Skip to comments.
Mr Linux basks in the limelight (WINDOWS BEWARE?)
BBC News ^
| October 5, 2002
| BBC News
Posted on 10/05/2002 3:22:29 AM PDT by MadIvan
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-67 next last
I use Windows on my PC, but I wouldn't run my web servers on anything else.
Regards, Ivan
1
posted on
10/05/2002 3:22:29 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: BigWaveBetty; JeanS; schmelvin; MJY1288; terilyn; Ryle; MozartLover; Teacup; rdb3; fivekid; ...
Bump!
2
posted on
10/05/2002 3:22:49 AM PDT
by
MadIvan
To: MadIvan
I use Linux for everything except games. Most the games I like are only available on Windows. I switched to linux when I got fed up with MSVC++ and MFC. It is much more pleasant developing applications on Linux. But, it took me several months to get good at using all the various development tools productively.
3
posted on
10/05/2002 3:28:34 AM PDT
by
Crispy
To: Crispy; All
How painful would it be to try and "operate" a home PC using Linux.
How would I operate a modem dial-up connection, for instance. Would my Netscape browser work? Would cut and paste still work?
Could I still use MS Word and Excel?
4
posted on
10/05/2002 3:48:13 AM PDT
by
snopercod
To: MadIvan
Not to give the Linux-Window$ debate more weight than it deserves...
I look at Window$ as the Dimocrats. As do the Dims, Redmond tells the sheeple what's good for them, what they can do, and even how they can use the software. (Read an M$ license agreement lately?)
Linux can be looked at as the Republicans. The power is in the hands of the user. You have complete control of your own system and you don't have to pay ever increasing license fess (read: taxes) for something that doesn't work the way it should.
With Linux, if something doesn't work right, someone fixes it or figures out a better way to get the job done. In Window$, they simply build on to the same bad design. (Sound like the way the Dims refuse to truly fix the public school system and refuse to try new ways to address the problem?)
The great OS debate isn't religious and shouldn't be political; although, we can learn some lessons from it. Just my 2 cents.
FMCDH
To: MadPenguin
Linux can be looked at as the Republicans. The power is in the hands of the user. You have complete control of your own system and you don't have to pay ever increasing license fess (read: taxes) for something that doesn't work the way it should.
Interesting statement. I think that most of the Linux developers work at government funded Universities, schools, etc. (Yes some are at IBM and other big companies).
I briefly considered the Gnu Public License for my sofware. Then I laughed myself silly and decided to make money instead. I'm a small business developing an app, and I'd like to sell it, instead of giving away the store with the GPL.
But I'm not religious/political about the Linux vs MS debate, they are two approaches for different environments..
Stan Kubrick
To: snopercod
It's not painful at all, depending on the distribution you buy and the system you have. I recently bought the Suse professional package for a cost of about $80. Their advertising states 30 minutes to a fully operating system. It took less then 20 minutes on mine.
The package has every kind of program you could want, but it does not run Microsoft products. I am finding that I don't need them because the software included handles everything I need to do and more. What's more, I set it up as a dual boot system, so I can start either Windows or Linux.
I believe I am well on the way toward never having to spend another dollar on MS products. While they are fine and dandy programs, I am tired of having to buy upgrades everytime I turn around.
7
posted on
10/05/2002 4:17:30 AM PDT
by
Brad C.
To: snopercod
You aked:
"How painful would it be to try and "operate" a home PC using Linux."
Not painful at all. Really. Everything is pretty much point and drool these days.
"How would I operate a modem dial-up connection, for instance. Would my Netscape browser work? Would cut and paste still work?"
Using a modem is as easy as clicking on an icon and hitting the "dial" button. The first time you will need to put in a phone number, but you'll be typing into a nice friendly graphical app.
Netscape absolutley works. In fact much of the development of the newer versions is done on linux.
Cut and paste work, but differently.
"Could I still use MS Word and Excel?"
Yes and no. You can run Word or Excel under Linux if you set up windows emulation. VMWare is excellent at this (it actually emulates a complete computer, not just windows), and many windows app will run under WINE.
On the other hand, there's no need to. I haven't touched Word or Excel for almost a year. OpenOffice does everything I need, and I trade files back and forth with Word users all the time. I also use it on my windows PC, not just my linux box.
I'd suggest getting a beginner friendly distribution, and if you have an older computer sitting around you don't use much, try it out. Mandrake is an excellent distro, very user friendly and will grow with you.
If you have a broadband connection you can download the entire distro (3 cds), or you can buy it for about $30 at CompUSA/MicroCentre/Best Buy/etc. For the price you get the CDs, a book, and technical support. If you don't want the book or support you can buy the CDs alone from CheapBytes online for $3.99.
If you use the KDE environment you might not realise you're not using windows.
8
posted on
10/05/2002 5:18:11 AM PDT
by
mykej
To: snopercod
Not painful. Dialing and using Netscape works flawlessly. You shouldn't use Word and Excel because there are free alternatives.
I dual-boot between Windows2K and Linux.
9
posted on
10/05/2002 5:22:23 AM PDT
by
AppyPappy
To: snopercod
Many people are using "free copies" of Windows products. That will change soon as MS becomes able to verify ownership.
To: Crispy
The requirements of one's applications dictate everything.
I'm a military software engineer. Just now, I'm trying to design a simulation lab, whose various pieces will run on an array of rack-mounted and single-board computers. After reviewing the options, I chose to use Red Hat Linux as the OS for both the development and target computers, because I like Linux performance and the Unix programming environment.
My wife is a consulting financial planner. Her little network of computers runs Windows 2000, because the applications she needs are all Windows programs, so nothing else would make sense.
There's little virtue in deciding on an environment on any other basis. Software doesn't respond to loyalty or worship.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
To: MadIvan
"I've tried to stay out of the Microsoft debate. If you start doing things because you hate others and want to screw them over the end result is bad," he said. That's what I call a class guy. Some of the anti-MS crowd could take a lesson.
12
posted on
10/05/2002 5:50:20 AM PDT
by
Glenn
To: mykej; AppyPappy
Thanks. I may try it. I'm just so sick of my Win95 just crashing for no reason in the middle of something.
Getting Tired of Others Carrying Your Water?
To: MadIvan
Personally, Linux is great for a server operating system (where ease of use and easy configurability are not major issues) but terrible at a desktop operating system.
Linux won't be easy to use until 1) they standardize on a single user interface (no more KDE vs. Gnome) and the OS gets Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) automated configuration support.
To: MadIvan
I'm in the early stages of implementing some linux where I work to replace some Netware servers. I've got a mixed environment of Netware, OS/400, AIX and Windows in all of its variants. So far our small tests have worked out well for us and I am looking forward to using it more. I think we'll save money by dumping the Netware and by converting what desktops I can to linux.
16
posted on
10/05/2002 6:43:51 AM PDT
by
Salo
To: mykej
Is there a reasonably priced Linux HTML/web authoring tool equivalent to (hopefully better than) Front Page?
To: Glenn
That's what I call a class guy. Some of the anti-MS crowd could take a lesson.Some of the pro-MS crowd could take that same lesson. Let's face it, when it comes to obnoxious name-calling, bush2000 is in a lack-of-class by himself. Even when he's right, you end up not wanting to agree with him because of his "Apple users are homosexuals" and "linux users are all communists" postings.
18
posted on
10/05/2002 7:00:36 AM PDT
by
Salo
To: Fresh Wind
Honesty I can't think of a good gui html editor off the top of my head (which certainly doesn't mean they don't exist).
Bluefish is a decent html editor, but you work in the source code.
OpenOffice will save files as html (like MS Word will) but doesn't have the site management tools.
I use XEmacs, but I'm a geek. Half of my html source is actually perl, so I don't expect any editor to handle what I do.
I'll dig around and see what I can find.
19
posted on
10/05/2002 7:09:10 AM PDT
by
mykej
To: snopercod
"How painful would it be to try and "operate" a home PC using Linux.How would I operate a modem dial-up connection, for instance. Would my Netscape browser work? Would cut and paste still work? Could I still use MS Word and Excel?"
If you have to ask these questions, you definitely do not want to attempt using Linux as your primary operating system.
20
posted on
10/05/2002 7:32:50 AM PDT
by
joebuck
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-67 next last
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.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson