On Friday 13 July 2001 12:18 am, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jul 2001 04:32, Tom Brinkman wrote:
> > On Thursday 12 July 2001 04:43 am, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> > > Many people
> > > buy a little too much into the GNU/Linux hype, and become
> > > disappointed when it isn't the same as Windows.
> >
> > Seems like a contradictory statement to me Sridhar ? I believe
> > many Lusers aren't payin _enough_ _attention_ to the "GNU/Linux
> > hype". Particularly the difference between open and closed source
> > software and hardware. Specially those just tryin Linux, but even
> > some more experienced users, don't know, care, or understand that
> > closed source software and hardware can't and never can be
> > supported for Linux .... and why. That's it's often disappointing
> > and even dangerous to try to.
> >
> > [disappointed]> "...but it works great with Window$"
> >
> > http://www.mandrakeforum.org/article.php?sid=427&lang=en
> >
> > "...we have the problem of secret software in general."
>
> Allow me to clarify my statement.
Granted, I'm glad you did ;)
People can read about GNU/Linux all
> over the place nowadays. Much of this stuff stresses how
> user-friendly it is in combination with desktops like GNOME and KDE,
> and so people are enticed to try it out. As I have mentioned in
> earlier posts, people's definitions on "user-friendly" and
> "intuitive" can vary greatly, and many Windows users define
> "user-friendliness" as being like Windows. While GNOME and KDE *are*
> user-friendly environments, they are *not* Windows. This seems to
> disappoint a lot of newcomers, and so they complain that "this isn't
> Windows".
>
> On the other hand, there are many people out there who could benefit
> greatly from GNU/Linux, yet do not try it out. The Microsoft monopoly
> has conditioned them into thinking that Windows is the only viable
> desktop OS, and that constant crashes, virii and security breaches
> are normal. To them, GNU/Linux is difficult to comprehend, with its
> endless array of distributions and its command-line access. Windows
> looks easy, since it is designed to be entirely graphical (and hence
> limiting in terms of functionality). Conversely, GNU/Linux looks like
> it has too many commands to keep track of. While the reality is that
> almost everything in GNU/Linux can be done graphically, people are
> led to believe that they need to memorise hundreds of console
> commands.
>
> The MandrakeForum article you linked to was very interesting, and it
> serves to reinforce my belief that binary-only drivers are bad.
> Unfortunately, for several types of hardware people do not have much
> of a choice. This is particularly evident in graphics hardware. Most
> video cards nowadays employ a Nvidia or ATI chipset, which require
> binary-only drivers to work. These two companies basically *own* the
> consumer 3D acceleration market, so anyone wishing to have decent 3D
> performance must buy one of these chipsets. As much as I hate
> binary-only drivers, I am increasingly thinking about purchasing
> Nvidia graphics hardware for my next PC. Things were much better when
> Matrox and 3Dfx were kings (I currently have a Millennium II and a
> Voodoo2). These companies worked closely with the XFree86 group to
> produce quality open-source drivers. But alas, those golden days are
> now over :-(
Couldn't agree more with ya Sridhar. BUT you did leave the door
open for me to once again rant about closed source ;) AND it's much
more than just drivers, it's binary only applications many Lusers
introduce into their system, and then blame Linux and/or Mandrake when
the results are less than satisfactory. I believe this is a major
point of ignorance with many Lusers. It often is also the major point
of their dissatifaction, and they don't realize it's their own fault.
Like you, I'm also on the crux of gettin a GeForce. BUT, at least I
know that any problems, including loss of security, arising from that
decision, are user, then hardware, but not at all Mandrake GNU/Linux.
The only thing saving me is my Voodoo3 is still proving to be adequate.
.... specially if I could figure out how to overclock it in Linux
without having to rewrite the open source drivers. Winbloes just needs
a registry hack to do it to their secret driver ;>>
--
Tom Brinkman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Galveston Bay
