You mean other than the thousands of Windows software packages that millions in the business world are tied to, that are not available for Linux, do not run properly under Wine, and have no compatible alternatives?

1 members found this post helpful.

Well, the inverse of that is equally true - thousands of GNU/Linux/Unix software titles that have not been ported to M$ environment will not run under M$ Os's.

I think the question was "name one thing", i.e. one task not "name one piece of software".

Is there any computing task that can only be done on M$ that cannot be done under GNU/Linux? I think not.

1 members found this post helpful.

Synching with an iPhone (and other devices).
Google Earth 64 bit.
Contacts, scheduling and integration and collaboration (Outlook + Exchange).
And probably a few others that fit your artificial remit of what must be important to somebody.

Most PCs/tablets/smart phones users have no idea of what an operating system is.

So they just buy a device with which they can send and receive emails, find informations or news, play videos, tchat, etc.

In most cases the device that they buy has an OS (but not Linux) and the applications they mostly use installed, and others applications available from stores on the Internet. Why would they install Linux, that most of them never even heard of?

I understand your windows vs and free software frustration.
Can do I was to the point. Your thinking windows still. Can I go on the internet. can I edit , can I etc etc etc. Linux plays games. Linux has games. All media. I don't get it.
The first time you stop thinking windows applications you can get started with Linux applications.
After you have that mastered. then move your work over.

I really let my self down when living in Okinawa. I just hung around English speaking people.

Instead I should have learned the language of the community. Do I really need a fork to eat with.


Do not let this world think something is hard just different steps.

what does Iphone have to do with Linux. your thinking OSX
you paid for that.

1 members found this post helpful.

I would like to direct you to the title and topic of this thread. Also, to the question I was answering.
Some people do not want to move to Linux because they would not be able to synchronise their iPhone with Linux which is something that can be done under Windows.

I think another reason people do not want to move to Linux is the preaching and denial of many Linux users when talking about the downsides of moving to Linux. Saying "but your iPhone is part of Apple's monopoly" or "but you only use those document because Bill Gates used illegal practices" does not help a new user. Neither does "but GIMP does 90% of what photoshop can do".

I think many people replying here also forget that those of us bringing up the deficiencies of and problems with using Linux are not some MS fans trying to win an argument but day-to-day Linux users who understand the drawbacks (as well as the advantages) of our chosen OS.

my fone pops up as a flash drive when I plug it in.
never used Google earth except on a nexus which technically ruins the Linux kernel.
evolution does calendar invites...

A 2006 blackberry could go on the internet, edit text files, play games, and play media. Does that make it a viable replacement for a computer?

Would you say to a console gamer, "but a $20 Android phone can play games too, why don't you use that?"

I suggest you re-read the last couple of pages of this thread. Just because you can edit a document on Linux, that doesn't mean an Office user can just drop everything and move over. Just because you can play a music file on Linux, doesn't mean somebody who professionally mixes music in a recording studio can just hop on over to Linux without a care in the world.

Time is money, and the cost of dropping everything they know and moving to an entirely new platform, with an entirely new set of applications, entirely new way of operating, and an entirely new way of debugging and fixing problems, is often too great to justify the switch for MANY people and MANY organizations. This does not make them stupid, it does not make them ignorant, it makes them realistic.

The sooner the blind Linux devotees grow up and realize that there ARE tradeoffs and there ARE downsides to uprooting everything somebody knows and switching operating systems, often with hundreds or thousands of hours of labor thrown away in the process by losing access to projects or files that they can not use in Linux due to lack of support, the sooner we can move on and work on fixing these problems.

There are many things Linux simply cannot do. Not because of limitations in the platform itself, but because of the lack of industry support for the platform. This is a real problem, with real consequences, for real people.

Not that simple.

Exactly. I've used Linux for over a decade, I vastly prefer it to Windows. Any time I have to use a Windows system, the first thing I do is install Cygwin so I can get back to my comfort zone. I also curse Windows on an almost daily basis because of one idiotic thing it's doing or another.

That said, there are many things that I do in my personal and professional life that I simply can not do in Linux. I have to have Windows, there is no other option. Now because I hate windows, I choose to run both. Either Linux as the host with a Windows VM for applications where that will work, or sometimes a dedicated Windows box that I leave off when I don't need it. I find the hassle of running two OSs to be worth the tradeoff of being able to use Linux the majority of the time, but many people don't. I don't blame them for their decision, it makes sense. I'm also in a lucky position where most of what I do can be done in Linux. Many people don't have that luxury, they're stuck in Windows, and that's that.

3 members found this post helpful.

good point. this seems related:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...re-4175501345/

Right, so anyone wanting to synch an iPhone they own is wrong and should either sell it or live without synching because you say so?
So nobody ought to use Google Earth because you decreed it irrelevant?
Evolution and [some imaginary system] is suddenly a replacement for Outlook and Exchange because you said it is?
I think you forgot the title of this thread in your haste to defend Linux. I would say that this is a good example of the harm I mentioned before in telling people what they should use and expecting that to "convert them to Linux".

Has anyone heard of Marble? Hummm I guess that exists because goggle is not your friend$!

Just for the record, and to try to help keep this thread from becoming a bi-polar stalemate, I stated that Linux is not for everyone and also that I'm perfectly happy if not one more migrator occurs. I like that Linux is a "smallish" community. I also stated that I don't try to convert Windows users to Linux, as it generally leads to many "house calls" ending in reinstalling Windows anyway.

Instead, I try to point out it's advantages, while noting it's shortcomings and that, TANSTAAFL, the switch comes at a cost. If they aren't willing to invest that, it's pointless and generally, doomed. It's just worth it IF a person comes to Linux of their own accord. We have probably all witnessed countless posts on the Webz where some person "tried Linux last weekend" and ran into problems because he didn't research it all all on his own, and then proceeded to bash Linux as some POS. We don't need that negative publicity not the reactions it tends to engender.

Because they do not want to think Linux. To overcome this. you must think linux not windows.
OH well I guess this should be a Iphone forum then.
As with any thing you do it must take commitment. I am sure if you keep thinking GNU them problems will become solved the GNU way.

If you want the frustration of trying to make an apple taste like an orange. Then put some money in a developers hand and have it done.
Or do it your self and name it. Or go into the OSX forums and post how to sync my phone with Linux and see how the folks there handle that.
They are kind and think Mac. Same for windows ask them how to do it.
May be they have a nice closed source application that you can buy that will handle it.
Then waaaallaaa all fixed. Do it the windows or the OSX way. Not the GNU way. But give it time.

I am sure they can help you. figure out
but for this you will need the GNU
I guess I am just foolish have no Idea what them other operating system do.
This is a Linux question forums and my tools are the GNU Linux.

Drakeo: I suggest you re-read my posts and the tile of this thread.

I think you have put this thread up to cause problems. I have been sincere about how to over come the problems. I see this thread as a way to make fan boys come to the forum.
As you will see I alreay explained how to set the readers in the correct direction to syncing an Ipad.
I even went as far as building the programs from the slackbuilds before i posted it. I do not have a Ipad to test with and I do not have a I IPhone.

I am so old and stupid. I refuse to use a cell phone because I lose a good friend or a customer to driving while texting.
If you want to use linux use it if you don't want to fine. But I took time out of my world to explain if your using linux your using the GNU. buy a Mac run linux in VM. run windows and run linux in VM. All of this has been done before it is rather old topic. I have become board with beating this dead horse.