"Can't we all just ... get along?"
Posted on 05/18/2008 9:15:42 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
PCLinuxOS. Eight months solid use, and I have yet to do a command line.
Did you hear that? I HAVE NOT USED THE COMMAND LINE FOR ANYTHING. This is PCLinuxOS 2007 I'm talking about. Not Ubuntu, or Ubuntu, or Ubuntu. Linux does not = Ubuntu. PCLinuxOS 2007 is new-Linux-user friendly, easy to install new programs from the repository, easy to keep updated. The single hardest thing about ANY linux is learning all the stupid words, acronyms, program titles etc. that are used. I can install PCLinuxOS 2007 in 15 minutes and be ready to use it. XP takes an hour, nearly. Windows 2000 took me about NINE hours to download all the drivers, system updates, system updates round two, and round three.
PCLinuxOS is my desktop. It's ready for the average user. I sold a system to a complete computer newbie, put PCLOS upon it. He's good to go. Tell me more about "ease of use!"
Lucky you!
The e-mail client was OK but Safari was not Firefox, or even IE.
I prefer Safari, but Firefox is available for Mac.
Upgrading it to Leopard was fun but I didn't really get into it until I discovered I could get to the command interpreter. There's a real operating system in there!
Linux users can operate in a familiar environment with the Mac OS X Unix terminal. I use it all the time, but most users will never need to touch it.
Something I have been saying for many years. With the presence of cheap computing hardware (and also the virtualization software) it’s no longer either/or, but picking the right tool for the right job.
I can’t (easily) run Quicken on linux so I do so on Windows XP. At work there are a number of proprietary apps that run only on Windows. Software development, while possible in a Windows environment, is something that I have always done in unix/linux. Same goes for many of the server processes that I like to run in linux like apache, samba, sshd etc. High performance gaming is a mostly Windows phenomenon.
I don’t use Macs but obviously many swear by them. I bet movie editing on macs is superior to the other platforms.
There is no perfect platform, but there are many to choose from, and for a given tasks or set of tasks, there is probably one that makes the most sense.
It should be about getting stuff done, not about religious wars.
"Can't we all just ... get along?"
$ ./configure
$ make depend && make
$ sudo make install
No. Mainstream people do not want to go to a command line to compile and install stuff. We want to click on a happy little icon, hit next three or four times, then hit finished.
Your complaint is sort of a moot point. It seems that you decided to install an application using source code. Had you decided to do the same thing on a Windows box, you'd first have to buy and then install the compliers. Then you could install the app. There are many Linux apps that install just fine through the desktop, and all you need to do is select them, as well as selecting OK for any dependencies and supplying the password.
You've obviously never had to install a database application and configure the ODBC drivers under Windows.
Now I've been in the command line world. I know how to do it, I've done it before. There is no reason for it any longer with today's computers. Linux has GUI available, but still gotta go to the command line to install it or run it, then gotta go to the command line to install anything onto the GUI, then gotta go to the command line to remove anything, etc etc.
Until Linux gets away from requiring the command line it will never ever be mainstream.
Do you really think that you can manage a windows box, let alone a windows server, without using the command line?
Mark
Holy smokes, talk about outdated knowledge. Try again grandpa, this time with a distro released in the past couple of years. Programs are installed from depositories with package management apps these days. The last use for a command line I had was deleting a series of files from a directory because I was too lazy to ctrl-click them individually.
Sure, you might be able to find a program or two that isn't available in particular distro's repositories and is only available via source, but using them rules, I could find programs that are pains to install on other OS'. [shrug] Meanwhile, I haven't had to compile a program I wanted or needed in Linux in years. The repositories are usually well equipped, and prepared packages too common.
So no, that is not the uphill struggle an OS other than Windows faces. The obstacle is the existing infrastructure in the PC industry that installs Windows as a matter of course, simply due to Windows' momentum. Windows is what people used when they learned how to use a computer, so they expect it on a system they buy. Manufacturers would be foolish to disregard this fact of life. Modern day Linux has no steeper learning curve than Windows to new computer users, but the existing base that is used to Windows is formidable. MS knows this and that is why they are taking the competitive threat of Linux much more seriously in developing nations like China than they do here in the states.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Yes, the ISO OSI model. Now the ITU OSI model. Sorry, old school.
In all honesty I miss the days when 4341s ran DOS/VSE and were networked under SNA using VTAM (or TCAM if you prefer “OSI”). :o)
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