Linux isn't a threat to Windows on the desktop and is losing steam on the server as customers separate the operating system from the development model, according to Microsoft's chief platform strategist. Bill Hilf, general manager of competitive strategy at Microsoft, said pundits have predicted for years that Linux will gain momentum on the desktop, but that won't happen because of the complexity involved in delivering a tightly integrated and tested desktop product.
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Member since:2005-09-01
Throwing heaps of compiled binaries on a single repository is not what I mean by extendability. Most of those packages doesn't even install menu item, does they? When I my dsl modem vendor can write a driver that can be install on all distros without me messing with ifup/ifdown magic I will (happily) eat my own words.
Member since:2005-11-11
I have far, far more entries on the menus after a fresh install including e-mail, web browsers, full office suite, cd burners, both raster graphics and vector graphics programs ... you name it, I've got it.
Not only is it far more complete even just after I start, but my Linux distribution is far, far more extendable than my Windows installation. I could easily end up with four or five times the number of menu entries ... all downloadable with a few clicks at zero cost, and all guaranteed to be free of malware and adware.
Not only that, but all my hardware works out of the box on Linux installs. Unlike the case for Windows, I have not had to hunt even once for a driver from the net.
Edited 2006-06-24 13:43
Member since:2006-06-16
Don't install menu items? You want everything you install going into the start menu? Why? Most of what I have on my system is hidden, and I like it that way. If I want to run one of the programs I have hidden, I click the start button, click run and type the command to run the app. The app runs. No problems.
Another thing, if one of my applications crashes, I don't have to reach over and hit the reset button, or worse yet, have the computer reset for me without my prompting it to do so. With Windows, the latter happens so regularly with my brother's computer, that it probably time to put a fresh install on. Who wants to go through that? I would rather waste my time playing a game or surfing the internet, than reinstalling Windows and the half dozen apps I have grown used to. On top of that, there's the hours of work removing all of those stupid applications Windows puts on there that you just don't want, or need. Internet Explorer for example. Or try to remove Outlook. Can't do it.
If there's any OS that's not ready for the desktop, its Windows. Everything is so mixmeshed together, that if one thing breaks, the whole OS breaks.
Member since:2005-07-09
I think he was talking about games....GAMES man...Linux has 0 games...and no Doom 3 and Quake and UT dont count.
I do agree though Linux is about using it to get the job done. Windows seems more like a play OS compared to Linux though I am surprised at how good XP has become than when it first came out.
Member since:2005-07-06
I think he was talking about games....GAMES man...Linux has 0 games...and no Doom 3 and Quake and UT dont count.
Huh? There are games for Linux distros depending of the desktop environments. It looks like you have not installed them or use a distro in console mode (there are even text-based games).
Edited 2006-06-24 18:33
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-11-11
//Linux doesn't degreade over time because it simply doesn't have all kinds of extensibility windows has.
If you have choice between system that degreades over time because new applications and services are installed and system that doesn't allow you to have them at all what would you chose?//
Say what?
My Linux install has 1189 packages installed. In the on-line repositories for my distribution there are 5441 packages listed in all, meaning that I can extend the system to over four times its current installed packages. Each of thos option extra extension packages can install with a single click.
For my previous distribution, which was KANOTIX (a Debian compatible distribution), there were over 17000 packages available to install through the GUI package manager.
How do these facts fit in any way with what you though was the case above?