| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 05/29/2015 4:44:00 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Duplicate |
Posted on 05/29/2015 4:40:55 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Please remove
If price is an issue—and it typically is not—MS cannot compete with Linux no matter what price point they arrive at.
I use desktop Linux every day. It is pretty good, but I have to go to command line at least 10 times per year. As long as this is true, I suspect that Linux will not become mainstream. It also has to run Microsoft office pro without having to use some sort of Kluge to make it function. I would also like to see it run stand alone QuickBooks. I’m not really happy with the cloud version.
A typical claim that I've heard quite often, but not really seen backed up. Even the newest GPUs from nvidia are supported almost immediately by Linux.
I have a ten eyar old desktop running XP, would I have to do much to start using Linux? Would I have to get rid of XP? Does it support older versions of WordPerfect?
Thanks.
Personally, I avoid bleeding edge hardware, so your issue doesn't matter much, if at all, to me.
/johnny
There is NO “best” operating system, that’s why we have several major ones. If you point out that Linux dominates servers and the Internet, the fact remains that Windows continues to dominate the desktop with Mac OS X a distant second and Linux making nary a ripple. There is no more best OS than there is a best motor vehicle. Some do better with a dump truck, others with a sports car with a manual transmission.
Poorly written software for Linux can have memory leaks. There is a lot of poorly written software for Linux. We have to reboot Linux environments at my workplace regularly, not as often as Windows Servers, but far from bullet-proof. Same goes for Mac OS X, on which my six year old was able to perform hard freeze-ups just with Safari and LEGO.COM. (Solution: ban LEGO.COM, but it should be impossible to kill the machine from the browser.)
A LOT of hardware does not work with popular Linux distros. I doubt I would get full use out of my Fujitsu ScanSnap s300.
A LOT of software for Linux is second-tier. Libre Office word processing is not as featured as Microsoft Word, let alone Corel WordPerfect. There is no Linux substitute for FileMaker Pro. A lot of the best tools for Linux have been happily ported to Windows without loss of functionality. There is no useable Linux equivalent of Adobe InDesign.
Microsoft makes a LOT of developer tools, and many programmers find them superior for their work to offerings in the Linux world.
For home users, while the OS is a significant portion of the cost of of a store-bought computer system, it amortizes very nicely. Windows XP Pro bought in 2002 was good for over ten years. I have gotten six solid years out of Windows 7.
Points about security are well-taken, and if Microsoft ever tries to force an Adobe-style subscription model on the customers, there will be an opportunity for Apple and the Linux distro-makers to seize.
The best OS is the one that works for you.
Try running puppy linux on a thumb drive on it. You will be surprised at how easy it is and how well it works.
Hey, JRF, Glad to see you up early posting on FR today.
I said a prayer for you.
It has a quad-core ARM7 SoC at 1Ghz, 1Gb ram, GPU..etc
Microcenter has them in stock at 29.99 and 6 dollars shipping.
The operating system and storage is on a micro SD card. Extra storage can just be plugged into a USB port.
It's a very secure system as you can tweak everything to your liking and save an image of the uSD card... to set everything back exactly as it was just reload the image to the uSD or just have several uSD cards ready to plug in.
I have a version of Debian Linux running on my Pi, a wireless kbrd/mouse, USB WiFi dongle...
I just velcroed the thing onto the back of the HDMI TV :-)
bkmk
Wife got a new laptop with win 8.1. It is so bad, so hard to use she, a long time win PC and/or mac user, asked me to put linux on it. (Dual boot) Mint with KDE is far faster to boot and load programs. It took her just a few minutes of fooling around to figure out where stuff is. Mint is now her primary OS on the laptop. She still needs win for a couple of things, and she likes her mac and OS/X for the familiarity. .. But I think Linux is slowly winning her over.
Ubunto 14.10 is great.
So is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 running on an IBM Power 8. :-)
My brother-in-law is a corporate IT QA tester. He is a big Linux fan and runs it on his home PC. Whenever we visit them he & I will be talking various subjects and I’ll say, “go to this website” or “have you tried this?” Inevitably, he will reply, “oh, I’m having trouble with this driver” or some such excuse.
Nearly all of the small “tools” programs have been written for Windows (Android is gaining fast and anything to do with “the sophisticated set” is on OSx).
Linux just requires too much fidgeting. It reminds me of the days when you needed to tune up your car every 15k miles - Install new Cap & Rotor, new Points, set the Dwell, set the Timing (woe unto you with dual points distributors!), check the Plug wires, pull the Spark plugs, read the electrodes to see if you’ve been running the correct heat range for your driving style, etc, etc.
Nowadays it’s, “Oh, it’s been 100k miles, time for a new set of Platinum or Iridium plugs.”
Yes, I mutter curses at Microsoft as often as the next guy. But Linux would be like fumbling around learning a foreign language with 73 dialects and some aficionado telling me my problem is I’m speaking the wrong dialect.
Funny, I have been using Linux for years and never ran into that problem. I do have trouble with Flash on my Windows 7 laptop.
Based on this story, he either doesn't want to do what you want to do, doesn't spend much time on the computer at home or is incompetent. I have no formal training or coding ability, and can do everything I want to do using Linux. Spent last night doing DVD authoring using DeVeDe. Dude's probably sick of computer crap and just wants to drink a beer with you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.