Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 22:55:01 -0500 (EST) From: "Mark Yeck" <y3k@gti.net> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Feeding the Troll (Was: freebsd as a desktop ?) Message-ID: <3438.208.216.122.52.1007006101.squirrel@y3k.shacknet.nu> In-Reply-To: <15365.11290.211107.464324@guru.mired.org> References: <15365.11290.211107.464324@guru.mired.org>
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> I've been making heavy desktop use of, and supporting users making > heavy desktop use of, Unix since 1985. Nothing has happened during that > time that in any way indicated that Unix is "incompatible with heavy > desktopp use." > > Quite to the contrary, every time someone has asked me to work on Win > 9x or Macs - through the mid 90s - they crashed regularly under my > normal usage patterns. That convinced me that, if anything, those > operating systems aren't suitable for "heave desktop use". > > In other words, I've got over 15 years of experience in direct > contradiction to your statement. I'd like to hear what evidence you > have to back it up. My experience is pretty much the same. I started using UNIX (Ultrix) in the early nineties with Motif and ATK window managers, several years before my first experience with any MS operating system. I've never found a situation where Windows has made a better desktop than whatever UNIX and window manager I'm running at the time (currently FreeBSD with Blackbox). I use Win98, NT, and Win2k for work and I'm continually irritated by small things, like random access of my empty floppy drive, random redraws of the desktop, the Start menu closing while I'm trying to use it, installing a program as one user and not being able to find it or use it as another user, and the hell of coping with the registry. My experience with UNIX on the desktop hasnt been totally bug free, but I find it quite a bit less annoying. Every advantage I've seen with Microsoft is directly related to its overwhelming domination of whatever market its in. My mother, for example, may be better off using Windows on her desktop, not for any technical reason, because if she has a problem she can ask almost anyone who uses computers about it. Nearly anyone who's used a computer has used windows and the advantage of not having to learn a new operating system may seem to outweigh any technical advantage of UNIX (or MacOS). Microsoft Word isnt a horrible piece of software, but it's only major advantage that I can see is that someone can write a document in it and send it to nearly anyone and expect that they will be able to open it with little effort. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the whole thing. -mark To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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