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I love linux and though it is a pain in the @#$@#$!$$!@%^%% to configure sometimes I do love it and would never go back to windows if I can help it. I love open source and just plain and simply put flexability. On the flip side I truly feel that Linux has a long way to go and that it is still for the most part a hobbiest OS system. The reason that I say that is that the majority of Linux application are small, under funded hobbiest programming projects that one would have to rely on a pleathura of terrible documentation or better said in some cases non existent (just do a search for an app on Sourceforge.net)I say this with all respect to my beloved Linux community( I know that I am going to raise hell) It is only with the larger Linux companies such as Novell , Redhat and Caldera to name a few that actually a decent support structure and somewhat ok documentation even exists. With all due respect, Linux is a great OS but as it stands there are not to many choices out there as far as OS are concerned that many software companies have written as many software applications as MS Windows. Of course windows is the biggest target for crackers, it is the most dominant OS out there right now and you have to give mr gates some credit for his success. I believe eny drives a lot of hatred geared toward
Microsoft. To end my point - When Linux or if Linux ever grows to the point to where it is the dominant OS system I can gaurantee that the same people that have been bashing windows will jump on the band wagon like so many that have done so with linux and it too will be plagued with same headaches as windows.
Last edited by metallica1973; 07-12-2007 at 11:44 PM.
no it won't for a variety of reasons, first of all linux is modular and windows isn't, what that means is that all you need to actually run linux is the kernel where as windows you have to have everything they give you. Another thing is that because of its modularity Linux doesn't depend on the same things windows does,for example Internet Explorer, try as you might it is impossible not to run internet explorer in some way and that brings security risks but Linux will never have that problem because linux only depends on the kernel and nothing else, so the only way to successfully run a malware attack on linux is to exploit the kernel which is hard to do, where as if you crack Internet Explorer you have cracked windows because everyone has windows
i suspect that those people who come to linux because of virus(or whatever of these kind) probably may have made the wrong choice ...
infact why would someone want to make or sell something that you cant even access it as "root" ... ??
or put it in this way ... would we get ourselves a linux(or any system) which is not possible to access it as "root" or "admin" and just stick to our "homes" directories ... ??
so the notion of "do not run anything as "root" or "admin" sounds weird to me ... too much to lose and this can get pretty boring very quickly ...
pleathura of terrible documentation or better said in some cases non existent (just do a search for an app on Sourceforge.net)I say this with all respect to my beloved Linux community( I know that I am going to raise hell) It is only with the larger Linux companies such as Novell , Redhat and Caldera to name a few that actually a decent support structure and somewhat ok documentation even exists.
First:
man pages...arguably the best documentation available.
Second:
Your distro's site. I don't know about yours, but the Gentoo project has *killer* documentation. Virtually anything I could dream up to do with a Linux machine is covered by the Gentoo documentation, wiki, and forums.
probably its not possible to have linux documentations resembling those little booklets or pamphlet-like manuals that come with windows and mac systems ...
maybe linux documentation writers are worrying too much ... ^_^
but if viewed on the brighter side ... linux users seem to be better "indexer" of arbitrary(read from dictionary :: "subject to individual will or judgment without restriction") notes and stickies ...
i suspect that those people who come to linux because of virus(or whatever of these kind) probably may have made the wrong choice ...
infact why would someone want to make or sell something that you cant even access it as "root" ... ??
or put it in this way ... would we get ourselves a linux(or any system) which is not possible to access it as "root" or "admin" and just stick to our "homes" directories ... ??
so the notion of "do not run anything as "root" or "admin" sounds weird to me ... too much to lose and this can get pretty boring very quickly ...
.
I'm in there ... digging around ... trying to figure out what you've just said.
Are you arguing that it's senseless to run as a normal user, and that you should run as root/admin?
If that's it, I think you've got it backwards. Linux runs beautifully under normal user mode, no popups asking "are you sure you want to install this virus?". Only when performing administrative tasks should you be root/admin. Unfortunately, Windows is not so nice about this configuration. 3rd party software takes advantage of the free reign available on Win systems, causing major headaches to those who run non-admin.
>> "Are you arguing that it's senseless to run as a normal user, and that you should run as root/admin?"
not actually ... infact running everything as a normal user is suppose to be the most common-sensical ... what i'm saying is that its not really a good thing to strees too much on a guideline of "no root" and "no admin" usages of systems ... especially towards the newbies ...
my impression is that this guideline of "no root" and "no admin" usages of systems is more suitable for and usually suggested by experienced computer people ...
That said... The moment I can find the Linux installer for Windows versions of Alpha Centauri, I (maybe not my sims-addicted sister) will have no reason to use Windows. Maybe I'll keep 98SE in a VM, just to remind myself of the horrors that plagued my childhood computer usage...
My Walkman is now "liberated" (Excellent java tool from SourceForge saved the day!) and that was pretty much the last thing I needed.
But there will always be a Win2k install in my house somewhere for the time where I want to play Sims, or another game that Wine & Cedega just can't handle...
oh dear , always forgotten about that sudo thing ... ^_^
sudo should nice when using linux but for me its a bit clunky and awkward to use ... anyway , people shouldnt forgot about sudo ...
as for the "Wine & Cedega" ... i havent try them and i think i wont be trying them as layers of "vm" things for me is only used with a purpose for dying or dead(most probably this one) systems and their apps ... even if i am having a fast and powerfull pc ...
While a nice GUI (Windows included) does give you a way to easily use your applications, and provides more functionality (some needed, some not), I like to think of the old days of DOS (3.1, 3.2, 5.0, 6.0). It wasn't multi-user, or multitasking, but it was simple and sleek. A relatively short instruction set gave me access to everything I needed in those days, and there wasn't nearly as much worry about file system or OS corruption as there is today. I still have an archive of old DOS games, which I now love to play in DOSBox.
What I would give to still have a copy of DOS 6.22 lying around ...
Bah, use FreeDOS.
Except for a few programs (Win3+ included) and I mean FEW (Not even 1% according to Wikipedia) don't run, and even then it's most likely that they run but with a bit of problems.
DOS... Does have its niceties. Like BeOS, except BeOS was really killer for its time, a good match for NeXTSTEP but for consumers. Too bad Be went belly up...
Alred, I don't quite get you there mate, mind explaining what you meant? Cedega and Wine don't really use a VM; they are trying to re-write the Win32 API for UNIX-like systems. Performance is sometimes better under Wine, mostly on-par. (When it works. Generally, it has a 50/50 chance, at least from my experience...)
Sometimes I wonder why threads like this end up in a forum like this.
Then I realize, we all need a break from the monotonous outside world of windows rebooting, viruses taking over the computer, and we then come here to talk about how Linux is so much better.
Heh, I've tried FreeDOS on occasion. However, it would really turn me on to see "MS DOS 6.22" roll up on my screen after all these years. Just the sight ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by alred
not actually ... infact running everything as a normal user is suppose to be the most common-sensical ... what i'm saying is that its not really a good thing to strees too much on a guideline of "no root" and "no admin" usages of systems ... especially towards the newbies ...
I have to disagree with you here. It should be impressed on a person early on so they easily adapt to the concept, rather than to become dependent on root/admin rights, then to have to relearn the proper way. So, I believe this emphasis is highly needed "especially towards the newbies".
after i try veiwing mpeg in free dos that i decided to give linux a try ... hell !! linux cant even play cd and mp3 straight out of the box(it suppose to be a gui-ed system as how i expect it to be) ...
beos is very good ... can be said that almost everyting worked out of the box but as Jorophose said it kind of "went belly up..." or probably taken over by the later linux ... ?? ^_^
//why do we always trying very hard running away from windows ... ?? ^_^
I have to disagree with you here. It should be impressed on a person early on so they easily adapt to the concept, rather than to become dependent on root/admin rights, then to have to relearn the proper way. So, I believe this emphasis is highly needed "especially towards the newbies".
i still think that it can be more easily for newbies to adapt to safe linux computing if you people dont highly emphasizing on the need to run linux as a "normal" user in all circumstances ...
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