[plug] Book of "facts" re Linux

[Brock Woolf]

> Even if they did a scratch re-write, MS would need to retain support for
at least the full range of win32 APIs (not just the NT ones), and
probably win16 as well. I guess they could make the older APIs available
via an optional compatibility layer (think WINE-on-windows - that vague
concept). Come to think of it, I believe that's what they're currently
doing with Win64 - Win32 and older needs the WoW (windows-on-windows)
layer to run.

Yes. Well you are probably right, AFAIK Windows Longhorn is actually
being rewritten to accomadate new programs that will not be compatible
with any previous versions of Windows, so all current Windows programs
will not run on Windows Longhorn.


> With the NT family, calling them DOS just doesn't make sense. They have
> a dos-vaguely-compatible layer, but that's about it AFAIK.

Yes. Well i won't admit to being a programmer, you could be right, this
is just what i have been told :)

> Also, yes, people very often do run around taking about what version of
> XFree86 they use, and what version of their desktop / window manager
> like KDE/GNOME/XFCE/IceWM etc, too.

Yes, to a certain extent they do, but I was trying to make the
correlation between Windows and Linux GUI front ends.

> > Microsoft should still be calling their software DOS, cause thats what
> > it is. With a shiny Windows wrapper to cover all the rusty, glitchy ends
> > of an archaic 20 year old DOS with 10,million patches.
> 
> While there's a lot of gross legacy stuff in there to handle ancient
> apps, and no doubt a lot of ancient and crufty code, I don't think it's
> been accurate to call windows a "wrapper" since 311, maybe 9x.

OK. Maybe I went  a little too far there, but I mean more of the
patching that comes after installing Windows, I mean before when I was
using XP, I would install, download 100+ updates, install 2 or 3 games
and Winamp, Photoshop, etc and by the end of 2 months my machine would
have slowed down considerably, then I would have to install my Virus
scanner and have it running 24/7 which further slowed things. Thats
crap. So I would have a religious task of re-formatting my machine every
2-3 months. My Mandrake box has been running for 10 months now and no
reinstall, which I could not believe. I thought I would be formatting by
now.

> Install Win2k and a full system with GNOME 2.4 etc, compare memory, disk
> and CPU use,  then tell me that again. Sorry - unless you're comparing
> apples to oranges (winXP vs linux console only system, for example),
> linux doesn't do so great in this.

Yes I agree, Linux ain't perfect, I hope this will improve, which with
comapnies like Linspire, Mandrake, RedHat, Sun (maybe), I hope they can
improve things.

> woo. We all love telling new users to rebuild kernels, don't we. It's
> the greatest thing ever. Really.

Yeah, rebuilding Kernels sucks, i'd prefer to wait for a new distro to
come out and install that, unless I would need rebuild my kernel to do
something I can't currently do

> Normally I'd be ignoring this thread, but I think there's an important
> point to be made. If you feel the need to advocate Linux, doing it in an
> accurate way based on real information is the way to do it. Telling
> people it'll solve all their problems, while spreading inaccurate
> information about the competition, is in fact a lot like what a certain
> company out of Redmond has been doing for some time. Look how it's
> helped them.

Yeah well maybe I've been around Microsoft too long and heard too much
Microsoft marketing hype, maybe it has permeated my brain and though
processes. But at least my brain can multitask correctly, (p.s. i am not
female)

> I periodically run into people who have been told by the local techie
> that "linux will solve your problems". They've had the tech install it,
> and surprise surprise, they're finding it a little hard to get Photoshop
> working. Linux was a BAD choice for them at that point.

Yeah this is wrong, at work I go on about how great Linux is and one of
the guys who is like 60 said to me, can you get me a copy of Linux, I
then said look it is good but maybe not for your case, i'll check out
Linspire and if it is any good, then I can recommend it to you, not just
yet. The desktop side of things for Newbies is lacking....

> The Linux/OSS community often gets a rather harmful image of being a
> pack of raving fanatics, perhaps largely due to a loud minority. Getting
> rid of said image would, I suspect, be very helpful in the long term. To
> do that, we need to be realistic and reasonable.

Craig, thankyou mate. We do need to keep it real. Which in the future I
will. It is people like you who we need more of, because inevitably if
everyone was a raving lunatic, Linux's name would be getting as tainted
as Microsoft's reputation for keeping promises and anit-trust.

- Keep it Real
Brock Woolf