Why Linux will Never Beat Windows!!!

[thephoton]

The user has to read too much crap on how to do anything and the crap is filled with to much crap on how to nothing regarding getting it to work. Yes, read this 100 page HOW-TO that references these other 50 HOW-TO's, which you must read, but never really tells you HOW-TO do anything.

Windows will install and work with most things right out of the box. DOS was better than linux at working out of the box.

Linux maybe free and open, but unless you have never ending weekends or endless time off to read and test every possibility, you will never get through it all or ever find a solution.

Linux never has s simple step by step solution to anything.

And, you wonder why it has no market share and companies like M$ could careless what happens in the world of Linux?

[dnar]

Windows will install and work with most things right out of the box. DOS was better than linux at working out of the box.

And my skateboard didnt need half the maintenance this damn car does...

[1yippy1]

The user has to read too much crap on how to do anything and the crap is filled with to much crap on how to nothing regarding getting it to work. Yes, read this 100 page HOW-TO that references these other 50 HOW-TO's, which you must read, but never really tells you HOW-TO do anything.

Windows will install and work with most things right out of the box. DOS was better than linux at working out of the box.

Linux maybe free and open, but unless you have never ending weekends or endless time off to read and test every possibility, you will never get through it all or ever find a solution.

Linux never has s simple step by step solution to anything.

And, you wonder why it has no market share and companies like M$ could careless what happens in the world of Linux?

Why don't you stick with windows and abuse their forums!

[Shakes]

I was gonna quote each of the original posts sentences with a retort, but something tells me it would be a waste of my time.

[1yippy1]

And, you wonder why it has no market share and companies like M$ could careless what happens in the world of Linux?

Why does m$ have a linux lab if they couldn't care less???

[DaveW]

Ah... simple minds. Someone has obviously been brainwashed and is dumbfounded by the Linux success of late. Must be all those new m$ ads for WinXP on tv...m$ must have alot of extra "old" copies in a warehouse somewhere they need to sell.

[pparks1]

thephoton,

I guess it all depends upon what you are looking for. If you are looking for something that is very easy to use and doesn't require a fair amount of computer know-how, Windows is probably the best place for you.

However, if you want to run an extremely stable server (web, ftp, mail, dns, dhcp, nfs,), with a high level of security and customizability, Linux is fantastic.

As far as simple step by step solutions, I think you can find many of these on www.fedoranews.org. There is so much in terms of software, versions and distributions that it can be hard to find a set of instructions that work for everything. However, if you take the time to learn the OS and how it runs, you will find that many things are very common and once you know how to do it, the power of Linux unfolds right in front of your eyes.

For system admins, the ability to use tools like grep and awk and priceless. And by default, Windows doesn't really have anything right out of the box for that.

In addition, in the Windows world, most of the software that is any good has to be purchased. In Linux, a great deal of software is open source and free of charge. Here are some examples, IIS for Windows(webserver and ftp server)---not free, requires license for OS. In Linux world, Apache (web) and vsftpd (ftp), both very good, both heavily used on the web, both free. In windows, primary database platform is MSSQL. Certainly not free. In Linux world, postgres or mySQL---both very robust and both free. In windows world, Adobe Photoshop---quite pricey. PaintShopPro---not as pricey, but still with cost. IN Linux world, GIMP ----extremely powerful, robust and free.

So, my point.....Linux is NOT for everybody. However, it is a great, stable and secure system for those who want to take the time and explore the possibilities.

[pparks1]

Thephoton,

Out of curiosity, what are you trying to do that you find so difficult?

Also, how much time have you spent playing around with Linux, what books have you read?

[imdeemvp]

Windows will install and work with most things right out of the box. DOS was better than linux at working out of the box.

That is not a 100% true statement. You are ignoring hardware and software issues that PRODUCE the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH !!!

1. Use the wrong or generic ram and window will hang too

2. Install hotfixes and your system stops working normally

3. Use IE and you have a gateway for spyware and virus

4. Upgrade from Win ME and your some of your hardware is not supported in XP

5. I can go on...and on....blah....blah....blah

6. Bottom line is VENDORS have to create drivers for hardware to work in linux BUT there is monopoly from M$.

So when it comes to security WINDOWS WILL NEVER BEAT LINUX !!

[jaebird]

When it comes to spyware and viruses linux will never beat windows!!

[suitepotato]

I actually totally understand the sentiment, and agree that he is totally right.

Just because I am a techie sort and have been twiddling bits since I was a kid and find technology easy to understand and all sorts of things others find complicated I see as easy does not mean that others do or even a majority. In fact, people who can comprehend every bit of installing, maintaining, administering, and using Linux on a daily basis are in the minority.

Those who don't believe so obviously are either not from a desktop software support background or are smoking crack. When people literally ask where the "any key" is, when they actually use a cd-rom tray as a cup holder and squish hot coffee into their drive, when they cannot even find the Start button on the Windows desktop, what makes any of you Linux boosters think for two seconds that these people are going to go for Linux and make it work easier?

At its easiest, Linux is for the average user's needs and software line-up going to be about like DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 was. Hard, full of text-based configuration, endless searching through help files (if anyone bothered to write them, FOSS geeks specifically and Unix geeks in general are the worst writers of technical documentation that ever were sad to say), never exactly as the helpful people said it would be, and prone to being aggravating enough to make you give up before you make it work the way it works, never mind the fantasy you held in your head of how it should.

Windows XP and apps written for it are point, click, it works. If the average user can't grok that simplicity, then Linux is not going to take over anything. I know, I've watched corporations flush millions trying to make OS/2 work on the desktop and as nasty as that was, it was still easier than any distro of Linux.

Not to mention that end users are as venal as the geeks whose idiot attitude is, "well, it's free so there's no support". They know very well that the rule that "you get what you pay for" is fully in force and they'd prefer to pay someone so they can then yell when it doesn't work right and demand bug fixes now, not whenever some working group of disconnected nerds with no real financial stake in it get around to it. DEBIAN RELEASE CYCLES ANYONE? If I was running a business on ANY Debian-based Linux, I'd consider John Shooter's words to Mort Raney about a crazy man not having any reason for living.

That being said, I have multiboot Win/FC3 boxes running at home awaiting FC4. I've supported DOS, Win3.x, DOS 5&6, OS/2 2.1&Warp 3, etc. never mind Windows 95/98/ME/NT3.51&4/2K/XP. I will be supporting Linux no doubt within a year given the way my telecom support customer base is going.

Not a Windows weasel with zero tech knowledge here. I just have zero belief that a user base that can barely make a digital cable DVR record a program by selecting it on the guide and pressing the big red record button and still can't make their VCRs stop flashing 12:00 is going to adopt an OS that is the progeny of something that many long time Unix admins fervently wished for the death of for years before Linus was old enough to crawl. Windows XP and apps that run on it tend to be easy. Linux isn't. Just try and talk a newbie who can't install AOL 9.0 on Windows by themselves through modifying yum.conf with Vi. Or even FIND yum.conf in the first place.

"What's with this use of forward slashes everywhere like I'm on a web site?"

[pparks1]

I think the biggest problem is a misconception with Linux. So many people hear how great Linux is, but they don't actually have a use for it themselves. So, they aimlessly download something and load it up hoping to have something that works just like Windows. Then they find out that it isn't the same and that they do not know what they are doing. Then, they find a forum like this and just badmouth Linux.

I have spent a fair amount of time helping newbies and I honestly wonder sometimes why these guys are even trying to use LInux. They clearly have heard somebody say how cool it is, or how well it works, or "down with Microsoft, they are an evil monopoly"

For the people out there who need something that is a stable and inexpensive alternative to Windows, Linux is a great choice. For the developer, Linux is wonderful because the source is available, the software follows standards and the system can be customized EXACTLY how you like it.

For the average home user who doesn't get heavily into computers, Linux isn't for them. I think most of us hardcore LInux users would agree that Linux won't be the defacto standard on desktops anytime soon.

[pparks1]

Wow, I forgot a major software package in my list above.

Office Produtivity suites
-----Windows world. Microsoft Office ($300-500). Requires additional software to save files as PDF's
-----Linux world. OpenOffice.org ($0). Saves files as PDF's with no additional software, reads/writes all MS Office files.

[the_profiler]

I have spent a fair amount of time helping newbies and I honestly wonder sometimes why these guys are even trying to use LInux. They clearly have heard somebody say how cool it is, or how well it works, or "down with Microsoft, they are an evil monopoly"

i forgot where I had read the idea that there are 2 kinds of linux promotion.. one saying that.. "wow, Linux is cool" (nothing more said).. and the other.. "wow, Linux is cool! I don't think I can ever live without it!" which obviously is a very different but more effective way of promoting it.

[cnarramoore]

I haven't used Linux that long myself. I started playing with Mandrake 8 (I think) when I bought the XP upgrade. Didn't have much luck with it and then someone told me to try Redhat. RH9 was just out so I ordered the box set with all the manuals. I messed around with it and could do something things on it but nothing that really amounted to much. When I decided to go back to school I knew I would have to learn Linux enough for the 2 classes on had on it. The network teacher had downloaded FC2 and he said if we brought cds he would make us all a copy. Talk about everything seeming easier.

It must have been a combonation of the grand scheme of things and knowledge that leaked in but I could acutally do somethings on it. Still couldn't install programs worth a flip but it was a start. Fast forward a few months to Books-a-Million browsing session and I bought Fedora Unleashed complete with DVD. Now I can do almost everything I do on windows with Linux. I still stumble and ask stupid questions but I am getting there.

Seems the answers to the stupid questions lead to figuring out the harder stuff on your own easier.

Linux isn't for everyone. My mom cant use Windows XP for nothing, but my sister can surf the web with Linux if I show her where to click.

Linux has its place and Windows has it place. I don't look for Linux to beat Windows any time soon just because Linux was written for geeks by geeks and Windows was written for people who just want email, look at porn or shop of eBay.