YOIKS! Back to Windows from Linux . . at least for now
Monday, February 3, 2003 by geekboy2000 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Well, not that I have a fan club or anything. 
Basically, I spent since early October exclusively in Redhat Linux 8.0. I love it. But, yesterday I found myself back on the XP drive. Why? I'm still wondering that myself. I think in large part, it's because although powerful, secure, slick and fun, IMO Linux is still very much an OS by and for "hobbyists". Even I, who loves tweaking, sometimes wants to install an application, and still have time left in that day to use it. Don't get me wrong, RPM's make life pretty easy, but you sacrifice a bit when you don't build from src. Building from src often works well, but almost as often, there are dependencies, and/or glitches of one kind or another to resolve.
Using Linux, as cool as it is, I get the feeling that there are 20 million geeks (and I mean that in a good way) each working independently of one another on their little piece of code, without regard for consistency of packaging, distribution or end user installation. It's almost as if it needs a good project manager. My vote goes to Klaus Knopper (Knoppix distro guy). In any case, Windows has it's problems, but believe it or not, it's kind of refreshing clicking "install", and not having things grind to a halt because of a boat-load of dependencies. And, of course, there's WindowBlinds. If I end up staying here in Windows, I'll have to renew my ODNT subscription for sure.
Basically, I spent since early October exclusively in Redhat Linux 8.0. I love it. But, yesterday I found myself back on the XP drive. Why? I'm still wondering that myself. I think in large part, it's because although powerful, secure, slick and fun, IMO Linux is still very much an OS by and for "hobbyists". Even I, who loves tweaking, sometimes wants to install an application, and still have time left in that day to use it. Don't get me wrong, RPM's make life pretty easy, but you sacrifice a bit when you don't build from src. Building from src often works well, but almost as often, there are dependencies, and/or glitches of one kind or another to resolve. Using Linux, as cool as it is, I get the feeling that there are 20 million geeks (and I mean that in a good way) each working independently of one another on their little piece of code, without regard for consistency of packaging, distribution or end user installation. It's almost as if it needs a good project manager. My vote goes to Klaus Knopper (Knoppix distro guy). In any case, Windows has it's problems, but believe it or not, it's kind of refreshing clicking "install", and not having things grind to a halt because of a boat-load of dependencies. And, of course, there's WindowBlinds. If I end up staying here in Windows, I'll have to renew my ODNT subscription for sure.
moshi
Reply #2 Monday, February 3, 2003 10:19 AM
Reply #2 Monday, February 3, 2003 10:19 AM
"but you sacrifice a bit when you don't build from src. "
that´s exactly the same in Windows.
that´s exactly the same in Windows.
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Reply #1 Monday, February 3, 2003 4:46 AM
But I must agree with you about installation files. That is still the big negative point about Linux. Unless it's a RPM, it's a pain to install anything and it's even more a pain to uninstall anything. So, my personal rule of thumb: if it ain't RMP, I don't touch it.
But, besides that, it's just awsome. Don't you love the way it so easy to customize it? It's all drag and drop now. Anyway. I'm generally impressed.