Comments on: Why Linux is Better

By: Alvaro

Alvaro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:11:22 +0000

Ubuntu has come a long way. I find that it’s an excellent OS for the computer illiterate, technology students and the middle to upper crust of the computer literate.

The middle ground usual have their roots set into the windows OS for one reason or another and it’s impossible to make them change. Or just simply impractical.

My 74 year old father loves Ubuntu. He has no trouble switching between OSX and Ubuntu 8.10. He really does not know the difference. Office works, email works, the web browser works.

Linux is a blessing to tech students. I wish I were in school right now. I’d take advantage of all the free software available at the click of the package manager. open source matlab clone, stats software clones all sorts of stuff! Simply amazing!

Two areas that its cannot compete with are:

1 – Proprietary windows software that cannot run with WINE. like solidworks, Pro E etc…

2 – iMovie and to an extent iphoto.

If you don’t need to run stuff in 1 or don’t want to edit movies, then I highly recommend you try Ubuntu.

By: xavier

xavier — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:15:28 +0000

By now you either run Linux or the commercial OS’s are perhaps more appropriate.

How is this logical?

By: Lassi HippelÃ¤inen

Lassi HippelÃ¤inen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:54:42 +0000

Companies with dominating market share oppose open source for business reasons. In business talk you will see expressions like enhancing customer loyalty. We engineers talk about building walled gardens. Walled gardens are not limited to applications. They can be built around any other market share issue, like file formats. A good example is Microsoft's opposition to Open Data Format as an ISO standard. The usual tools of statemanship were in use - threats, blackmail, and bribing. If your company starts using open source...

By: Larry Ayers

Larry Ayers — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:44:35 +0000

I’ve been using Linux since ’95 and I’ve about given up on converting other people. It rarely works out, in my experience. By now you either run Linux or the commercial OS’s are perhaps more appropriate. Linux has come a long way but I think it takes a certain geeky sort of personality to persevere with it.

Great anecdote, D.C. Sessions!

By: Jadehawk

Jadehawk — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 13:25:25 +0000

I love my linux, and I love my OpenSource programs. I use Inkscape for most of my work, but it makes me mad to no end that a lot of the companies/sites where I sell my files only accept Adobe Illustrator files, despite the fact that the SVG files that Inkscape makes are usable in AI and other proprietary programs without a problem.

the world would be a much better place if companies stopped being so against OpenSource *sigh*

By: moron

moron — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:49:54 +0000

when i can’t install my games, change refresh rate, install drivers, i go back to windows.

By: D. C. Sessions

D. C. Sessions — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:32:37 +0000

Example of openness:

Some years back, my daughter’s boyfriend was having some minor hassles figuring out a userland issue in Linux (I franky forget what.) I suggested he post to one of the Linux newsgroups, so he did. He got this really great, helpful reply that not only answered his question but was truly enlightening on the context so that the answer also made sense. He brought the reply to me and told me, “this guy really knows Linux inside and out, and besides that he can explain it!” He was mightily impressed.

I pointed him to the headers on the message and suggested that he shouldn’t be terribly surprised to get a well-informed answer from a dude named Linus Torvalds.

By: Jason Thibeault

Jason Thibeault — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:15:34 +0000

I switched to Linux going on five years ago, at my last job, where there was a definite open-source culture amongst the higher echelons of the company. At my current place of employ, I am one of two people who know anything about it, and I’m the only one to proselytize to the masses. Wherever I can get away with it, I prove open-source’s worth by not giving people a choice but to use it. Linux running on two servers, and OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird on all the computers is a good start. There’s still a disconcerting push to adopt more Microsoft products and shell out thousands of dollars where hundreds might be more warranted, but hey. I do what I can where I can.