Mainstream . . . (LONG)

[Tony Hammitt]

This is getting  little silly.  Linux is a perfectly good desktop.
Having more options is not a bad thing, it doesn't make the system
harder to use, it just lowers the percieved value of learning all
about a particular GUI, knowing that there are other things readily
available.  Oh darn.

If one wants to bot up a friendly interface, stick to the default
look and feel, use a certain subset of applications and behave like
there is nothing else available, they can do so with Windows, MacOS,
Linux or any other OS with any kind of user interface.

I think that average people were perfectly happy with text interfaces
as long as they could get their work done.  If a GUI lets a different
class of people get a different kind of work done, great.  It does
not all of the sudden make the text interfaces people were used to
inoperable, just archaic.  They have to make the choice of whether
they will get anything out of a new interface.  If so, I'm sure that
they switched, if not, well then I'd expect that they're still using
text interfaces.

This is the same argument.  Does the availability of more
applications (in Windows) hold more attraction for you than the fact
that the applications for Linux are free?  Then stay with Windows.
If you are more interested in being able to configure everything just
the way you want it, use Linux.  If you just want an MP3 player that
doesn't skip, use Linux.

I just recently installed Apache, MySQL and PHP4 on this Windows
box.  It sucks, the performance is awful.  If you can put up with
that, fine.   It only required an hour and a reboot.  On Linux it
required a couple of minutes and no reboot and the performance is
outstanding.

It's a damned shame what you have to give up to use Linux.  Reboots,
speed, stability, expensive applications, single cruddy user
interface, having to be sitting at the computer to use it's apps.

I know that when I go home to use my Linux boxes I'll miss all that.

     Tony

----- Original Message -----
From: mike neuliep <mike at illiana.net>
To: <bradmiller at dslonramp.com>; <kclug at kclug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: Mainstream . . . (LONG)

> OK, just had to have my two cents worth in here.  Linux will be
mainstream, but
> only in the server and appliance / single-use machine type applications.
> Linux is especially mainstream in networking appliances.  Linux makes a
great
> developer's desktop, but for the average user, they're hooked on M$.  It's
like
> a bad drug.
>
> Rule of thumb:  The more configurable your OS and apps are, the more
difficult
> it is to use to it's extent.  This explains holds true for win32 vs linux.
>
> Mike
>