Linked by Mystilleef on Mon 29th Sep 2003 06:30 UTC
Linux will become ubiquitous in the year 3000. Okay, that was a horrible joke. Linux is just a kernel, the engine that runs an operating system. By itself, it is essentially useless. Kernels shouldn't be discussed or noticed by normal users. And as such when providing these users with reviews, previews and "professional" opinions, computer consultants, computer reviewers and computer journalists should not spew headlines like "Linux is not ready for prime time", "Linux on the desktop by XXX", "Linux to takeover Windows", "Linux is not ready for desktop" and so on.
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b&^%ing. People seem to like doing that these days.
There's Apple for wealthy people who want everything done for them, Windows for not so wealthy people who want everything done for them, and a wide selection of Linux and Unix type operating systems for everyone from flat-broke college students to multi-billion dollar companies, and ranging from people who want everything done for them to control freaks who want to tewak out their boxes until they explode. Where's the choice? OSS.
You can't tell me something like Lindows or Mandrake is all that difficult to use. If my mother and my girlfriend (both utterly computer clueless) can use it with less difficulty than Windows XP Home or Windows 2000 Pro, then it's got to be good at something. Likewise, there are other distros for those who have more technical needs or more technical experience.
And by the way, the BSDs give a coherent whole, all developed as one operating system. Unfortunately, in that regard, Linux does not. But that is a strength or weakness depending on how you look at it. Mandrake Linux my mom can use. Slackware would be more my style. But there's a linux we can both be happy with. But properly set up, FreeBSD, Debian and the like are just as easy to use.
Bottom line - if you're not happy about it, the do something about it. Getting on a soapbox and complaining does nothing but make you look like a spoiled whiner. I think a big part of why Windows is so popular is that it lets people get away with not having to learn anything. The Marketing Age has destroyed us and exposed us for the lazy pathetic bunch we have become at its hands.
If you can't code, write documentation. Or help someone else understand what you understand. Or learn to code. Or file a bug report. Do something worthwhile - don't just complain. That could just as easily have been an in-depth explanation on how to use some command - for Windows users. Instead, all it did was waste my time to read.