Windows XP and the Microsoft agenda - can it get worse?

[Asher]

Re: Linux Installation of the Day

Originally posted by Ted Striker
Well I installed Debian 1.343532a to the AMD processor on my microwave oven and hacked the kernel to interface with the touch pad.

Then when I was done I ripped out the picture of Bill Gates from Fortune magazine and put it in a bowl of boiling water and cooked it in the oven for 10 minutes!!!

DEBIAN! WHAT HO!
NSA Linux is the only secure one !!

And AMD???? AMD sold out, man! My Cyrix III is overclocked to 6GHz and can waste your AMD processor! HAHA! I r l33t

[Ted Striker]

He said "cyrix"

Damn you Asher, I will get you for outdoing me like that.

[Provost Harrison]

Oh Cyrix, those were the days. Not very good ones, admittedly I remember Quake flowing on one of those. Yeah, flowing like molasses

[Korpo]

Another piece of MS propaganda: "Why XP embedded and not Linux embedded?". It´s full of straight lies even MS marketing should be ashamed of (but isn´t, you know those guys don´t have enough conscience to be found with a microscope ).

Article can be found here.

[Korpo]

Windows-like Linux? Try looking at elx , everyone's linux. Full public release due on 15th Dec 01.

[Ted Striker]

Ohhhhhhh! Korpo you are the MAN.

I will download this thing when it is available. I like the idea of getting all of these preinstalled on a Linux machine:

Web server: Apache 1.3.20
Server side scripting: PHP 4.0.6
Databases: MySQL 3.23.41 and PostgreSQL 7.1.3

Excellent....

Though you can download them all for free for Windows anyway, Apache runs like CRAP on Microsoft.

Hey Korpo,

Is there plans to support MS products with elx? Like do they run in a Windows window? What's the deal with that?

Finally a Linux developer (other than Mandrake) that understands the middle of the road and doesn't try and force itself on the user.

[Ted Striker]

I see there is WINE support on there.

Hmmmm....

[Zealot]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Oh Cyrix, those were the days. Not very good ones, admittedly I remember Quake flowing on one of those. Yeah, flowing like molasses

Oh, the days when Intel processors were something worthful.

[Ted Striker]

You mean the days when you could actually run an AMD chip without it melting?

[Korpo]

Ted, it is actually more likely in my point of view, that there will be different Windows apps "ported", like they do at Ximian with offering an Outlook/Exchange plugin for their mail program, but they will be available from their vendors, not fromelx. Since 1st release is due on 15th Dec 01, it is hard to say where they are heading, I guess they will be heavily busy with debugging for a while .

Should elx have at least modest success, it is most likely the whole porting biz will catch momentum and mainstream Linux dists will jump on the train. Anyone taking a look at the speed of the Linux community will see, that we will again see a lot of progress in the next year. Already news about porting attempts are stacking, like ports of .NET, Outlook/Exchange, better doc import filters, or how Kylix (Delphi for Linux).

[Korpo]

Ted, about running Windows apps directly under Linux:

WINE can be used to run some Windows apps directly with Linux.

Win4Lin and VMWare enable you running a virtual Windows machine on Linux.

DOSemu and WINE can run DOS apps directly (you know, classical games ).

Generally plans tend to be more towards porting apps than supporting Windows binaries directly, though, giving you free equivalents of pricy MS products.

[Asher]

Port of this, Port of that years after the fact. Emulate this, emulate that.
Why not stick with the real deal?

Linux is going to remain a niche OS, just by how it's designed. It's a fundamental limitation. And as a niche OS, all of the "good" software for the casual user ends up being cheap ports by volunteer open source programmers so they end up being buggy crap (although Evolution is quite nice...................).

[Korpo]

I begin to suspect you are one of Bill´s sleepers, Asher. I guess you only bought a boxed version of Windows so you have something for your altar to worship.

1) Linux took over the server market.
2) Linux will take over the enterprise market.
3) And Linux will make some progress in the user market as well.
4) Linux seems to get a good market share on the embedded devices market.

To 1) Linux is more reliable and hardware efficient than Windows is. Though MS is spreading BS about their XP being "reliable and proven", there are Linux servers up and running smoothly and save for years, which you simply can´t say for XP, which is "new", and there aren´t Windows computers that could compare to that statistic. Saving money, when switching to Linux-based webserving/networking environments, is already becoming a big incentive for companies like Amazon.com to switch, as well.

To 2) Enterprise comps are installed and administered by admins. A long life of hardware is desired. A sysop can easily set up a Linux box much cheaper than a Windows box, and MUCH more reliable, with all needed apps preinstalled. You don´t need no fancy Luna interface for that to drain away your computing power. Comps stay longer usable, and the uptime opf the average welladministered Linux comp is still better than that of a comparable welladministered Windows box.

To 3) Especially professional users, that want to automate tasks, or developers, Linux will prove to be advantageous. Progress in the last 2 years was made in making Linux more point-n-click. Not very far in the future there will be Linux dists being as easily usable as Windows, but with all Linux features reserved to the power user. Again, Linux enables yoo to keep older machines around longer, a good thing for the people that are no gamers.

To 4) Embedded devices developers like the open source idea. Free from propietary solutions of MS, and with full access to the embedded OS to modify it to their wishes, Linux is already doing great on this market.


Why all the ports? Why all the emulation?
To make it possible to switch for people who are nearly as lazy and narrowminded as Asher .
Why not use the "original"?
It´s pricy. It´s not as reliable. It supports a monopoly. It´s using this monopoly to get hold of all of your electronical life.

[Asher]

While your rhetoric was fun and all, you completely missed my point.

Linux is a niche OS.
That niche is currently in servers, MAYBE in enterprise, and in embedded markets, as well as the computer enthusiasts who demand absolute control.

However, that actually makes up a pretty small chunk of the overall market.

Linux will NEVER make it as a consumer OS. Why? Because of how it's designed! The average consumer does not want to download the source for something, find out which library to link to, compile, etc. The average consumer doesn't want to deal with RPM Dependency hell, browse apt-get, etc. It's just a PAIN IN THE ASS.

The power and flexibility Linux gives is a double-edged sword. It's great for power users, it's complicated and confusing for the consumer. Sure, you can dumb down Linux (as Mandrake is successfully doing) into something more useful, it'll still be Linux at heart.

[Asher]

And don't you dare call me narrowminded. I've tried Linux, I've actually got it as a dualboot right now. I've used various Unixes since I was a child through the beauty of telnet (I was a MUD/MUSH addict, I confess).

I know my way around Linux and other Unix-like systems. That's how I formed my opinion.

The only narrow minded person here is the guy who calls the people on the other side of the fence narrow minded because they disagree.