Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (1123 mails)

[mhtexcollins@xxxxxxxx (TEX)]

YES. YES, YES,:!!!

Steven T. Hatton wrote:
> 
> Michael Lankton wrote:
> 
> > What you all need to take into consideration is that linux is a unix
> > clone.  Unix systems need to be ADMINISTERED, they were never meant to
> > be desktop boxes.  Joe User on a unix network runs his applications, but
> > the sysadmin is responsible for all the administration tasks.  Well, if
> > you are running a unix box at home, regardless of whether it's freebsd,
> > linux or whatever, you have willingly chosen to become a unix system
> > administrator.  I don't understand all the whining about something
> > you've voluntarily chosen to do.  If people come to linux expecting a
> > windows that isn't windows, they are going to be disappointed and
> > frustrated.
> 
> <SoapBox>
> I came to Linux in order to learn more about Unix system administration.  I use
> Solaris at work, and figured that Linux would be a good place to start.  I could
> have bought Solaris x86 for $99 as a student.  I would have done so, except I found
> Linux to be capable of much more than I had imagined.  I have been configuring
> systems since '92.  I also worked on guided missile, digital electronics for 5
> years.  In addition I have a CS degree with a concentration in hardware.  I don't
> mind configuring systems, and I'm pretty good at it.
> 
> I have been involved with NT since it was in beta.  I believe that Unix, and open
> systems in general,  are superior to NT for both technical and economic reasons.
> The big advantage that NT has over Linux is the ease with which a novice can
> configure it.  Linux is not nearly as easy to configure.  Grant you it is capable
> of doing a lot more than NT.  When one asserts that one operating system is
> superior to another, he is basically saying that the better OS is more reliable,
> efficient, and capable of performing a wider variety of tasks.  One of the
> functions that is being demanded of OS's these days is to provide easy to use
> configuration tools.  I see nothing wrong with this.  Ease of configuration makes
> sense if the OS is to move beyond the enclave of highly specialized computer
> scientist.  There are many very intelligent people who would love to use Linux
> except they don't want to spend hours or even days trying to configure their
> printer.  Personally, I want to start using it for Mathematica.  If I am in the
> middle of generating a very complex animation of a physical system I don't want to
> have to take time out to try and figure out how to reconfigure some aspect of my
> OS.
> 
> I have the feeling that the people who don't like all the talk about Linux becoming
> user-friendly are afraid they will loose some perceived advantage over others if
> this happens.  These are perhaps the same people who feel that they are smarter
> than everybody around them because others don't know as much about computers.  This
> is the "if you aren't an expert in my field, you can't be very smart" syndrome.
> There is also the "what are you doing on this road with your horseless carriage?
> You're scaring my horses" syndrome.  You guys who want to continue to use vi to
> write your doctoral thesis are free to do so.  I will still use vi to edit my
> /etc/hosts file.
> 
> Linux can beat the pants off Micro$oft in the open market, if it becomes more user
> friendly.  At work we have several Compaq Proliant 7000s with 4 CPU's, 4 Gig of
> RAM, 450 Gig of hard drive and Windoze NT running on them.  This is enough power to
> handle most data processing need of a medium size organization.  All the file and
> print servers in the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are running NT.  All
> the user work stations are running NT.  There are many people pushing very hard to
> try to do everything on NT.  The biggest advantage I can see NT has is its GUI
> configuration tool set.  M$ did a good job of designing the overall architecture of
> NT.  It is very modular, uses a micro-kernel concept, and uses a pretty good VMM.
> Some of these features are not part of the current Linux architecture, as I
> understand it.  This means that in the short run NT is probably easier to modify
> and improve.  There is no way that DISA could implement the same NT based system
> they currently have on Linux without a support staff with far more computer
> knowledge than the one that they have.
> 
> Making machines do things that are difficult, time consuming, or boring is the
> whole idea of computers.  If Linux and the GPL concept is so great, (and I believe
> it is) then Linux can be made to help the user configure his system in a way
> superior to M$.
> </SoapBox>
> 
> Sorry if this rambles a bit.  I need to think about these ideas more so that I can
> find better words.
> 
> Steve
> 
> --
> 
> [<A HREF="http://counter.li.org";><A HREF="http://counter.li.org</A">http://counter.li.org</A</A>>]  Yo Bill!  Doo-bee, doo-bee, doo.
> 
> THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no human
> invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man. - Thomas
> Paine,  _The Age of Reason_
> 
> [L]et [the charter] be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let
> a crown be placed thereon, by which; the world may know, that so far as we approve
> of monarchy, that in America the law is king.  - Thomas Paine, *Common Sense*,
> February 14th, 1776
> 
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IMHO BEST Beginners book so far. Sams' Teach Yourself Linux in 24 hours.
redhat press.

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Celis Gran Cru and Linux;  Nowhere but South Austin Texas.
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TEX             <A HREF="http://www.ccms.net/~mhtexcollins/78704.htm";><A HREF="http://www.ccms.net/~mhtexcollins/78704.htm</A">http://www.ccms.net/~mhtexcollins/78704.htm</A</A>>

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