Re: A rookie's query: Want to about Debian and the related
Den 07. des. 2013 18:00, skrev Joe:
I don't want to have to read through pages of legal garbage, and
scrutinise every default-set tick-box to avoid having spyware, adware
and other stuff sneaked into my computer, or unwanted add-ins and
toolbars poured into my web browser.
The reason why most people don't have Linux-distros on their home box is
because no-one is forcing people to use it. Linux-distros are
decentralized projects with no intention of making any money and
therefore no need to make people using it. Geeks, like me, often ends up
with Linux because they want to be the computers boss, not the computers
slave.
I feel for adding a few things about user-friendlyness.
Debian does not come with any centralized registry which helps all this
trash Joe talks about to hide away. Windows puts preferences of
installed programs, Windows itself, information about file types,
hardware +++ into this registry file which just grows and grows every
week making your box slower and slower, ultimatly forcing you to
re-install everything. This registry is the root of all evil on Windows,
let me compare Microsofts solutions using the registry with Debians methods.
In Debian, there's in very few cases any need to install or configure
any hardware drivers, everything is fixed for you automagically every
boot. You can take a hard drive with Debian out from one box and move it
to another box with different hardware, and it'll just auto-detect
everything when you boot it. That's user friendly.
Windows would have needed to 'install' loads of drivers (install ==
putting more garbage into the registry) on the first boot, you would
need to download loads of drivers for graphics, sound etc. (more
registry pollution) and then you would need to buy another licence
because Gates detects that the hardware is different.
Every program in Debian is itself responsible for storing it's own
settings, usually in the per-user home directories (Firefox puts stuff
in /home/xxx/.mozilla for instance). If you want to delete the Firefox
settings, just delete the folder. In Windows, you have no easy way to
remove a programs preferences.
A Debian package is mostly just an archive with some files in it. When a
package is installed, the files are copied to the file system. If the
program needs to start on boot, like a server, it puts startup scripts
into dedicated directories. Some programs also have configuration files,
usually located in /etc/. When the package is removed, the files are
deleted.
When you install or uninstall a program on Windows, you have no
guarantee that the people who made the software have writes their
uninstall code properly. Many programs leaves loads of stuff behind
(registry trash) when uninstalled.
Debian provides a set of high quality packages which properly cleans up
after themselves on uninstall.
Atle.
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