[Technical] Linux

[Con Zymaris]

On Tue, May 17, 2005 at 12:39:56PM +1000, Jim Maunder wrote:
> >Interesting.
> >
> >Can you reconcile the perspective that some industry pundits have which
> >essentially states that people are not migrating to Linux because it is too
> >hard for normal users?
> 
> No. I reckon that Windows (tm) is too hard for the normal user as well! In 
> a workplace, some techo has to install the software and apps, then 
> configure it all to suit the local environment. It does not matter if it is 
> Windows or Linux - normal users usually don't have to do this. In both 
> cases they have to be shown how to logon, how to get to their network 

What's interesting here is when you configure Linux to work from read-only 
media, meaning that no-body can make any modifications to the system other 
than Admin. This greatly helps to reduce the running and support costs and 
makes it impossible for viruses and malware to attack.

> resources, how to use the proprietary software (if any). In either case 
> they might need a little support while they get used to the office suite 
> and/or email client. My only reservation is that out of the box (ie 
> untweaked), Linux runs appreciably slower than Windows on the same 

Yes, I've noticed that too. Linux hasn't been 'tuned' as a desktop system 
yet, so you see it in a 'general' form, meaning that processing power 
continues to be allocated to background (server) tasks. Unlike XP, which 
does little of the latter and puts all CPU focus on the front-end and 
desktop.


> platform. However, most Linux distros come with just about every 
> application a user would need, saving the techo the trouble of installing 
> them post OS installation. But I must admit that if something goes rwong 
> Linuxwise I have no idea about what to do - I can set it up and use it, but 
> that's it.

How often have you found it going wrong?

-- 
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