Mainstream . . . (LONG)

[Dave Parker]

I've had problems similar to those you've described on every OS
I've ever used except for MVS and its derivatives and MAC OS, from
DOS 3.2 through NT4.0 and Win98 and ISC SVR3.2 UNIX and linux kernel
version .9x.  The smoothest and most pain-free installations and 
configurations have been linux systems on familiar hardware.  Older 
hardware often gives me fits, and at various points of attempted 
installs I've had to decide if a 'free' NIC or HD that was laying 
around was worth my time to try and get it to work under linux.  
Yes, it'll probably work under DOS or windows, but that's the OS 
it was originally designed for.  Hardware is a commodity, expertise
(in any OS/architecture) is not.  I sometimes have weak moments 
where I wish I'd gone the MCSE route, because then I'd have all 
the work (and MORE!) I could handle, because the various MS 
products are such moving targets (planned obsolescence) and 
generally buggy and fragile that those guys never seem to run 
out of crises.  The linux/UNIX boxes I've installed, on the other 
hand, just run.  The hardware sometimes breaks, people sometimes
mess things up, but they just run and run.  Yes, getting things
installed and configured correctly at the start is sometimes a
problem, but given the choice of a OSes on properly installed and
configured system on good, solid, reliable hardware, I'd chose
linux over just about anything else.  Which is not the same thing
as saying I've never cursed UNIX/linux at 1:30 or 2am when the third
or fourth reinstall STILL wasn't right...

Bradley Miller wrote:
> 
> The real reason Linux will never be mainstream . . .
> 
> BECAUSE NOBODY CAN AFFORD TO SUPPORT IT!
-- 
Dave Parker/DLP, Inc.    dlparker at dlpinc.com    www.dlpinc.com