Re: Back to Windows??
Bud,
In your answer you are drifting away from what it is really about. Jan's
point is that, and I agree fully with that, it is virtually impossible to
configure and tune a Linux machine for a (relative) newbie. The fact that
Microsoft has a dominant position, other installation techniques and a clear
commercial goal is another subject i.m.o. , maybe also worthwhile to discuss
but not in this thread.
I have the same bitter experience as Jan has: a printer that does not work,
a tape streamer that does not work, no way to get an ADSL modem running
a.s.o. Many of the responses to posters of the sort of messages like Jan's
mention issues like "recompile this or that", "check the order of this and
that", "be sure that xxx is loaded before yyy" and other "advice" like that,
which in practice screws up the machine even further. That's the way it goes
with Linux, just be objective and read the mail archives .....
In my case I got frustated beause I had a relatively simple goal when I
tried to install my machine:
- A firewall
- A webserver with an application server, in Java
- A data base
- A facility to save the database contents
That's just it. I don't want to hack in kernels, I don't want to invent new
spooling systems, I don't want to be a whizzkid, I just want an application
server on the Internet. I not in the anti-Microsoft lobby, I'm not in the
pro-Microsoft lobby , I just want a simple machine ruuning simple tasks in a
reliable way.
Hans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bud Rogers" <budr@sirinet.net>
To: "'Debian-Laptop (E-mail)" <debian-laptop@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2001 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: Back to Windows??
> On Saturday 17 February 2001 10:13, Jan van Veldhuizen wrote:
>
> > Why am I pegging away with Linux? If I start the Windows Setup right
> > now, my system will work completely in less than 1 hour....
>
> > I'm feeling 20 years in the past, when configuring all peripheral
> > hardware was a specialist's job...
> > Or have I become dull by Microsoft's Plug'n Play.....
>
> Hi Jan,
>
> I think you will get some flames for this, but these are valid
> questions. Always you have choices and almost always the choices
> involve a tradeoff.
>
> You can pay Microsoft to do all that hard work for you. Microsoft
> tries very hard to make it easy for you to choose the Microsoft answer.
> You pay Microsoft money, Microsoft makes it easy for you. As long as
> you choose the Microsoft way.
>
> You can accept the gift of labor and love of thousands of unpaid
> volunteers that have made Linux possible. They offer you not the easy
> answer, but freedom. They give you many choices. They do not promise
> it will be easy.
>
> Microsoft says, "Here is a black box that is easy to use. Do not look
> inside." The Linux community says, "Here is a box full of craftsman's
> tools. Learn to use the tools and you can do anything you want."
>
> Only you can decide which is the right choice for you.
>
> --
> Bud Rogers <budr@sirinet.net> http://www.sirinet.net/~budr/zamm.html
> All things in moderation. And not too much moderation either.
>
>
> --
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