[plug] Book of "facts" re Linux

[James Devenish]

In message <1084588002.18042.38.camel at localhost>
on Sat, May 15, 2004 at 10:26:42AM +0800, Brock Woolf wrote:
> The reason why I think Linux is faster than Windows is because there
> is no bloatware. And the reason it is more reliable is because when
> there is a patch or drivers, whatever. You rebuild the entire kernel.
> When there is a Windows Update, you "Patch" your system, so therefore
> the internals bugs still remain,

That is not what "patching" means in itself. Linux is being patched all
the time -- that is how exactly how existing kernel code is developed.
The significance and nature of a patch is definitely influenced by
design, though, and my understanding is that Windows suffers from
unknown interdependencies and undocumented interfaces/behaviour. Because
of this, as you suggest, sometimes a "patch" /might/ be like an extra
layer on top of an existing problem. Patches for UNIX apps and free UNIX
kernels (as opposed to upgrades) are often "atomic" and thus can be
quick and successful -- programmatic side-effects (if any) can be
identified by comparison with documentation (incl. standards).

PS. Yeah, don't forget to trim :)