“Pennsylvania attorney Kevin L. Ritchey has written an open letter about using Linux on the desktop — from the user’s perspective. Ritchey chronicles his successful switch to Linux, laments a few features still in need of improvement, and offers us his opinions as an average daily user of Desktop Linux. Ritchey did not make a switch because of cost or philosophical reasons — rather he moved to Linux because it worked better and was more productive.” Read it at DesktopLinux.com.
Switching to Linux – One User’s Story
60 Comments
2003-03-05 10:55 pm
Anonymous
The guy needs a big congratulations and some support not people bringing out the faults in his story and definetly not people telling him to go back to Windows.
Why not? It seems to me (even based on his description) that Windows would work better for him. If it does, then he should probably stick with Windows. At the moment you start telling people to stick with one particular OS for political reasons is the moment you become a zealot. And why the hell should anyone be congratulated for switching OS platforms? Not like he won the fucking lottery or something 
2003-03-06 12:08 am
Anonymous
I find it difficult to imagine a lawyer mis-spelling the only Latin term in this article.
still find myself wishing I could do some things in Gnome that I can in KDE and visa versa.
I am forced to conclude that his spell-checker doesn’t work (likely, considering his espousal of OO.org), or that he doesn’t know how to spell simple words (legal briefs must be filed with an exactitude that allows no room for error), or that he’s not a genuine lawyer.
The third choice seems most likely to me, considering that this “lawyer’s” grammar is equally atrocious.
But who hasn’t changed the Windows settings and wished they could do some things differently.
Is he an idiot? Is he aware of standard English writing conventions established over hundreds of years?
I believe that our “lawyer” is simply not aware that sentence construction is a requisite skill in providing professional services as a barrister in North America.
Further examples abound in this puerile attempt to bolster the weak position of Linux on the desktop in its current state.
Has anybody else noticed that the arguments are not constructed logically?
Does anybody believe this letter was written by an MCP-carrying freshmeat-lurking lawyer?
Can anybody make sense of this ridiculous statement?
Thank you Corel for encouraging me to realize that although I don’t mind buying software, I’ll stick to buying Open Source software so I won’t be left on an island in a couple months or years.
2003-03-06 12:53 am
Anonymous
The U.S. Census Bureau publishes free mapping data. They build complete maps of the U.S. at each census and publish that data along with specifications on how to read it. I’ve never seen anything free done with it beyond printing up a simple street map, but supposedly its the basis of most commercial maps and mapping programs. See here: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/
2003-03-06 1:15 am
Anonymous
The letter might have been from an “end-user perspective”, but he’s clearly not your average end-user.
Joe average is excluded.
But I’m not your average user
Everyone throws this garbage around anytime there is an article about linux on a desktop machine and it is ridiculous.
Who is this magical average user? Where are they? I can use linux, but in most respects I consider myself pretty average. I am better at computers in general than pretty much everyone I know, but I spend more time tweaking so that just happens.
My girlfriend uses linux. She is a pretty much average girl when it comes to computers. Sure, she needs my help to fix things the she wants when she uses my computer. She also needs me to fix her computer (a windows xp machine) quite frequently. Most of her roommates (there are 7) have also had to have me or their own boyfriends or both fix their computers a time or two. So it is easy to see that windows isn’t really THAT easy to use for people who can’t use a computer anyways.
So if I am not average, and my girlfriend is not average, who is? I know a lot of people. I am not sure I know any who are incapable of using linux. I would say anyone who can learn windows well enough to not have someone come over and fix it all the time, can do the same with linux. Anyone who can’t keep a computer running at all, will find linux just as difficult.
Joe average is a myth. There is no such thing as average. Each person is an individual case. They can and will do what they want.
——————————————————
btw (to Darius) why are you always so pissed off?
2003-03-06 1:29 am
Anonymous
Found it very enlightening, I myself agree I am more productive with Linux. As for these people who complain about recompiling their Kernel, Have you ever recompiled a kernel? It is not hard at all, For my AlphaWorkstations I had to recompile the kernel, Recompile KDE 3.1 and QT 3.1.2 , Open Office.org had to make some code changes in KDE 3.1,but I had them up and running in no time. Very easy and Kernel 2.5 will offer many new features that I think will benefit everyone.
2003-03-06 2:00 am
Anonymous
I find it difficult to imagine a lawyer mis-spelling the only Latin term in this article.
Maybe his secretary didn’t check it for him?
Can anybody make sense of this ridiculous statement?
Thank you Corel for encouraging me to realize that although I don’t mind buying software, I’ll stick to buying Open Source software so I won’t be left on an island in a couple months or years
It could be several things. Maybe it refers to Corel leaving some of its products to rot. Notice that in the previous sentence he mentions one such product.
He may not be able to write that well but you fall down in your English comprehension.
How come it is if someone says something you disagree with you assume that they are lying about it?
2003-03-06 2:15 am
Anonymous
Havent you ever heard of a Typo James, I know you have you made one:
” I find it difficult to imagine a lawyer mis-spelling the only Latin term in this article. ”
It is misspelling, nice of you to point out someones typo, yet you make one yourself. I know 2 doctors that are MCP’s, but no, I dont know any lawyers. Doesnt matter what background you come from you can be a MCP. In fact, the convenience store I go to every morning for coffee has an ex-IBM employee, that was laid off, working there. He is an MCP and Red Hat certified. Many people switch professions by the way. Grow up.
2003-03-06 2:21 am
Anonymous
Good Lord, you people! Will you never be happy with anything? Can’t you just accept the fact that someone is happy with a product you don’t like? Obviously not…you pretentiously make huge assumptions you have no way of knowing. For example, how on Earth, James Warkentin, would you expect to prove he’s not a lawyer? His grammar and spelling might not be good, but are all lawyers good? Give me a damned break!
And as for this statement:
“It seems to me (even based on his description) that Windows would work better for him.”
My, aren’t we assumptive? Do you seriously propose that you know better than the author what works better for him in his daily work? If this man, who obviously knows operating systems, says he is more productive with Linux, then he’s more productive with Linux.
It seems that there are some people who desperately need something to bitch about.
2003-03-06 3:01 am
Anonymous
“” For me, installing Gentoo is a 10 minute affair, after which I let the computer chug for about 8 hours while I go work or sleep or whatever.””
For goodness sake, at least make some vague attempt to keep things in proportion. No matter how wonderful Gentoo is (And from what I hear it’s pretty good) you can’t just sit down at the computer, type “emerge world” and go.
Equating:
Gentoo: You have to download and burn one of the Live CDs (For comparison we’ll say Stage 3).
Windows XP: You have to go to the shop and buy the CD.
So getting the software is around even, on a decent line. Maybe a couple of hours download versus a couple of hours in the shop convincing yourself that you really need to be paying all that money.
Installation (Remember we’re talking Stage 3):
Both require you to insert the disk (Quit using it as a beer mat :>), both are going to force you to provide some manual configuration options depending on what they can automatically configure. Both are going to require you to setup partitions for them to live on. Both are going to need to know the local time, your location, and your locale of choice. I think by now you get the idea, the list continues for both OS.
Any time you install a piece of software as complicated as an OS you’re going to have to provide input somewhere along the line (Even if it’s just time and location) to have things run smoothly. As soon as something unexpected happens practically any OS installation will be a serious pain in the neck for someone with limited computing knowledge (Don’t bring up BEOS here either, using the bootloader safe options is _NOT_ a hassle free installation).
Anyhow, to finally get around to my point. Why on earth does a proportion of the OSNews readership seem to think that installation is the be all and end all of what makes a great OS? Ok, so maybe that’s a little harsh, but it sure as heck seems like that’s how people see it sometimes.
Why not ask some more interesting questions. When you’re using the computer for whatever it is _YOU_ do, does it run acceptably? Can _YOU_ figure out how to get whatever tasks you need to accomplish done? If it breaks can _YOU_ figure out how to fix it, or like 99% of the world (It sure seems that way sometimes) will you need to ask a more knowledgeable friend to fix it for you?
Fundamentally the only reason you should choose one OS over another is if it allows you to do whatever it is you want to do with a computer more easily/efficiently. All this ideology and scare mongering is so much horse manure. Select the OS that can get the job done for _YOU_.
Windows/OSX/Linux variants/*BSD/*NIX are all perfectly adequate within certain fields and ALL are flawed in others. No OS can be all things to all people, so choose the one that fits your needs.
As for the article. If Linux is does it for him then good luck to him I say. If he switches back to Windows then good luck to him as well.
2003-03-06 3:48 am
Anonymous
…for two reasons.
1. He doesn’t need Microsoft Office as he stated that he only used Word to exchange/draft type work.
2. As a lawyer, the majority of the firm’s work is probably in WordPerfect. While it may not be the best product available, in some opinions, WordPerfect has been used by the majority of the law firms in this country since the late 1980s. There are huge compilations of templates, forms, and macros developed by lawyers and legal staffers from all 50 states. There is, in all probability, a tool or template already available for any lawyer’s exact needs.
The large percentage of the templates and such work from one version of WordPerfect to another with little if any tweaking or alteration. In one Virginia law firm my wife worked in 1989, all of there legal briefs were developed using WordPerfect 5.1 and packaged templates. In 1996, the law firm was still using the same software and the same templates, with the addition of a few new templates to cover new situations. Seriously, they were using WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.
In all probability the conversion of the legal firm’s WordPerfect templates and macros was a very painless matter.
However, we should all be aware that Microsoft changes standards with every new release. I know that templates I designed in 1993 on Word 2.0 did NOT convert when our company upgraded to Word 6.0. Also, most of the Microsoft templates that I used in version 2.0 were not included in 6.0. Number buffs should note that Microsoft jumped from version 2.0 to 6.0 to compete more equally with WordPerfect. Microsoft released Word 6.0 about 2 months after WordPerfect 6.0 hit the stores.
Simply, he is far more concerned about cross-platform work in WordPerfect than in Microsoft Word.
My $.02
2003-03-06 5:54 am
Anonymous
The U.S. Census Bureau publishes free mapping data. They build complete maps of the U.S. at each census and publish that data along with specifications on how to read it. I’ve never seen anything free done with it beyond printing up a simple street map, but supposedly its the basis of most commercial maps and mapping programs. See here: http://www.census.gov/geo/ www/tiger/
Good tip. I stand corrected.
As for the commercial products like Group1 AFAIK they actually work with the individual counties in the US and collect data county by county all the time to deal with new construction and so forth. They also cross check against the USPS
2003-03-06 6:33 am
Anonymous
This gay had more reasons to stay with MS/Win than benefits from making the switch…
I reread the article, but I didn’t see any mention of his sexual orientation.
2003-03-06 6:43 am
Anonymous
I have done consulting work (on a programming level, not the replace-a-mouse level) for several attorneys. I don’t know if anybody else has noticed this or not, but they are the stingiest bunch of tweezer butts I’ve ever met.
The fellow who wrote this article was using Windows 98. He’s obviously one of the spendier attorneys. I did work for lawyers who were still using DOS and WordPerfect 5.1. If that’s the level you are coming from, then anything (including, but not limited to a solar powered pinwheel) is going to make you more productive.
2003-03-06 8:16 am
Anonymous
First ome addtitonal sugaring of the original article. Quickstarters for OpenOffice and Mozilla “residing in the system tray” exist already.
And I agree that Linux in its own right is a more productive environment for the business user than Windows. That’s the only reason I switched my business a couple of years ago.
However, the problem is third party software not running on Linux. I don’t mean tools for word processing, communication, accounting and other main stream office software but highly “specialized” software. In fact I keep a Windows box just to be able to run one (1) application – in this case a CAT tool (translation business).
Olav
2003-03-06 9:50 am
Anonymous
If you don’t want to wait for Kexi, Mergeant (based on gnome-db) is much closer to having an Access workalike. It’s still very much in production but it has all the essential features like GUI query building and it can save databases to a file (xml i think)
2003-03-06 10:15 am
Anonymous
i use my PC to read/write word documents, spreadsheets, emails, netmeeting(audio and video conferance).. paltalk,trillian etc, to watch vcd+dvd and to listen my mp3 files. My cam is not supported on linux, nor a good voice chat software on linux. OO.org opens like in 1-2mins, saving a file on it takes so long as well.
Finding a new software to voice chat etc for linux is never easy, and eventhough i find it, i have to find like 3-4 more software(libs etc) to install it properly. the instant messaging software i tried on linux, etc: GAIM was really so ugly, and had none of the features that trillian(www.trillian.cc) offers me for free. Mozilla was terribly slow while browsing the internet, konquere was better but it was just a bit better than Mozilla thats all. when i tried to use icq2go(java app. icq) on mozilla and konquere; it just gave an error and didn’t work. I’m sure most of those issues would be resolved by tuning the system, downloading libs. etc; but aren’t those things that i would have in default. I mean isn’t it a normal thing nowadays to watch a vcd,dvd or listening mp3… (i have tried mandrake 9.0) And even my old video card(S3 virge GX/DX) had a problem with the new XFREE drivers, it was taking like 1-2mins to open xscreen(well the previous versions works fine with that)
i still do try new versions of different distro’s, maybe one day one of ’em works for me too.
Have a nice day all,
2003-03-06 11:24 am
Anonymous
Sadly this discussion forum has long since slipped into a nest of “zealots” spouting venom for or against whatever operating system (and no, I do not mean pro-Linux people – I mean pro-whatever OS and anti-whatever OS, and the OS can be Linux, BSD, Windows, BeOS, Mac, QNX. You name it, there’s someone who believes it’s the answer to all ills).
Like you said yourself, the guy is happier with Linux than Windows – he knows his job better than anyone here – yet the zealots troll out and say “get back to Windows!!!” etc.
Best of luck out there!
2003-03-06 1:06 pm
Anonymous
They remind me of comments on a article I wrote about my own switching to Linux, the comments where all about the headline.
Guess people can always find somthing to complain about 
2003-03-06 1:11 pm
Anonymous
Your “average” Joe doesn’t really care. Plain and simple.
I’m an “average” TV guy. I turn it on and surf the channels. I DON’T tinker in the guts of the thing. I don’t care what OS it runs. If I can do what I want/need to do, surf channels, then I don’t care. If it doesn’t work, I find someone who can fix it.
My GF is an “average” computer person. She turns the thing on, surfs the web, and plays games. She doesn’t care what OS it runs, just that it does what she wants or needs it to do. If it breaks, she has me fix it.
I don’t think I’m any less intelligent for the fact that I’m an “average” car user. I know how to get from point A to B and don’t care to mess with the internals. That’s what I pay a mechanic for.
And can we PLEASE stop worrying about Joe Average?
By definition, ~50% of all people are below average. Those who want to put in some effort will get it done, learn a new OS, or a new program. I mean really, how different is Office 95, 2k, and XP? For example all the new buttons, features, etc. or all the things that used to be somewhere are now somewhere else. Are the differences that tranparent or is it similar to the differences between XP, and KDE or Gnome or some other WM/DE?
Those who don’t, won’t, or can’t be bothered still have their VCRs blinking 12:00. Most people I know have that problem and I don’t think less of them for it. We have better things to worry about….
2003-03-06 1:58 pm
2003-03-06 2:06 pm
Anonymous
Who is this magical average user? Where are they? … Joe Average is a myth.
Go to work for any computer or ISP tech support and you’ll find out within about 15 minutes who Joe Average is. You ever met a person who it took you 15 minutes on the phone just to get them to click on the Start button? THAT is Joe Average.
2003-03-06 4:08 pm
Anonymous
Nope, he’s real:
http://www.millerpoolelord.com/kevin.htm
However, I had doubts at first since he isn’t entered in the Martindale Hubbell lawyer database.
2003-03-06 4:13 pm
Anonymous
Good call Rude Turnip.
Also, for those people caught up on the typo.
My wife was not a legal secretary but a paralegal and lawyers even with spell checks and other checks still make an amazing amount of spelling and grammar mistakes.
It is amazing how many zealots from all sides Windows, Linux and Macs are out there in the world.
One OS does not fit all. Why is it so hard to accept that one type of computer or OS does NOT fit all?
2003-03-06 4:42 pm
Anonymous
“My cam is not supported on linux, nor a good voice chat software on linux.”
Never tried Gnomemeeting eh? Blows Netmeeting out of the water.
For your IM needs, Jabber rules. Try Gabber, you’ll like it.
gabber.sf.net
2003-03-06 4:44 pm
Anonymous
” And who needs Dreamweaver when you have Netscape Composer?”
Actually, who needs any of them when you can just use your favourite texteditor?
Or can these suddenly shurn out valid HTML-strict and CSS?
2003-03-06 5:30 pm
Anonymous
Go to work for any computer or ISP tech support and you’ll find out within about 15 minutes who Joe Average is. You ever met a person who it took you 15 minutes on the phone just to get them to click on the Start button? THAT is Joe Average.
I work in tech support (part time, college), and I am well aware of the fact that the majority of the number of people there are who just cannot use computers. However, if you look at the total number of tech support calls we have you’ll see that a whole lot of the calls come from a smaller percentage of the population we support (meaning certain people call A LOT). By and large most people are able to get things going and not need our help. As I’ve said, the people who call a lot will need this kind of help no matter what OS they are using. It is most important for them to have support (either from a friend or business). They won’t get anything done on their own anyways.
2003-03-06 6:40 pm
2003-03-06 6:54 pm
Anonymous
“I believe people should consider switching to be more productive and make more money or spend less time in front of their computer and more time sailing”
Sailing? Why not punting on the Thames? What a crock!
Hey, Thurston Howell III: Many Americans actually work more than 40 hours a week just to make ends meet, and most of those who work with computers do not have a choice as to the software they work with, as that is determined by their employers.
It is pleasant for you I’m sure to be in a profession ruled by greed that allows you to make such liberating decisions and have the leisure time to sail or whatnot, but your experiences can hardly be labelled representitive or even demonstrable to the average worker.
2003-03-06 8:01 pm
Anonymous
What the f**k is your problem? Is this the only thing you can find to complain about? “Oooh, poor me…I can’t go sailing, I don’t have a fancy car…death to the rich! Death to the rich!” Grow the f**k up, and in the meantime, leave the posting to us grownups who have something fairly intelligent and enlightening to say. Now, go play outside–Mommy and Daddy have important things to do.
(By the way, he mentioned not only sailing but also spending time with your kids. Is that a rich-bastard activity, too?)
2003-03-06 8:05 pm
Anonymous
No, I think the big deal is to have a way to easily build queries and relationships. Passing dbs around is nothing more than passing around an db dump. I there was an app with the usablility and features of MS Access’ interface, then I think that would be a great boon to the OSS DB world.
Brett
> * GTK/QT front end for Mysql or Postgresql to mimic the functionality of
> Microsoft Access – this should be a standard part of any distribution
> proclaiming to be a “Desktop Linux.”
> I imagine it is included at this point with most distributions.
the big deal about access is NOT the front end, it’s the fact that you can easily send around mdb files, the database is contained in a file and presented as a document, just as is word.
Postgresql and Mysql are too much of a server for the end user, they don’t want to be exporting files and importing scripts, they couldn’t care less about XML. They want an easy “file that opens with an application and that i can email around” database
2003-03-07 1:13 am
Anonymous
Captain, I appreciate your mature discourse. Hopefully with tenough anger management and prescription drugs you’ll get your Tourette’s syndrome and rage issues under control.
In the meantime, keep reaching for the stars!
2003-03-07 2:27 am
Anonymous
I’m sure Gnomemeeting will work well with his unsupported video card.
Do you have any reason why you think Gnomemeeting is better than Netmeeting? http://www.gnomemeeting.org/index.php?rub=2&pos=0
The only interesting feature I see is callto:// links.
2003-03-07 3:11 am
Anonymous
There’s a name for this phenomenon (Can’t recall off the top of my head), but it’s like working at a hospital day in and out, and concluding that the country is deathly ill. Or working at the morgue… In short as people pointed out there’s really no Joe or Jane Average. Only whomever’s convenient to making one’s point (cynical view).
2003-03-07 3:24 am
Anonymous
http://www.unixodbc.org/doc/OOoMySQL.pdf
OpenOffice.org 1.0, ODBC, and MySQL ‘How-to
Something to try. I haven’t tried it with PostgreSQL yet.
2003-03-07 3:58 am
Anonymous
as people pointed out there’s really no Joe or Jane Average
I am aware of that, and have been saying it for quite awhile (and you are one of the few people who seems to agree)!
2003-03-07 9:24 am
Anonymous
OpenOffice.org 1.0, ODBC, and MySQL ‘How-to
Something to try. I haven’t tried it with PostgreSQL yet.
Try pgaccess or even better TOra (Tooliit for Oracle).
2003-03-07 9:39 am
Anonymous
Some users only know how to follow instructions ( could call them Joe or anything else ). They can learn how to go from A to B without difficulty but if anything changes they have to learn again where A is and B is and how to get between.
Those users shouldnt switch to Linux yet ( too many difficult howto’s )
Then there is the other group, that that invents the A and B for the other. They can if they are willing to try see what it is about the open environment that makes them more productive. Many things the Joe does with his mouse can be put into scripts that do what he does in a day, in less then a second.
Since most unix/linux programs have a command line interface most of them can be used in scripts. This makes *ux a more productive environment for the none joes.
2003-03-08 5:34 am
Anonymous
Ah, but I see you didn’t take the time to actually disagree with my evaluation of your level of maturity. Actually, it’s you who seems to have an anger management problem: you attack an author who has the financial means (I presume…then again, he is only an associate) to go sailing, even calling him names. You make absolutely no mention of his evaluation of Linux. Instead of debating him on his article’s merits, you simply lash out because he has what you don’t. I’m mature enough to debate the germaine points; it’s obvious you had nothing more pertinent to say, so you pissed and moaned about what you could. Shame on you.
And by the way, I’m not rich, so this isn’t some rich bastard sticking up for another. However, I there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy. So I reiterate: grow the f**k up.
Give me a friggin break…
Your honor my clinet Jim did not steal the Fararri, the Fararri wanted to be free.
I read a story about Walmart packaging a couple new linux products. I checked a few Walmarts and have not seen any Linux distros. As a matter of fact in the small city I live in Staples and Walmart used to both carry a small selection of Linux distros and quit doing this for one reason or another. When someone decides Linux is cool it’s front page news on every major techie news site. When some of the same people decide Linux was a bad idea, nobody reports it.
Well first off I couldn’t help noticing his comment about blue screens of death in windows 98.
In any case you look at his list:
* Draft/Exchange documents in Microsoft Word and
* Word Perfect formats
Obviously Windows has better support for Office.
* Print those documents
Depending on his printer this should be a scratch.
* E-mail correspondence
Here Linux should do better
* Conduct Online research
I.E. support might be needed otherwise a scratch.
* Manage my calendar and contacts synchronizing with my Palm Pilot
Should be a scratch
* Share my calendar and contacts with my secretary
Windows has this by a longshot. However KDE is fixing this and within a year or two…
* Manage my to-do lists and project outlines
I have trouble seeing how a lawyer has large project so I don’t even know what this means. As for to-do list I’d assume that’s a scratch, what OS can’t handle this?
* Draft/Exchange documents in Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 formats
Better for Windows
* Instant messaging with colleagues
Better for Windows
This guy just sounds like a terrible candidate for switching. He should have switched from Windows 98 to NT a long time ago. I don’t see anything where Linux is likely to bring much of an advantage and as he mentioned cost was not a factor.
Evidentally he liked Open Office more than MS Office which I find a little hard to believe. More stable/reliable possibly, more feature rich (which was his claim)?????
Now onto his list:
* Off-line Mapping (similar to MS Streets) solution – I am not sure of the availability of royalty free mapping data though.
There is no royalty free data. OTOH the best data is for sale in public formats. Further the best implementations are highly cross platform since they tend to run on enterprise systems, I’ve used it on: MVS, VMS, Solaris, AIX and Windows. As a side note as usual the windows implementation has the best gui and the worst feature set.
* Off-line Encyclopedia (anyone thought of moving Wikipedia to CDROM?)
The latest Britanica uses Java, so kill this one.
* Intuit’s Quickbooks – I know Appgen works and works well. I’d use it if I had the need, but an OS alternative doesn’t exist.
How would this be open source? Anyway its up to Intuit not the Linux community.
* GTK/QT front end for Mysql or Postgresql to mimic the functionality of Microsoft Access – this should be a standard part of any distribution proclaiming to be a “Desktop Linux.”
I imagine it is included at this point with most distributions.
* A “bundled” group of home user friendly and useful software to mimic Microsoft’s Works package.
The reason works exists is because its cheaper than office. With free software what’s the point of having a works clone?
* ….and a non-programmer database front-end with useful home user type templates.
Agreed, we need Access for Linux.
My favorite lines from the article are:
“Yes, I’ve had to recompile the kernel adding the ACPI patch to get my USB working properly on this particular laptop – long story. But the information is on the web and it’s not particularly hard to recompile a kernel.”
Items such as this, which would be deal-breakers for a vast number of users, are fairly glossed over, and statements such as (not a quote) ‘OpenOffice was a better interface than Microsoft Office for me’ aren’t really backed up. How many people do you know that actually know what “ACPI” is, let alone why it might be useful for USB. Heck, how many people do you know that know what a “kernel” and “compiling” are? Granted, this is a letter from one user and not a full report, but it’s hardly representative of the world.
The letter might have been from an “end-user perspective”, but he’s clearly not your average end-user.
> * GTK/QT front end for Mysql or Postgresql to mimic the functionality of
> Microsoft Access – this should be a standard part of any distribution
> proclaiming to be a “Desktop Linux.”
> I imagine it is included at this point with most distributions.
the big deal about access is NOT the front end, it’s the fact that you can easily send around mdb files, the database is contained in a file and presented as a document, just as is word.
Postgresql and Mysql are too much of a server for the end user, they don’t want to be exporting files and importing scripts, they couldn’t care less about XML. They want an easy “file that opens with an application and that i can email around” database
He also says:
“I switched because it worked BETTER and made me more PRODUCTIVE.”
Can someone please tell me where in the letter it describes just how it made him more productive? All I can see is a few points regarding Mozilla and OOo (both of which are better on Windows), and the comment that with Linux, he can Alt-Drag and Ctrl-Drag. Whoopee. He then lists a bunch of places where Linux isn’t good enough for his needs.
Just where does “more productive” enter the picture?
While the accounting of his experiences was well written, three things struck me.
1. He had to recompile the kernel. My wife wouldn’t have a clue. Until Linux gets away from that, it is condemned to be used by those of above average experience and intellect. Joe average is excluded.
2. He listed the tasks he uses a computer for and cites the superiority of a Microsoft product (Outlook) in many of his top priority tasks.
3. He has had great success importing and exporting Office documents (primarily Word). He obviously doesn’t work in my office where we regularly receive and send Project and PowerPoint files from contractors and government agencies. Those file formats are the key to my being able to do my job seamlessly and I don’t recall even a mention of file formats in the last few years. The assumption is that anyone working in the government contracting business can deal with the 4 key Office formats. So I couldn’t use Linux unless I used it in emulation mode … and why bother. My desktop XP hasn’t been booted in a month.
My developers all use it. Love it. But all of management, accounting, etc can’t. And until we all can ….
The network effect is awfully powerfull.
it might be something for the koffice package. Imagine .kdb files open with KAccess and can be emailed around
come on Kompany?
I’m happy to say that there’s finally an offline mapping program available. It could use some work, but it is useable. Give it a try.
http://roadmap.saignon.net
Kexi will do this, although it is still early stages so we will see if it survives.
http://luci.bux.at/projects/kexi/screenshots.html
http://luci.bux.at/projects/kexi/
Ever tried to get a USB palm working in Linux? It’s a bitch. The Palm only initalizes itself as a USB device when you try to HotSync the device from the Palm; and it sends the essential initialization code right after it’s initalized the port.
Serial is slow, especially if you want to copy large amounts of data (for example, a Palm with a SD/MMC card).
This gay had more reasons to stay with MS/Win than benefits from making the switch, all based on his statements. Thank him a lot for his address, but the whole text is just a free ad for his business.
I am more productive on Linux. But I’m not your average user. I’m faster at ripping/encoding and managing my music and video content. Its better for all network tasks, sharing desktops, filesystems, services, etc. Its better for most office software, cut and paste with one mouse click, many versions of word processors, spreadsheets, DB apps, etc. About the only thing lacking is good graphical audio and video editting software which is currently under heavy developement.
In the real world Linux is far more productive and stable than any Microsoft OS. But when you live in your hypothical world of computer users who can’t read or spell “computer” then yes, of course, Microsoft could possibly be more productive.
Everything else is just an excuse for your lack of productivity. I can hear them now.. “OOo opens too slowly”, “There’s too many options”, “I didn’t RTFM, please help me.. *whimper*”
I’m sick and tired of hearing all the same lame excuses over and over again. Be a little creative, come up with some new excuses why UNIX is too hard to work with. I’ve heard it all before.
And yes, believe it or not, Open Office does have better features than MS Office. Try exporting a csv file in Excel with a “:” delimiter, then pick up OOo and try it there. Or try opening a csv file for either one. This is but one example. If it doesn’t get the point across its hopeless to try to explain anything to you, you’re too closed minded.
“I switched because it worked BETTER and made me more PRODUCTIVE.”
“Yes, I’ve had to recompile the kernel adding the ACPI patch to get my USB working properly on this particular laptop – long story.”
Yeah, now THAT sounds productive.
He also says.
“In other words, I believe people should consider switching to be more productive and make more money or spend less time in front of their computer and more time sailing, hiking and playing with their kids.
To me this sounds more like an arguement for the windows side of things.
This gay…
I guess I just misread that.
My apologies, damn English and spelling, I wanted to say “guy”. Once again very, very sorry.
You are a funny “guy”. I had titled the post “Free Promo” and you combined my “gay” with your “Free Porno” Ha-ha-grrrrrr!!!
“Until Linux gets away from that, it is condemned to be used by those of above average experience and intellect. Joe average is excluded.”
It always bugs me when people make it sound like the OS you use says anything about your intellect. Just because someone is willing to spend their time learning a complex OS like Linux, it doesn’t mean they’re smarter or more capable than “Joe average”.
My next door neighbour tweaks his car’s engine as a hobby, does that mean that he’s smarter than a Joe average car user, who just uses it to get from A to B?
This efficiency thing needs to be addressed. For those who know how to use Linux, like this guy seems to, it is more efficient. I recompile kernels, compile software, play with CVS releases, etc. It doesn’t mean I spend a whole lot of time doing it. For me, installing Gentoo is a 10 minute affair, after which I let the computer chug for about 8 hours while I go work or sleep or whatever. When I come back, I’m staring at a fully installed Gentoo system. It is physically impossible to install Windows with only 10 minutes of interaction, because you have an initial interaction, a long delay while files copy, then more settings to fiddle with. Updating Gentoo involves a simple “emerge world” after which I go to sleep. I wake up, and the computer is fully updated. Updating Windows is a manual process requiring all sorts of user interaction. Installing software in Gentoo literally takes only 10 seconds of my time. It takes more than 10 seconds just to click through all the “Next” buttons in a Windows installer. Once I overcame the initial learning curve, years ago, the rest became much faster. Thus, I spend a whole lot more time doing tech support for my parents Windows systems than I do maintaining my Linux/BSD systems. Think of Linux like a powerful program like Blender or Houdini. The initial learning curve is often quite steep (although it’s not even that steep for something like RedHat 8.1) but the efficiency while working with it is much better.
The poor guy switched from MS Windows to Linux and you are giving him hard time here and saying that he should have stayed on Windows? What the hell is up here? The guy needs a big congratulations and some support not people bringing out the faults in his story and definetly not people telling him to go back to Windows.
Yes, it’s “another one of those stories” but geez give the man a break…
I’m happy to say that there’s finally an offline mapping program available. It could use some work, but it is useable. Give it a try.