“If anything is creating a stir in the world of computing these days, it’s definitely Linux. You may have heard a lot of things about Linux, or not much at all, depending on what you read and who you talk to. Comments range from how incredible Linux is and how it will be a serious threat to Microsoft, to how difficult it is to use, and how there’s no software support. Well, every tidbit you hear gained life from some sort of truth, but it’s hard to put all the facts together when they’re being fired at you from all over the place. With this article I hope to tell a prospective Linux user what he or she needs to know to make the decision to switch. I’m not talking enterprise server stuff here, you can find information on that all over the place. I’m talking about the OS on your home PC that you’re probably using right now.” Read the article at LinuxOrbit. Also check the guide for new Linux users at ExtremeTech.
Why You Want Linux – Or Not
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I think that the article misrepresent the actual situation.
If you are an hardcore gamer and you want to use linux you have just 2 step to follow:
1 gather all your clan to move
2 make all of them ask for the port of the game to linux
Seems fool but it will work for sure.
I remeber that the engine used in tribesII is ported to linux too
And that NeverWinterNights will be released to linux Mac and Win32 simultaneously (the sad is that there is a BeOS version that won’t be released for obvious reason)
the only problem is that Loki games bankrupt because of mismanagement and now there aren’t many initiatives but icculus.org and linuxgames.
“This GPL licensing is the main reason why Linux development has exploded over the last few years”
Nonsense. Marketting is responsible for the Linux boom. The GPL does have somewhat of a religious following, and this might be somewhat of a contributer, but in the end it is the money which determines what really happens.
It might also be noted that where Linux has been ‘booming’ is in the commercial UNIX sector. It has been replacing commercial UNIX — which isn’t anything terribly surprising. Who would pay for an expensive commercial UNIX when they can have a perfectly capable clone for next to nothing?
Licensing however has little to do with its popularity. If such conclusions were correct then BSD should be that much more popular (considering how much more business friendly its licensing is).
Just my 2 cents.
That actually wasnt a bad article, gives a good “in a nutshell ” view of linux. Although there were some technical mistakes (its not called XWindows, its X Window System), and other small things like that (Wine isnt technically an emulator), it explains the big parts and players in the linux world.
I’m glad it mentioned apt-get for a solution to “dependency hell” because it does such a good job at it. I was also relieved to see how brutally honest he was about gamers wanting to run linux.
I want FreeBSD, and I’ve got it! 🙂
My reason is that I’m not relying on some corporation to guide my experience, but rather a group of individuals who are like me. I feel more or less welcome with FreeBSD whereas with closed source systems I feel at the mercy of some others. It also makes me feel good when I can help out in some way and know that what I’ve done contributed to more than just a bank roll. Basically, I’d rather have my name in a cvs log than a passport profile.
linux promised everything back in 1999 and couldn’t deliver for desktop users. the only people linux is still a big deal to are gurus and people that haven’t actually tried it. nobody in the middle cares anymore.
>linux promised everything back in 1999 and couldn’t >deliver for desktop users. the only people linux is >still a big deal to are gurus and people that haven’t >actually tried it. nobody in the middle cares anymore
Could you give the name of any OS except Window$ and Mac that could give a better desktop capability compared to Linux? Other OS fanatic (not for those non fanatic because I love other OS especially OSS one) used to bash Linux and praise their favourite OS for superiority.
The fact is that most of the good OS (such *BSD) fail in term of user friendliness. BeOS entirely dead and just leave the zealot struggling for replacement – hopefully they managed to do it very fast since I like it too. Other OS that look like more user friendly (such as SkyOS, MenuetOS etc) are lack hardware support.
So what other choice that we have? Either keep ourmouth shut (especially about cost) and use Window$ or OS X or just use Linux as what it is but the better way is by helping to improve it (or improve the other alternative OS)
“Could you give the name of any OS except Window$ and Mac that could give a better desktop capability compared to Linux?”
Well, there are basically three choices in the OS department *Nix (Linux/BSD), Mac, or Windows. Sure, there are others, but for serious desktop users (and notice I didn’t say OS tweakers!), these are the main three, so take your pick.
I personally prefer Windows over the other two, and I know that perplexes the hell out of Linux and Mac pundets, who just can’t understand why the masses don’t bow down and worship their OS of choice as they do.
I say, use whatever works for you and leave everyone else the hell alone.
Most of these viewpoints presume that computer users must be american, or living in some economically buoyant place. There are many places in the world where even the govt cannot afford the cost of Windows licencing – where a 100 us dollars could be worth 6 months work. In these places, linux will be a viable alternative, unless, of course, they decide to encourage piracy. You have only to look at the history Linux in Brazil or South Korea – and South Korea is comparatively buoyant nation -to see what I mean.
Anyway, we have all been spoiled by new technology. Just 5 years ago, a lot of people were using win 3.1/netscape 2.0, over a 14.44kpbs modem, and loving it. These days however, linux as a desktop OS is a disaster becuase, the default installation doesn’t have pretty icons. Go figure.
I’ve been reading these form for some time now and I still don’t understand all the bashing of different OS’s.
WHen will people realize that all OS’s have there strong parts and weak parts (especially Win & Linux).
Linux is much better then windows on the server side where windows is better on the client side. I know you geaks will try to tell me linux is just as capable on the client side but wake up….it never going to happen…where I work we have 500 end users…..try telling all them we are taking away windows and office….it will never happen.
Same as with the web guys……try telling them your taking away their Linux/APache web servers and switching them to NT…..it will never happen.
<blockquote>Could you give the name of any OS except Window$ and Mac that could give a better desktop capability compared to Linux?</blockquote>
That’s a pretty big “except,” isn’t it?
“Could you give me the name of any OS except those two that together comprise 99.8% of the desktop market that could give a better desktop capability compared to Linux?”
>linux promised everything back in 1999… nobody in the middle cares anymore
Linux has never PROMISED anything to anyone. It can’t, it’s simply as OS. People promise, and everyone has their own option. That’s all. Linux continues to get better every day, and is not going away.
The funny thing is this… I’ve been watching Linux for over 5 years. In the early days it was REALLY bad. Now, in the last year or so, it’s actually become usable – for ME – and my wife, and some of my friends.
You see, I agree that people should use what works – use what they like. The only problem I see with Microsoft is that they’re going to GIVE you what THEY like, what THEY want you to have. You really don’t have much of a choice – except use a different OS. They’re driving people to this, whether people realize this or not.
Linux is all about people being able to choose what WE want and use and freely develop software as a COMMUNITY. That’s what’s neat. There is no Microsoft community – only users – people with blinders on who aren’t looking into the future to what Microsoft has in store for them.
So, I you want to pay more money to the richest company in the world, and have them continue to make decisions for you (Passport anyone?), then by all means – use what you like.
But, I have to agree with the article, Linux for most is still too difficult for most people. I for one, pride myself on not fitting into this category.
I was one of those. I quited when I realeased that I was wasting my (life) time.
I use windows most of the time. It has Internet Explorer 6, Office 2000, lots of good (excelent) freeware, very good stuff, and lots of demo and trials versions (say Photoshop 6 and Maya Personal Learning Edition, (Macromedia – almost all), Java 2 SDK, etc. ! ].
So, when I feel the need for Unix I use mostly FreeeBSD
or Mandrake.
If you like to use Linux you are wasting time on non-working, non-usable, non-professional software; Unforfunately !!
Software Availability: There just plain isn’t much software from the big Windows software companies available for Linux…
This is true, but without too much trouble I can run many popular Windows programs with Wine or the Crossover plugin. On the other hand, there are many applications for Linux which are as good or better than comparable Windows programs. Overall, there are more applications for Linux than Windows.
…Games, on the other hand, are a different story. As of the time of this writing, if you’re a serious gamer, you probably want to stick with Windows for a while.
Well, that really depends on what kinds of games you are talking about. If you only play 3D games that you can buy from a large retail store, this is true, but there are literally thousands of games available for Linux (such as solitare games, classic arcade games, board games, strategy games, puzzles, poker and other card games, etc.)
Also, this means that the days of borrowing programs from your friends are over.
That is not a bad thing since you can legally have access to all the Linux programs you want for free if you are willing to download them.
I see what the author is saying, but I wish he would have been more complete in his conclusions.
as an experiment I put my non-technical father in front of a box with Mandrake 8.0 on it and gave him the login password.. within a few minutes he was logged in, browsing the web in netscape, checking ( my ! ) email and had a few lines of text laid out in KWord
I’d say that Mandrake passed the usability test – his only computing experience was MS Outlook, Word 97 and various technical software running under Win95 at work.
I dont still have mandrake installed cos of driver problems with some of my hardware and the complete refusal of its installer to make an install that cohabits with windows 2000 or XP
> “This GPL licensing is the main reason why Linux
> development has exploded over the last few years”
>
>Nonsense. Marketting is responsible for the Linux boom.
Mmm, marketting is a recent thing in the Linux boom, it came AFTER Linux was starting to be widespread.
Sure, it will help going further but this is not the main cause..
As for the BSD/GPL may be the GPL helped Linux reaching a ” critical mass” of users where big business took notice, maybe it’s more because Linux developement is perceived as more open, maybe it is because Linux developers can use BSD code but not the other way round..
Who knows? But it is not so foolish to say that maybe the big number of developers and users of Linux is because they prefer GPL to BSD..
“You see, I agree that people should use what works – use what they like. The only problem I see with Microsoft is that they’re going to GIVE you what THEY like, what THEY want you to have.
Fortunately though, I like what MS has to offer. I think IE is a better browser than anything else I’ve tried (Mozilla, Opera, Galleon, etc)
“You really don’t have much of a choice – except use a different OS.”
Well, in the case of browsers, you could use a different browser and explorer replacement and avoid IE altogether. Of course, some people will bitch & moan that they have to use IE with Windows Update, to which I say whatever … these people are just looking for a reason to bitch anyway.
“Linux is all about people being able to choose what WE want and use and freely develop software as a COMMUNITY. That’s what’s neat.”
Well, for me *personally*, I like the stuff on the Microsoft side better than anything I’ve tried that was written by the ‘community’, except for the ‘gdict’ utility that comes with Gnome – that little program is pretty snazzy
Galleon isn’t bad either, but I still prefer IE.
Even still, most of the stuff on the Linux side is quite usable and better depending on who you ask. It’s all a matter of perspective and personal preference.
“So, I you want to pay more money to the richest company in the world, and have them continue to make decisions for you (Passport anyone?), then by all means – use what you like.”
Of course, there is another alternative …
You can pirate the stuff as many people do. If you really want to hurt MS, I think downloading a copy of Windows XP for free off Usenet would piss Billy off more than using an alternative OS
— Quote —
linux promised everything back in 1999 and couldn’t deliver for desktop users. the only people linux is still a big deal to are gurus and people that haven’t actually tried it. nobody in the middle cares anymore.
— End Quote —
Yeah, that Linux Corp. is all about vaporware and using FUD to crush its competitors. Why, I remember when they promised Linux95 way back when. Well, we know how that worked out. It took far longer than their talking heads had promised, but it created enough uncertainty to kill off OS/2. Never believe any promises Linux makes!
QNX could be made a very good desktop OS with some help. You can already use photon tools to configure your network, mouse, graphic card, keyboard, etc; which solves the text command line and editing files type of configuration so well known in other unix systems.
The main problem with QNX at the moment is not the OS itself, it’s getting quite good and will be even better with the incoming 6.2 release, it’s the actual lack of applications.
At this moment I have Gimp, AbiWord, Bochs and a couple of simple games. It’s a start, but QNX will require much more, and this is where the community can jump in and give a hand.
>you want to pay more money to the richest company in the world
My l33t w4r3z ftp ups/dls is fr33
“Could you give the name of any OS except Window$ and Mac that could give a better desktop capability compared to Linux?”
IMHO, OpenBeos will be a great alternative to windows for the desktop.
Linux lack of uniformity, I think. You need a coherent and simple desktop.
Linux is very nice to use with commande line, but when you choose graphical user interface, it’s a nightmare. Too many desktop and widget choice, too may dependency, etc.
I hope OBOS will release a final version soon.
*sigh* I’m getting so tired of reading these flame exchanges. Personally, I think the answer is simple: people hate change.
The reason Linux holds such a small part of the desktop market is simply that. It’s the same reason that people who learn to drive automatic first have a hard time learning standard.
The simple fact is that most people use their computers as a tool. Once they’ve learned to use that tool, then if it ain’t broke, they ain’t gonna fix it. People who have been brought up using Windows couldn’t be bothered to expend a bunch of energy learning how to use Linux. Why would they? They know how to use their computers to get the job done, and that’s all they need.
I think the zealots who want Linux on every desktop are approaching this the wrong way. We don’t need Linux on home desktops. Put Linux on school desktops, and you’ve got a whole generation of computer users who have learned to use their computers, their tools, in a whole new way: the Linux way. And, like Windows users now, if they can get the job done using Linux, they won’t want to change.
I often see people bashing linux saying “it will NEVER be a desktop threat”. How is it that BeOS was a viable threat but not Linux? As far as i know, there was no good office suite for BeOS, but ohhhh right…i forgot, BeOS was pretty and could do stuff no one cared about (such as streeam 6 media files and not miss a frame. To say linux isnt quite ready for the desktop is partially correct if you ask me. Personally, i think it does nicely on my desktop machines, my sister likes it (and she knows absolutely nothing about computers). However to say that it will NEVER be ready is just plain false. Every day linux distros become more and more user friendly, and one day i do believe it will be easy enough to use for newbies. Ever try to configure a network card in Windows 3.1 (note: not Windows for Workgroups, but real Win 3.1), it was about as hard as it got, yet no one bashed it. Things do get better.
I think you hit it bang on. Certain LUGs (like the one im part of) are working to place linux computers/courses into elementary and high schools to get expose the kids to new things. I also think there should be more Apple computers in schools too though, then again maybe its just around here that there arent any. It would be a big bonus for someone to graduate from high school and be able to work with Windows, MacOS and Linux. I consider myself pretty darn computer litterate, but i cant use MacOS (pre X) worth beans, i wish someone had taught me that.
People often say the BSD is more friendly to businesses, that is not neccesarily true. If IBM is going to contribute to an open source Unix clone, why would it contribute to a BSD just so apple can take that work an integrate it into OSX for instance.
The GPL is a contract that allows companies to make software open source, without the fear that their competitors will use it against them.
Companies (like Microsoft) who have no intention of releasing free to use, open source software, almost certainly prefer the “Business friendly” BSD license: they are getting free code! But companies who are going to release software, almost always do so under restrictions so as not to allow competitors a benefit.
<QUOTE>
Of course, there is another alternative …
You can pirate the stuff as many people do. If you really want to hurt MS, I think downloading a copy of Windows XP for free off Usenet would piss Billy off more than using an alternative OS
</QOUTE>
Actually I dont think so.. M$ have enough money to afford that a lot of home-computers run their software for “free”. But in the long run, those people who choose to do this, are actually just helping Windows to spread even more. So someday, when the little boy grows up, joins a company, and get the responsibility for purchases in the IT-departmen.. You figure out the end of the story..
<QOUTE>
<QUOTE>
Of course, there is another alternative …
You can pirate the stuff as many people do. If you really want to hurt MS, I think downloading a copy of Windows XP for free off Usenet would piss Billy off more than using an alternative OS
</QOUTE>
Actually I dont think so.. M$ have enough money to afford that a lot of home-computers run their software for “free”. But in the long run, those people who choose to do this, are actually just helping Windows to spread even more. So someday, when the little boy grows up, joins a company, and get the responsibility for purchases in the IT-departmen.. You figure out the end of the story..
</qoute>
You beat me to it. I think that this is one of the reasons why mp3 music has boomed over the years. It’s because alot of people download mp3’s, spread it (files or word) to other people which will also download mp3’s…
I think macs are very common in schools. At one time they were about the only thing. When I was in elementary school all we had were those apple/macs that looked like atari 800 knockoffs. I’m having Logo flashbacks now. Anyways those things were still being used when i graduated in 1999, i think they were still teaching logo on them and people played oregon trail. My school had very few computers but there where some macs around, though i think once the G3 and up came out mac’s in schools took a skid do to cost. I imaging many schools have Imacs. My school didn’t get any modern PC’s till my senior year. I think many schools are dealling with just getting computers and a place to put them and a person to set them up. Most will want to have windows on the computers for office since thats what students have at home. To be usefull they would need to be able to go back and forth with there files with no hassel. Also basicly all commercial eductional is windows and mac. I know my college has many many macs around, just no one uses them. Same with our Sun labs, I know of at least two labs now. One probly has 50 suns in it and you see maybe 2 people in there.
Brad
What’s the big deal about this article? So we can add one more article about “Why you may or may not want Linux” on the pile of the million and one that have already been written. People really need to get a new topic. This one has been written about way more than it deserves already.
“If you like to use Linux you are wasting time on non-working, non-usable, non-professional software; Unforfunately !!”
Tell that to IBM.
Personally, I’ve been using KDE 3 on top of the latest Linux kernel for a while and to tell you the truth I enjoy it far more then ME, XP, yada yada. The only areas where I find it lacking is when I want to use a program like Dreamweaver, Orcad, or a game. I don’t play many games (don’t have the time; imagine that) and WINE is getting better at running the other two (not perfect yet tho) so for now I’m forced to switch over into Windohs for those. In the server dept. Debian has given me very few problems, provides most of the services you would expect out of something like XP Server, and runs well on what is considered and “obsolete” machine now by Windows (a celeron 300A).
I’m pretty convinced a company (a small one at the very least) can save massive amounts of money by running OSS projects like Linux, OpenBSD, Apache, and Samba provided they have properly trained personnel to run it (hey if I can learn how use it effectively I’m pretty sure everyone else can). Well thats my two cents.
>> People often say the BSD is more friendly to businesses, >> that is not neccesarily true. If IBM is going to
>> contribute to an open source Unix clone, why would it
>> contribute to a BSD just so apple can take that work an
>> integrate it into OSX for instance.
with the BSD liscence IBM don’t have to realease their source if it’s that good, but they can still sell a product where as if IBM use the GPL anyone can take their source and compile their own version which kinda kills the idea of selling it so IBM sell services instead.
Screw Linux.
You have a world full of people that can’t even set up a VCR, it’s still blinking “12:00” to this very day, and yet they can use Windows with no trouble.
Then look at Linux. You have people conversant with a DOS command line and maybe even programming, they might even have the correct time on their VCR’s, and yet they can’t whip Linux into submission no matter how many distributions they try.
Which one do you think people will use?
Linux nerds will read this plain simple truth and dismiss it as a “flame” like the clueless zealots that they are. That’s why Linux is doomed. Apache may be a big deal today, but when the people making the decisions are replaced by the next generation, the generation that grew up on Windows, the generation sick of how Linux only works on *other people’s* pc’s but never their own, then things will be different.
It really says alot when a whole world full of zealots can’t even make an OS as useable as even Windows after being given so many years to try.
And no, I will not go RTFM. I do not have to do it for any other appliance I use, and I will not do it for my PC.
Understand this, or get replaced by an OS that does.
“Screw Linux.
You have a world full of people that can’t even set up a VCR, it’s still
blinking “12:00″ to this very day, and yet they can use Windows with no
trouble.”
Boot up the machine, let KDM load (or what ever you use to login), log in the KDE deskotp. Read a howto explaining the differences between the Unix command prompt and DOS. Now was that hard? :-p
Please feel free to panic if your IT people have a hard time correcting the time on VCRs.
“Linux nerds will read this plain simple truth and dismiss it as a “flame” like the clueless zealots that they are. That’s why Linux is doomed. Apache may be a big deal today, but when the people making the decisions are replaced by the next generation, the generation that grew up on Windows, the generation sick of how Linux only works on *other people’s* pc’s but never their own, then things will be different.”
What we don’t count as part of that next generation huh? *waits for a great plague to wipe us out* I’m sorry the Linux learning curve beat you into the ground. Of course most good skills have a sharp initial learning curve so you shouldn’t let it it get the best of you 😉
“And no, I will not go RTFM. I do not have to do it for any other appliance
I use, and I will not do it for my PC.”
Good gawd your a walking disaster waiting to happen. Personally before I use anything I make damn well sure I browse over a user manual for it. Common sense right? :-p
“Understand this, or get replaced by an OS that does.”
Waiting for Linux to get replaced 🙂 heh heh.
I don’t want one software company (or bank, supermarket, auto maker, etc.) to choose from.
I want Linux (and Apple and BEOS and any other alternative computer platform) available for choice and competition.
– Mark
” You have a world full of people that can’t even set up a VCR, it’s stillblinking “12:00″ to this very day, and yet they can use Windows with no trouble.” ”
Well, it is BECAUSE they are technologically clueless that they are using Windows in the first place. Cluelessness and usage of Windows correlate to an extrememly high P value.
And, yes, they spend a LOT of time calling tech support.
“Boot up the machine, let KDM load (or what ever you use to login), log in the KDE deskotp. Read a howto explaining the differences between the Unix command prompt and DOS. Now was that hard? :-p ”
Yeah. Works great until your system starts hanging on bootup for some reason (maybe an NFS mount is unavailable or something). Now you get to learn about things like runlevels and rc scripts.
That’s the problem with Linux on the average user’s desktop. It’s easy to use until it stops working. And when it stops working, it is nearly impossible for the average user to troubleshoot it. This is an area where Windows has been steadily improving (now there are even troubleshooting wizards that walk you through fixing aproblem including opening the relevant control panels automatically for you), but an area that has been seriously neglected by Linux.
“Well, it is BECAUSE they are technologically clueless that they are using Windows in the first place. Cluelessness and usage of Windows correlate to an extrememly high P value.”
Hmm… Since you are throwing out terms used for statistical regression tests, I might as well point out that you made the most elementary error in basic statistics.
Repeat the mantra: Association does NOT prove causation.
It is just plain stupid to suggest that cluelessness causes people to use Windows. More like “I can only get the apps I need to use if I run Windows” causes people to use Windows. Why do you think even traditional Unix strongholds are slowly moving away from Unix and towards Windows? Apps just aren’t available for Unix and many companies have discontinued their Unix support.
Since you are talking about statistics, I can count on one hand the number of statistics packages that are available for Linux. And they do not include the big ones such as SAS or SPSS. I believe SAS used to be available for some flavors of Unix, but now it is only available for Windows.
If you really want to do some statistics, you will probably find a much stronger relationship between use of windows and lack of applications for other platforms.
“If you like to use Linux you are wasting time on non-working, non-usable, non-professional software; Unforfunately !!”
I’m no Linux expert, but let’s take a page out of my life to draw a comparison.
I installed Debian potato without any options selected, ran apt-get to download X, Mozilla, vim and sereral other things I wanted and was up and running in under 20 minutes. Next I downloaded the latest kernel and the kernel tools I needed, configured and recompiled my kernel to optimize my system (which I didn’t really need to do, but now it runs better since I trimmed the fat and added ext3 support). This took me about 15 to 20 minutes. This was back in November of 2001. I haven’t rebooted or been down since then (except for one power outage). I point apt to the testing branch and update my machine about once a week, without a reboot.
At the same time, I installed a Windows XP machine. This took me about an hour. Then I downloaded and installed all the security and driver updates. I had to reboot a couple of times during the process. I would estimate it took between 30 and 40 minutes. After that, I installed an editor I like and had to reboot again. Then I installed Office XP and had to reboot again, and so on. I have had this machine crash (or rather its performance degrade to the point of unfunctionality) several times.
Also, during this time a power outage caused both of my machines to turn off. Once the power was restored, I booted my Debian machine. After a filesystem integrity check, the machine started up and worked fine. The XP machine, on the other hand, booted up to a “blue screen of death”, which informed me that my registry was corrupt and Windows couldn’t boot. Needless to say, I had to install XP, which took an hour, download patches, which took 30-40 minutes, etc. etc.
Windows took twice as long to install, was unstable, did not weather a power outage well, and needed to be rebooted constantly.
Now, I think it is pretty clear which OS is the non-working, unprofessional, time-wasting, flakey, Operating System.
Windows XP!!!
Simba says:
“Since you are talking about statistics, I can count on one hand the number of statistics packages that are available for Linux. And they do not include the big ones such as SAS or SPSS. I believe SAS used to be available for some flavors of Unix, but now it is only available for Windows.”
Google Groups says:
‘This may or not not help…. There`s apparently a GPL`d clone of the `S`
language (from AT&T) , which is a Matlab-like environment for working up
data and generating graphics, except `S` is oriented towards statistics.
I`ve never used it, but I found `S` to be pretty productive when I was a
grad student. Anyway, the clone is called `R` (:-) and I found it at
rpmfind.net’
Try:
http://www.r-project.org/
http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=R&submit=Sea……
http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?keywords=R-&s…
Not as polished I’m sure but thats the trade off of working with GPL for now 😉
“Google Groups says:
‘This may or not not help…. There`s apparently a GPL`d clone of the `S`
language (from AT&T) , which is a Matlab-like environment for working up
data and generating graphics, except `S` is oriented towards statistics. ”
R is a statistical programming language. It is not a statistical analysis program. So basically, R is useless to me as well as to the vast majority of scientists interested in applied statistics to analyize their research data.
That is another problem with most of the so called “applications” available for Linux. They are not applications at all, but rather are technical programming languages that allow you to write applications.
You did not need to reboot as many times as you said. You could download all the patches and reboot once for that. And you do not have to reboot for an office install. The install does take an hour. But when its done istalling your good to go. I didn’t restart for a while after installing. And XP goes for months without a restart. Since a month is longer than the time between power outages or leaving for a week or so it is just fine for me. Not many people leave a computer on for over a month. I should put a uptime thing on my roomates computer. it used to run like crap and we thought it was cause it was an emachine, I installed 2k on it and i think it has been restarted once in 4 almost 5 months. and that was because he decided he should reboot it cause he just thought you should from time to time.
Well I’ve downloaded and tried out r-gnome (a gnome front end for the R enviroment; just type apt-get install r-gnome if your on debian). It has an enviroment that very much resembles matlab or maple. The only thing I find lacking in it is perhaps the nicer spread sheet front ends that SPSS and SAS possess. That shouldn’t slow you down though. You can just put the data into something like KSpread and import it into the R enviroment later.
BTW: The have an entire manual dedicated to the stuff the you can import and export with this thing.
Minitab, S-PLUS, SAS, SPSS, Stata, Octave….
You can even hook it up to a database if you want to.
Its hardly limited to being a programming langauge alone.
“Its hardly limited to being a programming langauge alone.”
I didn’t realize there was a Gnome front end to it. I just downloaded and played with R itself.
Thanks though. I will look into the frontend and see if it makes it usable for me.
Cool 🙂 I hope it does. Hey you can always program extensions for it as well if its missing something.