** Reply to message from Andrew Lentvorski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:50:47 -0700
> > I do know of people who have paid $250 multiple times to "fix" a corrupted > > Windows system and atleast 3 people who just went out and purchased new > > computers because Windows died or the system "became too slow". These > > people don't play games except crap like Solitaire and don't do AutoCAD. > > Ayup. But that's a *back end* cost rather than a *front end* one. If > you run Linux, there is a *front end* cost that you see immediately. > Why did that website crash (needs Flash version Linux+2)? Why can't I > use that PDF form? Why doesn't this website work (IE optimized)? Why > doesn't *insert industry specific piece of VB crap* work? Why can't I > run my printer? how is that a "front end" cost? Are you saying they see a Flash issue at the store? PDF form issues at the store? How is this and up front cost and these are not issues when OEMs preload Linux and have Adobe and other licensed products or drivers installed right out the door. Xandros is a good example and at one point Linspire was too. And there is little getting around flawed corporate strategies which locked them into a proprietary vendor like Microsoft. There are work arounds and if you're talking about corporations, then they have IT people who can figure it out. Consumers, which is what the whole discussion is about, don't need VB crap in their browser. > Normally you can go around these, but it takes up front work. that's backend work just like cleaning virus's off Windows machines. You fix them when you come across them. But again, are you talking businesses or consumers? And OEM installed/configured Linux box is going to have far far less "support" issues compared to a Windows box if you only consider virus and malware stuff. > Whereas, getting pulled down by a virus is *back end* cost, and your > Windows PC is a sunk cost and already part of your business. At the > point where the viruses bite, the priority is "just get the thing back > up to where it was". I see, we are back to discussing businesses. We'll see how long they keep paying for the shutdowns because of Windows virus's and start realizing that these are not free "back end" expenses. And with budgets getting cut already because of a slow economy, doing the job and sometimes more of the job with the same or less cost means more money for other things. Budgets always found ways to spend off that "extra" money before the end of the quarter. It's when there's no extra and no money to do the job because of expensive licensing and software that minds will open to cheaper solutions. I'm sick of hearing that "there is no accounting column labeled savings". That bit only applies in a growing and wealthy economy and growing profits. Not every business, government, school, etc is getting more money to spend so while "savings" might not be in the language of the financial department, doing more with less is in the minds of millions more as high oil prices and declining dollar value sucks cash out of every aspect of our economy. > Even worse, saving money on your budget likely gets your budget cut. maybe you mean cut MORE > You will note that at no point did I say Linux is inferior or not up to > the task. That is exactly what you have been saying. Too hard to configure, too many ways it does not run Microsoft software, and too many who don't know how to use it. It all sounded like you were saying it was not up to the task to me. I just think you are not too experienced with some of the deskto distros and consider who much OEM pre-configuring and pre-installation can do for ease of use and feature completeness. The fact that the Asus Eee PC is getting used by newbies and getting good press by Windows using authors should be an example of how ready Linux is for the general.... for SOME of the computer users out there. Doug -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
