Re: Why?!

[<tko@westgac3.dragon.com>]

Charles Collicutt writes:
[snip]
> I'm going to wait a bit longer before I make up my mind, but the
> temptation to let the Winborg empire assimilate me is getting stronger -
> which is a shame because you guys are a hell of a lot nicer than your

Thanks for the kudos.

> average Windows luser :) If anyone can think of an excellent way to save
> my soul please let me know...

Each OS has it's purposes/advantages/advocates/detractors. I'm sure that
you've read all the various replies. 

Let me relate my experiences to you and perhaps you can do your soul-searching
and make an intellegent decision.

I switched to Linux in Jan 1995. This time frame precedes Win95, thus the only
thing available was Win3.1/Dos. I came from a background of an industrial
proprietary OS (OS9). OS9 suffers from the same problem as MS products. It's
closed and propriety. Linux was in a state of developer's apps and a _few_
home style apps. Both Win95 and Linux have grown in available apps since that
point in time.

My wife uses Win95, I use Linux. She gets so mad at me because her system
keeps having problems and mine keeps on trucking. One of the hidden problems
inherent in Win95 is the interaction of Win95 apps with each other. I believe
that since developer A is working on his product and developer B -his own -
AND since they can't talk to each other, Product A can fight product B (and
visa-versa). I've seen this sort of crap first hand on my wife's system.

Contrast that with Linux and Open Source apps. Everyone talks and shares
source code. This interaction of developers and users minimizes/eliminates
conflicts between apps.

You say that you'd like to see more games (I assume in the caliber of Quake)
on Linux and that you are considering a career in game programming. I ask why
not Linux? Consider Quake - it's source is still hidden, but the binaries are
distributed. No reason that you couldn't develop games using Linux as the base
platform and port to Win95. I'd guess that the Win95 version would be much
more stable/bug-free than using MS development tools (considering the
stability of Linux).

-- 
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Thomas Kocourek  KD4CIK 
@_@tko@westgac3.dragon.com Remove @_@ for correct Email address
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