Linked by David Adams on Fri 27th Jun 2008 04:46 UTC, submitted by Rahul
Erik Huggers, a Microsoft guy at the BBC, takes a look at Fedora 9 as his first Linux desktop and finds it surprisingly good.
"I am glad that I got a chance to test drive Fedora and as a result have come to believe in the potential of Linux as a mainstream operating system.
As Ashley said in this post last year, the BBC does a lot of work with open standards already - but in the future we plan to do more.
We want to make iPlayer work on all operating systems including open source ones like Fedora and I am confident we'll make good progress on this before the end of the year."
Thread beginning with comment 320347
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-07-06
It reminds me of a Linux advocate who asked the same thing of Windows - is Windows ready for the desktop; it was a tongue 'n cheek at the time, but it did raise a serious question; what is 'ready for the desktop'.
For me, 'ready for the desktop' seems to encroach on the same field as the definition of a 'real man' and 'real Scotsman'. If we were going to hold up every operating system to the lofty goals of 'ready for the desktop' - I don't think there would be a single one that could even come close to it.
Member since:2005-07-06
It reminds me of a Linux advocate who asked the same thing of Windows - is Windows ready for the desktop; it was a tongue 'n cheek at the time, but it did raise a serious question; what is 'ready for the desktop'.
For me, 'ready for the desktop' seems to encroach on the same field as the definition of a 'real man' and 'real Scotsman'. If we were going to hold up every operating system to the lofty goals of 'ready for the desktop' - I don't think there would be a single one that could even come close to it.
For me, 'ready for the desktop' seems to encroach on the same field as the definition of a 'real man' and 'real Scotsman'. If we were going to hold up every operating system to the lofty goals of 'ready for the desktop' - I don't think there would be a single one that could even come close to it.
Given the fact that I just spent 5 hours trying to get XP on a 1 year old Dell Laptop and around 5 hours more to get some basic functionality on top of it (AVG/ZoneAlarm/7-Zip/Acrobat Reader/VIM/Visual studio/OpenOffice/Firefox/Wireshark/ObjectDesktop/etc) the "is Windows ready for the desktop" question isn't even funny.
Though in Microsoft's defence, I never use the manufacturer supplied CD as I rather use -new[er]- drivers and reduce the bloat. On the other hand, XP/SP2 failed to detect the [long breath]: Ethernet, WIFI, Video, Audio, Smartcard reader, Modem and PC-card slot...
By comparison, getting CentOS 5.2/x86_64 on this machine was more or less point and click.
Put CD, boot, select applications, goto sleep.
Fedora 9 will be added next.
Granted, XP is older than Fedora and CentOS, but never the less, given the fact that I'm tired of hearing the "Linux is hard to install" argument and the Joe-six-pack example thrown against Linux, I challenge them (?) to let their Joe-six-pack neighbour install XP on his brand new machine, -without- using the manufacturer supplied CD. (Yep, this should be fun to watch...)
- Gilboa
Edited 2008-06-27 22:30 UTC
Member since:
2008-04-15
At least linux is being given more of a chance but;
"...and as a result have come to believe in the potential of linux as a mainstream operating system."
First off, what counts as a mainstream OS?
Second, i'm so sick of hearing "potential to be great..." "year of the linux desktop" etc etc etc.
People use linux as a desktop OS, i know more people who are using it and then sticking with it.
it's not that there is unlocked potential yet to be found in linux. It's just people who can't be bothered to use anything other than what they bought their pc with.
More marketing and OEM's are the only thing linux needs.
Edited 2008-06-27 05:31 UTC