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Actually I agree with this. You can't run both at the same time anyway.
I disagree. In one matter, yes, Linux can replace windows. I was using windows, but I tossed it out. Linux has replaced it.
VHS has basically replaced Beta.
But this is what they're getting to, did the motorcycle replace cars or visa versa? no. Linux is not a replacement, not a system that ruled over and killed microsoft. It's just another system that we can try out.
Switching from one version of Windows to another is like switching from one car to another. Win95 to Win98, I honestly couldn't tell the difference. Win98 to WinXP, it was a bigger change but really nothing major.
But switching from Windows to Linux is like switching from a car to a motorbike. They may both be OSes/road vehicles. They may both use the same hardware/roads. They may both provide an environment for you to run applications/transport you from A to B. But they use fundamentally different approaches to do so.
Windows/cars are not safe from viruses/theft unless you install an antivirus/lock the doors. Linux/motorbikes don't have viruses/doors, so are perfectly safe without you having to install an antivirus/lock any doors.
Or look at it the other way round:
Linux/cars were designed from the ground up for multiple users/passengers. Windows/motorbikes were designed for one user/passenger. Every Windows user/motorbike driver is used to being in full control of his computer/vehicle at all times. A Linux user/car passenger is used to only being in control of his computer/vehicle when logged in as root/sitting in the driver's seat.
Two different approaches to fulfilling the same goal. They differ in fundamental ways. They have different strengths and weaknesses: A car is the clear winner at transporting a family & a lot of cargo from A to B: More seats & more storage space. A motorbike is the clear winner at getting one person from A to B: Less affected by congestion and uses less fuel.
There are many things that don't change when you switch between cars and motorbikes: You still have to put petrol in the tank, you still have to drive on the same roads, you still have to obey the traffic lights and Stop signs, you still have to indicate before turning, you still have to obey the same speed limits.
But there are also many things that do change: Car drivers don't have to wear crash helmets, motorbike drivers don't have to put on a seatbelt. Car drivers have to turn the steering wheel to get around a corner, motorbike drivers have to lean over. Car drivers accelerate by pushing a foot-pedal, motorbike drivers accelerate by twisting a hand control.
A motorbike driver who tries to corner a car by leaning over is going to run into problems very quickly. And Windows users who try to use their existing skills and habits generally also find themselves having many issues. In fact, Windows "Power Users" frequently have more problems with Linux than people with little or no computer experience, for this very reason. Typically, the most vehement "Linux is not ready for the desktop yet" arguments come from ingrained Windows users who reason that if they couldn't make the switch, a less-experienced user has no chance. But this is the exact opposite of the truth.
So, to avoid problem #2: Don't assume that being a knowledgeable Windows user means you're a knowledgeable Linux user: When you first start with Linux, you are a novice.
Actually I agree with this. You can't run both at the same time anyway.
Nha... While Linux can replace Windows, it's not a Windows replacement. For me it was a UNIX, Minix and BSD replacement(I can do the exact same things as before but IMO only better and without any cost). Windows could never do the things I wanted. Windows is just different. This is post 379 on a pointless debate. Windows is build for other people who don't care that much about stability and flexibility but prefer "ease of use" instead. If you prefer Windows, use Windows. It's that easy. Just stop the whining. Why would anyone care that much about what other people do with their PC anyway?
i hear that from everybody these days: the slowness, the spyware, viruses, update hassles, etc. i know people who have one computer in the house for like four people, both them and their kids, it's running windows, and they have to take entire weekends just to do virus scans and maintenance when their computer slows down to a crawl or something eventually blows up. "i might not be available with email for a few days because our computer is bogged down with spyware and we have to fix it." and i think it's only going to get worse, despite M$'s boasts of vista being the "most secure OS ever."
the only thing windows has going for it is making everyone use it by force, as all the DRM crap starts to get more widespread. i followed a link from a blog the other day to some media site, and i couldn't watch anything because the site said it didn't have DRM support for linux. i didn't really care because i never go to that site anyway, but it put a shudder down my spine envisioning what is very likely to happen when more and more sites starting using that crap and you can't access anything because the web doesn't work on linux anymore.
I read that microsoft had let hackers try to break windows vista because i guess microsoft thought it would be impossible. After some time hackers got full access over the computer by using a bug in vista when changing to administrator mode from a normal user or something, hehe.
In terms of purchasing cost and required resources MS Windows just cannot compete with Linux and in this context Linux fills, or could fill, an ever-increasing information poverty gap. But as I see it the problem is one of education. Most schools and the free local training centers (I talk from the UK) teach on the basis of MS Windows to the exclusion of all else.
Consequently, the vast majority never regard PC computing as anything else but operating MS Windows and relative products and their, or their parents, purchase of a system follows accordingly.
I'm convinced that if Linux and OS products featured more in educational establishments and users were aware of them from an early stage MS Windows would be seen by many as an expensive and not altogether viable proposition. It would also introduce many youngsters to an affordable and exiting world of real computing.
Linux provides a choice and lets face it, its a choice the MS have done their damnedest to to deny the world. But the problems now facing the world and the need for solutions best, or possibly could only be obtained, by computers are just too great to be left in the hands of Microsoft. A fact that governments and the educational establishments need to wake up to fast. Getting off the MS-Windows bandwagon and encouraging the use of Linux in educational establishments would certainly help in engendering the early interest of those who might then go on to provide the innovations needed. Computer literacy means more than messing about with MS Windows and our kids deserve the opportunity to be shown that.
I know a some people that has started the "skolelinux project" and skolelinux is norwegian and means "school linux". Its a linux distribution based on debian and i think they are going to try to get it into serveral schools or something.
Already debunked on these forums - the hacker had to have admin access first as it won't run in the default mode (user). MS, for once, are attempting to do the right thing.
Now you're just nitpicking, hand of fate. Yes, oneandoneis2 is making a non-existent semantic distinction (between alternative and replacement), but the point remains that while a motorbike replaces your car, it does not serve all the same functions a car does. It serves the main function (getting from point A to point B) but not the others. Substituting a Honda Civic with a Toyota Tercel is more of a direct replacement than substituting a Honda Civic with a Harley-Davidson.
Likewise, Linux and Windows serve the same main function (allow user to perform some generic tasks on a computer), but they are--like car and motorbike--radically different in their approaches, values, and needed skill sets.
Like linux is a car with manual gears and windows is with automatic but youre getting the car for free (linux)
Now you're just nitpicking, hand of fate. Yes, oneandoneis2 is making a non-existent semantic distinction (between alternative and replacement), but the point remains that while a motorbike replaces your car, it does not serve all the same functions a car does.
What "point"? oneandoneis2 didn't say anything about serving functions at all. What this user said was that a motorbike can not replace a car, and I quite rightly pointed out that that is not true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jens
While Linux can replace Windows, it's not a Windows replacement.
Consulting Dictionary.com, "replacement" is defined as "One that replaces". Hence something that replaced Windows is by definition a replacement for Windows.
Well, I would like to replace our cars with a motorbike since gas is so high right now. O_O That would be a replacement.
I'm considering this myself. Of course, it'd have to have an 80ci "fatboy" engine... All's I need is a beard and an open-faced helmet. I already have the gut!
I'm considering this myself. Of course, it'd have to have an 80ci "fatboy" engine... All's I need is a beard and an open-faced helmet. I already have the gut!
Well, I have the beard and the gut too. 2 out of 3 ain't bad, usually anyway.
What "point"? oneandoneis2 didn't say anything about serving functions at all. What this user said was that a motorbike can not replace a car, and I quite rightly pointed out that that is not true.
Scene:
System has 4 40GB drives--originally for RAID--now just clumsy for what we want to do.
Install new Promise SATA controller and 2 each Seagate 250GB SATA-300 drives.
Rebuild the system--Windows first. OOPs, Windows will only install the Promise drivers from floppy. We have a CD.
Read instructions: Run "Launch" on the CD and push the button to make a driver floppy. Hmmmmmmm, that only works if we are already on a Windows box. (We ran Knoppix live CD to get this far)
OK, just install FC5 and worry about Windows later. Gparted makes an NTFS partition--for later, then install FC5. Gosh---it seems to detect the promise card and the SATA drive with no fuss.
Linux: 1, Windows: 0
PS: How are we going to get a driver disk so that we can install Windows??
Find someone with a windows box?
Install windows on another machine?
Declare this to be the last straw and make it Linux only?
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and i think it's only going to get worse, despite M$'s boasts of vista being the "most secure OS ever." 
