On Friday 24 May 2002 21:07, Michael Hasenstein wrote:
usb wrote:
... Would'nt have some difficulties out there, if used to linux whole yr life long, Yu, now, wd be forced to understand the M$ skills at once ?
I read comments out there abt multiple apps for linux, duplicate, triplicate,...
Are You sure there are'nt 5 or 6 browsers which work under M$ Window$ ?
But one is actually enough. In Linux, you have pages where you need to switch to the other browser, or if you just have netscape 6.2 (or 7PR1 or mozilla) you have the crash and freeze issues, apart from mem. usage. Just MS IExplorer seems to be enough for all webpages out there, it seems.
That isn't an accident; MS has been pushing its browser out there for 6 years now, hence the antitrust case! Do you remember the days when Netscape and Mosaic and Cello were the dominant browsers? Pretty much every website around rendered OK in Netscape. The fact that IE works with nearly all sites is a product of the browser monoculture; it's not because IE is a particularly good bit of code. I don't mind using 3 different browsers (Konq, Galeon and Mozilla) - because I tend to use them for different things. Konq is good at pretending to be other browsers; so I can do my online banking with it. Galeon's good for casual 'click on a link and browse' stuff, because it's lightweight and fast. Mozilla's good for the 'view <foo> with bells and whistles turned on' bit.
I'm not complaining about diversity as such, I'm complaining about having essential features distributed over var. different applications, in Linux made worse because of all these different windowing toolkits with different looks and behaviours. I consider "usability" and "stability" essential functions, that's why just netscape/mozilla (stability) for browsing or gimp (usability) for graphics is not good enough.
I agree with what Anders said about choice. I *like* having a nice big toolbox with lots of tools in. Half the time, a specific tool *will* do a specific job better than anything else; a general-purpose tool kludged into doing the same task won't do it as well. With regard to the rest of the thread... Would it be such a tragedy if Linux *didn't* make massive inroads into the home market? It's a professional-quality workstation and server operating system, and has all the hallmarks of one - you can get 'under the hood' and do esoteric stuff with it; it has a large number of development and security and network tools that you can do interesting things with. As long as there are enough Linux users and geeks to keep new ideas flowing, then fine. We don't *need* the mass market. The mass market is full of grannies who want to do a few very basic tasks with a pretty interface. Fine. If SuSE can be bolted down to the point where it is safe enough for everyone to use, them so much to the good, and SuSE can hopefully make pots of money. But if the effort of doing so makes it *harder* to do Real Stuff with SuSE, then we end up going down the dark path to Windows. The needs of geeks are totally different to the needs of the average home user; I would much rather see SuSE do one job *well* than try to do both jobs passably well. To use a slightly more colourful analogy: consider the jigsaw. A jigsaw is a useful and very versatile tool. You can do all sorts of great and cunning stuff with it. But it's a tool, and not a general panacea. You *don't* give jigsaws to everyone, because a fair number of them would probably end up taking chunks out of themselves with it. You could paint it bright pink and put warning stickers by the dangerous bits, and people would *still* end up losing fingers. The only way to make a jigsaw safe for everyone is to take the motor out and file off any sharp edges. At which point it can safely be given to a baby - but it's not really much use as a jigsaw any more. I'm all for making Linux user friendly, and consistent to look at; but if it means reducing or hindering the ability to use the *right* tool for the job, then I'm going to use GNU/Hurd or *BSD instead. Linux is a tool. If you want to do something useful, chances are it can help. But, like any tool *not* made like Fisher-Price, if you mishandle it, it will bite you. And you need to have some vague glimmering of an idea about what is going on when you press the button; a computer is *not* a television. That is the way of things; and I'm happy with that state of affairs. Gideon.