Nate Duehr wrote: > While you may be very intelligent regarding CAD software, you sure > seem willing to attack people like myself who are only pointing out > alternatives that ARE Linux-related on a Linux mailing list, and then > claiming that *I* took the conversation off-topic? Wow. Quite bold > of you. i'm sorry nate, i wasn't singling you out for taking it off-topic... we all took it off-topic. thats why i replied to the list (i.e. speaking to everyone, myself included) and not in a personal response. > But... consider for a moment that the vast majority of the world > doesn't need nor use CAD software at all, and then re-read the > original poster's message within that context. then i (and many others on the list) could think up many other counterexamples to his claim that NOONE has ANY reason to use M$ software. for example, just off the top of my head: journals that require submissions in a particular word format which openoffice or abiword cannot produce, other professional fields of expertise which require specialised software, and many other smaller categories; how about packages for windows which help dyslexic people in their construction of essays? companies that already have a large investment in M$-trained staff, but are unable to find qualified UNIX sysadmins. companies using in-house software where the codebase has been stabilised over many years, only to be rewritten for a new OS. the list is endless... this thread was not meant to dwell on CAD software, it is merely pointing out that there are areas which GNU/Linux cannot address... yet. > Therefore your example is very poor, and his point is still quite > valid. If the majority of computer users typically use e-mail MTA's, > network file systems, mail servers, webservers, and not CAD software > daily, Linux/Unix excels at those items and is generally regarded as > much higher quality software -- then their choice of inferior > Microsoft products is wrong. but the original poster said there were NO reasons AT ALL to using M$; and a few of us have given counterexamples.. (i apologise for having the mathematician in me... but) that PROVES his statement is incorrect. now YOUR statement on the other hand, which is very different, that "the majority" of users don't need it, probably IS correct! but to most people the computer does what they need it to do, and thats all they want. they don't really care that there is another OS out there which is technically superior, and most people don't even have any documents on their computer which need high security clearance anyway. > Most just don't know they're even making a choice. how can it be a choice if they are not aware of it? they don't know there is one... and to be honest i don't think most would change, given the choice on a plate (in fact, i know many many people who just refuse to use GNU/Linux without even trying it, simply because their computer does what they want already). its a combination of laziness and fear of the unknown. most people already think computers are scary... and lets face it, it doesn't get more dumbed down than M$. > Nice try. The reality is that Microsoft's software is buggy, > security-hole-ridden, crap. Anyone forced to use it by a third-party > software vendor (AutoCAD) should be very very unhappy with that > vendor, and should be voicing it to that vendor -- not Microsoft. > Those of us who realize Microsoft software is of poor-quality have > already told Microsoft it's not worth purchasing -- by not purchasing > it. all too true. but they are getting better. i wouldn't know of course, having not used M$ for nearly 5 years now. > Maybe you can get AutoCAD to buy your copies of Windows to run their > software on, if they require it for their software to work? I doubt > it, but hey... it's worth a try over the bargaining table when you say > > you'd like to run their software on a good quality OS! it would be wonderful if ports for high end products in all fields existed (not just CAD, as that is only a small fraction of specialist software), but the reality is that there is just not enough people requesting such ports... and i don't even know if the requests ever even reach the development teams. plus, there isn't even a bargaining table in this game; we dont live in an age where the customer is always right anymore. i'm sorry if you took personal offence nate, that was not ever my intention, and reading over my postings, i still cannot see how you got so offended. thanks for the links though. cheers, Sam -- Free High School Science Texts http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/fhsst Sam's Homepages http://fommil.homeunix.org/~samuel http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/~samuel
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