my nose at the winblows die hards.  This is 
plug and play baby!

My CD-RW has been acting flakey for about a month now, and it was 
getting worse.  So, I went down to Best Buy and got one of those 
$20-after-rebate burners.  I came home, shutdown, took out my old one, 
stuck in my new one, booted up, fired up CD-bake oven, and burned an 
ISO.  No muss, no fuss.  Is this a great OS or what?!

BTW, if you go buy one of those $20 burners, be very careful on the 
rebate forms.  There are two of them, clearly designed to confuse, so 
that if you muck it up, you don't get your $50 bucks back.  Just a 
warning.  I was being very careful, and almost stuck the original UPC in

the wrong envelope.  Doh!  I caught it in time, but I was thinking how 
easy it would be for an ever so slightly less attentive person, myself 
included, to screw this one up.  I think I have it right now.  I should 
probably check one more time before I seal the envelopes.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my glow.  :-)

Peace,
Jim Herrmann