On Friday 18 July 2003 17:24, Donn aka n5xwb Washburn wrote:
However, I am in need of some of you that use or used Windows and know of its less obvious problems to add to my "Linux Benefits" list.
I got two (as I think) important points that every normal user will understand very fast: (I) A lot of ppl complain that Linux lacks software. This might be true for the big commercial stuff like CAD and (to a lessening degree) even Office, but it is definitely not true for all the small tools you need in your everyday computer life. After a clean M$-Installation, you need to start looking for all the tools and install them separately. If you take a good Linux Distro like SuSE, you'll have almost all the tools available on the CDs and, using a Desktop like KDE, a lot of stuff is builtin. Have you ever tried to work just with the M$-CD and an empty PC? On Windoze (up to 2K, haven't used XP and never will), I usually need to look for and install separately: - FTP-Software (Konqueror does that) - Download-Manager for resuming stalled downloads (Konqi does that) - Software to d'l Images from digital cameras (Konqi does that, too) - a decent Editor (you get Kate out of the Box) - IRC-Software (xchat's on the CDs) - a picture viewer like ACDSee (KView's just fine or Pixie) - Winamp (Xmms is there for you) - CD Burning software (I'm happy with KreateCD) - Palm-Software (kpilot will do just fine) - some Zipper (KArchiveur is on the CDs) - Graphics Software (Gimp's on the CDs) - PDF-Reader (I don't even start with Ghostview, LOL) - an Audio-CD-Ripper (install lame and then Konqi'll do it as well - I admit, lame is not on the CDs, but working with it later is a beaut compared to some extra software for M$-OSs) - decent mail software (Kmail's excellent) - a Newsreader (you get Knode) - M$ Office (you get a pretty well working OpenOffice now) - not to mention loads of drivers which are not on the M$-CDs (every single M$-User will be able to add to this list and you will rightaway be able to point him to the perfect tool on the SuSE-CDs) Doing all that an swapping CDs and Disks like crazy takes up loads of time, where the next huge advantage of Linux comes into play: (II) Reinstalling Windoze, finding and loading all the hardware drivers, finding and installing all the mentioned additional software needed separately and then tweaking all those system settings until a M$-System feels as comfortable as the old installation, takes days, if not weeks (yes, it does, just look at how a Word-Installation is set up after installation, and how it looks after 6 months working with it). In Linux-World, I rsync my home-dir to my server and I don't need to worry that I might've forgotten to backup some files (ask a windoze user if he knows where his Outlook data is stored and how to backup that, LOL). Then I start the installation, choose the packages I want installed and go to watch my favorite TV-sitcom or something. Half an hour later, when the installation is finished, I put a little setup script on the fresh installation and start that (and then I'm off to watch some more TV). When I come back the next time, the new system is all setup and even looks like my old installation, all mail accounts are set up, as well as every single software package and all my data is back on the workstation as well. That might take 2hrs max (where I don't even need to be around for most of the time)... how's that for an advantage? kind regards, Hansen PS: just an afterthought: (III) Did you ever compare M$-batch-file capabilities to shell-scripts? -- Powered by SuSE 8.1pro - KDE 3.0.3 - KMail 1.4.3