8/7 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/08/02/BUSINESS13169.dtl
\_ ausman's quoted!
\_ umm doesn't he know the author of that articla (reb eisenberg)
personally? This is more of a logrolling thing than anything,
and eisenberg's articles are usually pretty fatuous. But atleast
she actually _quotes_ a human being in this one...
\_ Linux maybe easy to install for soda geeks, but not for
casual users. The learning curve of Linux is too steep
for casual users. Why would my grandma want to know about
file permissions and how to recompile the kernel when a
new device is installed? I'd like to see an alternative to
M$, but Linux at current stage just wont do it in the
ease of use department.
\_ The Linux OS is actually much simpler than the Win95 OS. It's
overall structure may be somewhat difficult to understand at
first but when you compare it to Windows 95 it's really not
bad. The one thing that Linux lacks is a fully developed front
end so doing any kind of configuration requires a geek brain.
Windows, on the other hand, has such a fully developed front
end that it covers up the horrible complexity of the OS.
\_ The point made at the forum (yes I was there) was that most
Windows users have *never* installed the OS... It came
preinstalled on their machines. I installed RedHat 5.1 recently
and it was so simple my iguana could do it. As for drivers,
hello, Linux lets you compile things as modules that can be
inserted into the kernel and removed at run time with no
trouble. I'm sure it won't be long before RedHat automates
getting and compiling new driver modules as root a reality...
It's pretty likely that people will never have to be root on
their own systems unless they want to be. -mogul
\_ My grandmother has conceptual difficulty with the concept
that moving the mouse causes the virtual pointer on the
screen to move. What seems obvious to you, is not so to the
average user. Kernel? Drivers? Modules? Compile? Root?
Explain *that* to my grandmother. Good luck in Linuxland.
Until you've got a Linux system my grandmother can deal with
Linux won't be any sort of serious home market competition.
\_ Hey motherfucker, *my* grandmother was Admiral Grace
Murray Hopper's secret lesbian lover on-and-off throughout
the 1950s. *She* invented COBOL, and that bitch Hopper
stole it from her and took all the credit. She got a
UNIVAC running with a soldering iron and a bootstrap
paper tape (punched by hand, with a pencil, guessing
where the holes should be) just in time for it to predict
that Eisenhower would win the Presidential election on
national TV. *My* grandmother *laughs* at Windows, saying
that it's only fit for people who drool on themselves.
JUST BECAUSE YOUR GRANDMOTHER IS "SPECIAL", DON'T EXPECT
THAT EVERY OTHER SINGLE DAMN ELDERLY PERSON IN AMERICA IS
TECHNICAL IMBECILE. THANK YOU.
A TECHNICAL IMBECILE. THANK YOU.
\_ Yep, exactly. A univac and soldering iron is just as
far from real people as linux. Thanks for helping to
make my point.
\_ STUPID SERIES OF BRAINLESS FLAMES DELETED
\_ My grandmother was scared of the point-and-shoot camera
we gave her for Christmas (total controls: on/off switch,
"take picture" button) and wanted us to take it back
because she was afraid she'd never be able to learn how to
use it. Obviously, she'll never become a Windows user,
either -- therefore, Windows can never succeed in the
commercial marketplace! QED. Using "my grandmother can't
\_ Your grandmother is a bonehead. What more is there?
The world will be a better place when the old bag is
dead and the rest of us can move on without her.
don't have the time to wait for hackers to write the
do this" is a boneheaded metric.
\_ STUPID BRAINLESS FLAME DELETED
\_ Hmmm...does an average user know what "compiling a new driver"
is? My sister has no concept of a hard disk, memory or cpu.
Some of my co-workers (who are EE) think hard disk and memory
are the same thing and use those terms interchangeably.
\_ I've had to deal with the RAM/HD thing before too. After
10 minutes of careful explanation, they still didn't get
it. Let's get real here, folks, the vast majority of
people don't think Windows is easy. Forget any sort of
unix until it's as easy, or easier to install,use,
configure, upgrade, patch, etc, as windows is today.
\_ For what it's worth I think that anyone who likes
computers (as opposed to just tolerating them) can
install and run Linux successfully. By the way, I
know a lot of grandfathers who have had no trouble
installing Linux. Many grandfathers are in their
\_ Keep the discrimination bullshit off the motd. I
know you're inundated with that crap at Cal everyday
but seriously, it has no place outside your save
the whales sociology classes.
the whales sociology classes. The typical grand
father outside a trailer park is in his 60s or
older. Unlike your grandfather he didn't impregnate
his own daughter to produce his own son/grandson.
\_ Fuck off, anonymous asshole. --dim
\_ oooh, aaah, your sharp wit has cut me to
the bone! oh help me! help help! Your
genetic "purity" is showing through.
\_ Fuck off, anonymous asshole. --dim
\_ Fuck off, you purified asshole.
40's (although I know some in their 60's running
Linux). Why discriminate based on age? --dim
\_ stupid series of brainless flames deleted.
\_ Take a look at redhat 5.1. If you can't install that, you
probably can't program your VCR's clock either. -jor
Why are we still talking about Sunday's paper, anyway?
\_ I can't program my VCR's clock but I can program in 5 major
languages, multiple OS experience, write client/server apps,
etc, etc. What's your point? My computer isn't a VCR.
\_ It would be nice if other hardware vendors would support it.
Device drivers are typically 6 months behind.
\_ What for? Hackers can just deal or write their own drivers
and it's too hard for the home market.
\_ First of all, I am not a hacker. Secondly, I
don't the time to wait for hackers to write the
drivers. Thirdly, it's to time consuming to search
for drivers that hackers wrote.
\_ Yes, and why should the companies waste their
time writing drivers for all 6 of their linux
customers when they could make some real money
from their potentially millions of windows
customers? You have 3 choices: 1)use windows,
2)write your own drivers, 3)just deal with the
fact that you're not using a consumer level OS
and all that goes with it. It's a pure fantasy
to think linux will get new drivers at the same
rate as windows users. Who gives a flying fuck
about a zero income producing market?
\_ you are a dumb fuck. gnu software is a
zero income market because PEOPLE DON'T
CHARGE FOR THEM not because they're
\_ My OS user base has grown %100 in the
last 5 minutes. We went from 1 user to
2. Lesson: don't use statistics to lie.
Growth is meaningless. Only current and
immediate future absolute figures count.
Your lack of concern for income is one
reason you'll never manage anything but
your linux box and your dog house and
I'll bet your dog goes on strike in the
first 6 weeks.
inferior.
\_ i give a flying fuck about a zero
income market considering that they make real
OS's. Windows may dominate now but
\_ Linux is s0 k-rad it kan f1t en 2kay!!!1112!@!@11
Linux has the fastest growing user base
in the OS market. It is expected to
soon outdo MacOS.
\_ STUPID BRAINLESS FLAME DELETED
\_ The article mentions that Linux was ported to the Palm
Pilot. infoP?
\_ check recent issues of MicroTimes/Computer Currents
(within the last month or two); I saw an article there
on the porting project, but I don't recall when. -goetz
\_ How??? PalmPilot can hold only like 2MB of ram/storage.
\_ Linux is s0 k-rad it kan fit en 2kay!!!1112!@!@11
\_ I know someone running it on a PalmPilot. It's
pretty cool. --dim
\_ "cool" is a good metric. How about "useful"?
\_ a multiuser OS in the hand of a clueless(which the majority
of the casual users are) is more vulnerable security wise
than an OS designed with clueless user in mind(Windoze).
Do those Linux distributors have a version with most
vulnerable service turned off?
\_ Who is going to tell my grandmother she needs a security patch
later, much less help her install it and make sure it's done?
Who will help her install MSWord on her Linux box?
\_ Who will tell your grandmother that she needs a new version of
MSIE or Netscape or Eudora because of insecurities in the
current version? Who will help her install MSWord on her
Win<xx> box? If your grandmother falls in the forest and
there is nobody around to hear it, does she still make a
sound? All these are questions that you must answer before
you reach the path to true enlightenment.
\_ I answered this but it was deleted: anyone who can double
click the SETUP.EXE icon will do it for her. This means
tech support from anyone, the kid who cuts her grass, a
friendly neighbor, the plumber who fixed her broken pipe
last week. None of those people is going to have a friggin
clue about linux and rightly so. Trying to claim windows is
as uncommon or hard to use as linux is beyond stupid. That
sort of comment puts you well into the realms of the self
deluded and blind. |
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