On 13 Jun 2002 13:07:55 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Joshua James) wrote:
> Hey, you don't have to reboot to change IPs anymore. <grin>
>
> I wish more of this M$ bashing energy was put into making linux a more
> viable solution.
This is a newbie list. I would think that most of us here don't have the
expertise to make "linux a more viable solution" in any major way. I personally
do my own bit by helping people out on lists such as this.
> Here you have a MCSE (started with MS networking when I was 23) who is
> completely willing to switch to linux. I earned my MCSE to battle the
> "you're a dumb kid" comments and it worked. I back it up with years of
> experience from the DOS days where you needed to know things such as
> low-level formatting, IRQ's, etc.
So you're better than most other people with MCSEs. That's good :)
> Most computer concepts and usage comes very easily to me. After
> stumbling with linux on and off I have to say that Microsoft has a good
> thing going. They have a total solution that works pretty well. If most
> of these companies and users had to wait for linux they wouldn't be
> where they are today.
>
> Understand that I REALLY want to switch to linux but you seem to wonder
> why people just don't get it. Its not easy, its not even close. I have
> been able to learn more about Windows and creating an entire corporate
> network in less time than it has taken me to figure how to open a simple
> MDB file in linux.
>
> You can call me names, tell me I'm stupid or ignorant. It won't change
> the fact that a VERY experience computer user is having trouble with
> 'the best operating system ever'.
I'm not going to call you names. In fact, I'm going to do the opposite. Believe
it or not, it is your "experience" that is holding you back. You have grown
accustomed to doing everything the 'Microsoft way', and this hinders your
GNU/Linux learning. You need to 'unlearn' some of your MS knowledge before
progressing, or you'll never get anywhere.
GNU/Linux isn't harder -- it's just different. Your mind has been trained to do
things in one way, and that way doesn't necessarily work here. To your mind,
Windows may be logical, but that doesn't make other systems illogical. Other
systems simply use a different kind of logic, which you must get used to before
progressing.
I used to think as you do, and back then GNU/Linux made no sense at all to me.
Today, I look back at the DOS/Windows systems I used to use and they all seem
haphazard and illogical.
GNU/Linux is more powerful, and the many extra possibilities that provides makes
things look unnecessarily more complex. If you narrow things down to the basics,
the GNU/Linux console (or the UNIX console for that matter) isn't any more
difficult than DOS.
> I have to say that since I've joined a few mailing lists I've received
> more help for free than I have from Microsoft.
Hear, hear! :)
> When I started with my latest stint of linux usage I choose from three
> packages, RedHat, SuSe, and Mandrake. RedHat lost because I'm somewhat
> scared they are getting proprietary, but I'd probably use them on the
> server side. SuSe lost fast because I couldn't even install it on my new
> Dell, no network card found. I settled on Mandrake, also my neighbors
> 2nd choice. Here I am, an MCSE that has gotten a clue if you will.
Red Hat maintains a freely downloadable GPL distribution, and all their core
tools are GPL (e.g. Linuxconf). They do make some proprietary tools, but these
are mostly targeted at the enterprise. Mandrake appear to be firmly committed to
free software, and everything they make is GPL/LGPL. SuSE make their system
tools proprietary, and they don't have freely downloadable ISOs. They are now
part of the UnitedLinux group, which not distribute binaries.
If any distro is becoming proprietary, I would say it is SuSE, along with the
other UnitedLinux members (Caldera, TurboLinux and Conectiva).
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan
"I actually think that Linux with the stuff that is going
on in 3D, desktops, etc., has a chance to become the first real
user-friendly UNIX." -- Linus Torvalds
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft?
Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
