Re: Linux vs. Windows
Posted by Amaranth Rose on Jan 31, 2004 at 04:28
(65.172.150.222)Re: Linux vs. Windows (Kelly)
I loved Cringely's column. NIce link. Way cool.
["Being fixed by random coders doesn't detract from the trustworthiness of the software. It just detracts from having a black and white list of people to blame if something goes wrong."
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And from having someone to go to for help. Most companies aren't comfortable with the idea that you just "post the problem" and somebody will fix it. I know that usually works but it's too uncertain]Have you never heard of "random access", as in "random access memory"? Random access can be very, very fast and very, very efficient. The more "random access memory" a computer has the more scaldingly fast it runs. Do you suppose there's a reason for that?
The most certain thing in the universe is uncertainty; the universe runs on it. Chaos is the natural order of things. People in boxes looking at little screens hunting virii and fixing them are no more efficient or effective than people facing screens in their homes, factories, condos, tents, and RV's. Chaos is all around you. You are the result of chaos. Learn to live with it, you'll be happier and feel better. Embrace uncertainty and chaos, and you can learn to embrace the Dao.One of the fellows in the credits is a nephew of mine. I'm right proud of him.
[["That's not how OSS coders think. They don't care about money. They care about the community."
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We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I'm more cynical about human nature.]]Have to agree with the kid on this one. YOu may find it hard to believe, but, there are some persons in the new generation who care, passionately, for the community and the code and the process, and for whom money is not the holy grail it is for their parents and others. Honest. I know them personally. They're out there. They exist.
[[[The biggest problem Linux faces isn't bad press -- it's no press.]]]
Ah, yup, have to agree with you there. FYI, incidentally, Spain (the country) has been using a version of Linux called "Extremadura" Linux, or "Linex" for all its governmental purposes for some time. They developed it in the Extremadura Province, home of no less than "Don Qixote de la Mancha, it has some uniquely Spanish details (there's a whole set of icons based on Spanish wildlife and endangered animals, for example). The impetus for this? Windows from the gates of Gates was simply too expensive; the licensure agreement for the renewal they would have had to do would have taken a significant bite out of their GNP. We're talking every office from the lowliest province and county to the hallowed halls of Madrid, now. NO small piece of pie. M$ priced itself right out of reach of many third-world countries with its ritzy, glitzy licensing agreements, and the result has been a great interest in Linux and other free OS's in that sector of the global economy.
BTW, you can get a C++ compiler with a book on C++ for home-learning at Barnes and Noble for around $US 70.00 I don't know how good it is, but they sell them.