The holiday season hasn't gone exactly as Microsoft had hoped and Ballmer sits down with CNET News.com to discuss life after Vista, battling the iPod, and the rising importance of mobile devices.
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Member since:2006-01-06
Why does everyone (windows user) say, Linux is a kernel not an os
I don't hear Windows users saying that. But I hear plenty of Linux users saying that. Why? Because they don't want the attendant baggage of the thousands of buggy apps associated with "Linux, the kernel"; whereas, they're all too willing to associate bugs in Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, et al with "Windows, the operating system".
Linspire, XandrOS, Mandriva are easier to install/use than Windows.
First, ease of installation is a red herring. End users buy packaged computers; they don't install OSes. Second, I don't know how much easier OS installation has to get, in order to be "better"; for example, you pop in the Vista disk, click on a couple buttons, and automated setup requires no interaction whatsoever. How is Linspire et al "easier to install" than that?
If Linux was such a loser why would Microsoft run so many ditros of Linux and BSD in their R&D centers.
I've never seen statistics detailing how many Linux/BSD boxes Microsoft runs. Where did you get your numbers?
Member since:2006-01-10
"I don't hear Windows users saying that. But I hear plenty of Linux users saying that. Why? Because they don't want the attendant baggage of the thousands of buggy apps associated with "Linux, the kernel"; whereas, they're all too willing to associate bugs in Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, et al with "Windows, the operating system". "
The difference here is that Internet Explorer and other Microsoft applications are (were?) quite difficult for the average schmoe to pull out of Windows, since they were so tied into it.
With Linux distributions (especially ones like Debian that start out with just the kernel and gnu tools) you can literally build your operating system as you see fit around the kernel itself. Hell with a system like Debian you can even change kernels, though of course Linux is the best supported, but they do have a bsd variety as well.
"First, ease of installation is a red herring. End users buy packaged computers; they don't install OSes. Second, I don't know how much easier OS installation has to get, in order to be "better"; for example, you pop in the Vista disk, click on a couple buttons, and automated setup requires no interaction whatsoever. How is Linspire et al "easier to install" than that? "
The thing that counts in 'ease of installation' is how usable is the Operating System after first install.
An example, Windows XP (if installed from just the plain Microsoft Windows XP install CD) has no firewall (I'm talking pre SP2), no decent word processor, lack of a lot of network drivers, etc.
Something like Linspire or other Linux distributions have basically all the apps you would need installed right off the bat, so you don't have to spend hours searching for drivers or little applications like an archive manager.
It's even worse with OEM versions of Windows XP that install crap like AOL, or MSN Explorer.
Member since:2005-07-06
Microsoft's Linux lab at Redmond does run various distros of Linux and bsd for testing purposes etc, there are various articles on the net just search for "Microsoft linux labs". A few I thought were interesting:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/05/08/08/1247220.shtml
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/meet_the_h...
Member since:
2005-07-06
Why does everyone (windows user) say, Linux is a kernel not an os. Linspire, XandrOS, Mandriva are easier to install/use than Windows. If Linux was such a loser why would Microsoft run so many ditros of Linux and BSD in their R&D centers.