On Mon, Nov 06, 2006 at 12:33:40PM -0700, Nate Duehr wrote: > David A. wrote: > > > I don't think it's just Debian's morale that's low -- the "hype" > surrounding Linux overall is down, the real world problems of operating > Linux in business have cooled the general hub-bub about Linux and > desktop users are finding that an OS that's built to "just work" suits > most people's needs better than an OS or desktop that you have to hack > on to get it to do what you want. I think that you're right the general linux hype is down a bit. Part of that stems from its growing popularity -- I actually run into people who know what it is and aren't that fased by me mentioning that I use it for all my computing. That sort of takes the geek-cred fun out of it... i have to differ with you on the "just works" thing. The reason windows (and to some extent I suppose, Mac) "just works" is because it is what people have come to expect. In the window world something usually either just works or can't be done and so it is outside of peoples understanding of what a computer can do. A great example is the simple scripting thread thats running parallel to this. A windows user would "generally" be stuck with two options: 1) try to use the search and replace functions, or scripting, in their word processor suite to solve the problem, or 2) do it manually. A lot of these folks don't realise that in the linux world there are so many tools to do so many different jobs that we can have an on-going thread discussing the various ways to parse a file for certain words. This job is essnetially undoable in windows unless one goes out and finds the right combination of stuff for purchase or wades through the myriad freeware/shareware sites trying to find the right stuff. In our world we've got bash, gnu utils, sed, awk, perl, python etc most likely already installed on our machines and we can hack the thing together in a heartbeat. I know that particular task doesn't really seem like a desktop task, but in my world, I come across all sorts of little tasks that are better done on a computer than manually and the tools available in linux make it EASY. What this means, to me, is that for many things linux DOES just work, it just requires a different mindset to see how it does. People who aren't used to it, don't have that mindset, just don't see it. and of course, the fact that we CAN hack on it to get it to do what we want is vastly superior to accepting what it does as the way it is and living with it. but that's preaching to the choir no doubt ;-) > > Even mutltiple millions of dollars thrown at the problem (Mark > Shuttleworth/Ubuntu) still hasn't really addressed the underlying > hardware/driver support issues from manufacturers, and the other > licensing problems inherent in the system. I agree that the hardware support is a problem, but i think its getting better and gaining momentum. And, I don't really think its an issue anymore onmost commodity hardware. ymmv. [snip]> > But the Linux "desktop" is still quite a joke, really -- compared with > the benefits companies have from sticking to Windows environments or > even Macs. I don't know. it depends on what you do i guess. > > I love my Linux machines and all their "fun" desktop options, but the > damn things just aren't even close to the standardization and usability > of the commercially available alternatives, really. To a certain extent I think you're right, but I personally don't like the cookie-cutter situation, where if you don't fit in the cookie-cutter, it cuts off the extra parts to make you fit :( [more snippage] > In the end: None of the attitude matters. > > Either the computer does what you need it to do or it doesn't with a > particular software package loaded, or it doesn't. It's a machine. you are totally right. A
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