Linked by Adam S on Sun 6th Apr 2003 17:18 UTC
This is my reaction to Tsu Dho Nimh's "Migrating to Linux not easy for Windows users" featured on Linuxworld.com recently. It's not a response, I'm not challenging his opinions, which I feel are not only valid, but mostly right, it's just a reaction.
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
I am a long time MS Windows user. My first version was MS Windows 3.11 for Work Groups. Win98 was the version I used the most. I learned all kinds of tweaks and hacks that made Win98 run well. But I also knew how to crash the system daily. Then I heard about Linux, so I tried several different distros, mostly different version of SuSE, Mandrake, RedHat, and Slackware. I was in a tweaker's dreamland. My main machine has only RedHat Linux right now. It has been that way since July of last year.
Recently, I have had the opportunity to install Windows 2000 Pro and explore Windows XP. Below are just a couple of my observations.
The install process of Win2000 is a trivial thing to do. What is not so trivial is to install application software. Some how the permission structure in Win2000 gets in the way. It seems the application programmers haven't caught on to the fact that Win2000 has permissions. You are suppose to install an application as Root then run the application as a regular user. Of course, Win2000 only has limited permision attributes anyway.
Windows XP has the permission structure even more buried. You are either a Limited user or a Root user. With both types of users, passwords are optional. Most of the time WinXP goes into a busy state. The computer is a Gateway so thew hardware isn't too off the mark. I am learning what all the processes that are running so that I can shut some of them off. Right now, all I know is that some process with the word 'idle' in its name is taking 98 percent of the CPU's time. Gaming wise, WinXP can play most of my old Win98 games. Trying to install games on Win2000 can be a hair pulling event. Yes, Win2000 wasn't designed for games but some games were made to run on Win2000. The problem with games that were made to run in Win2000 is that they need to be played as a Root user.
My general impression is that Microsoft is definitely trying to hide all the complexity but hasn't found the right way to do it yet. It is not that hard to make Win2000 and WinXP to act like Win98. That really is not a complement. At the same time Microsoft is taking away or burying the tools that might help solve some problems if you know what you are doing.
I will stick with Linux for now. I do have my eyes on FreeBSD 5.0. Trying something different does give you a new perspective.