[plug] Linux vs Microsoft

[Anthony Jones]

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Linux is the best OS for people who are not doing their own system 
administration. My girlfriend has no trouble using Linux - she has never 
seriously used any other OS. I can happily tell her that she is adequately 
sandboxed and she can click on or run anything she wants. Windoze executables 
will sometimes run in Wine and sometimes will not.

The biggest problem is that most people (the ignorant majority) don't really 
understand what Linux is. Most people think that Linux is a commercial 
product put out by a rival company. They often think that it's going to be 
another orphan like the Commodore Amiga.

If they have had the misfortune to have used Windoze then they can only see 
what it doesn't do that Windoze is capable of doing (or more often it does 
the same thing in a totally different way). It is not immediately obvious to 
someone who is new to Linux that it can do a lot and that Windoze can do very 
little by comparison.

If you are administering more than one machine then Linux is also best. The 
reason is that once you've read up about a particular service or function and 
learned about it, it's much easier to configure other machines the same.

The place where Windoze beats Linux is when someone wants to administer their 
own machine but no-one elses. Unfortunately there are a lot of 
people in this category.

Linux will triumph over Windoze in the end. More precisely I think that the 
free software movement will triumph over proprietary software. Of course this 
will only be the case for "general consumption" type software - perhaps not 
specialised markets. External factors such as falling hardware costs, and 
governments (e.g. Peru) which don't want a US company to have too much power 
over their infrastructure.

When offering Linux to someone you have to make sure that they are ready to 
make the move. Firstly you have to ensure that they understand what Linux is 
and what it is not (it is not a replacement for Windoze - it is an OS in it's 
own right). Secondly you have to be certain that they are making the move to 
Linux of their own free will and that they are genuinely prepared to make the 
change (assuming that they are making a change - if this is their first 
computer then it is less of a problem).

In the case of a school it would not be possible to achieve a consensus. It 
would require someone in the school who meets the above criteria and is a 
good leader. Change always meets with some objection - even change for the 
better.

I would not recommend Windoze to anyone. It is substandard and inadequate.

Anthony

On Wednesday 08 May 2002 07:32, Jon L.Miller wrote:
> James as much as I can appreciate your comments (come a long way since the 
> card puch systems), this is the same scenario with the NOS (MS vs Novell vs 
> Linux) debate.  The bottom line isn't who'll win but what works for the 
> client.  One should not buy into a market because it has the largest share 
or 
> Joe Blob down the street is using it.  Some clients have to be educated 
into 
> making the right decision, this should involve a comprehensive report of 
the 
> Pros and Cons or each product. If the major share holder of the NOS's 
cannot 
> provide the solution then buy into the product that solves the solution.  
In 
> saying this if a client is looking for an inexpensive non proprietary OS 
> utilising existing equipment chances are they may be willing to learn a new 
> OS if the TCO is lower.  Client generally look at the bottom line ($$$) and 
> then what they require, funny not the other way around.
> What I tend to do is create a matrix of what the client wants to run on 
both 
> their desktop and server.  From there we make the analysis of what is 
> available on the market and in what OS is it available.  This will as 
always 
> narrow the decision down to the correct OS.
> This has been my experience.  
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