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#1 2003-04-27 03:30:12

rasat
Forum Fellow
From: Finland, working in Romania
Registered: 2002-12-27
Posts: 2,293
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Why Linux is not for You

Usually we read why to use Linux. Here is an interesting article about why you should not use Linux. What attracted me was the following statement:

--> "If you were to ask me as a Linux user why I use Linux, would I go on about how easy it is to use? Would I go on about how there's a wizard for everything? How all my hardware is auto-detected and I never have to worry about anything ever? No. The reason I use Linux is the same reason anyone who uses Linux does so, because Linux offers them something no other OS does. If I could tell anyone what Linux would offer them that no other OS does, I'd probably be working for RedHat sales department, but I can't. I can't because Linux offers something different for everyone who uses it, but that is, in the end, why they use it."

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3297


Markku

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#2 2003-04-27 07:26:24

sarah31
Member
From: Middle of Canada
Registered: 2002-08-20
Posts: 2,975
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

i will read the article later as it is late here. anyway i thought i would remark on why i use linux. i use it because i chose to use it. i timidly ventured into the linux world just over two years ago after a very basic introduction to a *nix environment in the very first version of OS X.

i had only had a PC for maybe a month before venturing into linux. for the first year i dual booted and still mainly worked in windows. mainly because i had to but mostly because i had not learned enough about application offerings in linux. well that and the fact that i needed to for my schooling at that time.

once i moved away from mandrake and into debian/libranet and as my schooling ended i moved more and more into linux. now it is the only thing i run on my PCs. I also recently got an Apple 12" Powerbook because i needed to get back into OS X.

I love both systems and now that Mac OS is very similar to linux and i can use the underlying power of OS X more i really don't feel the need to ever even try to use Windows on my home computers again.

Don't get me wrong i have nothing against MS at all. they are entitled to earn money like any other business and like any other business they have had to put ethics aside to get to where they are. indeed i respect MS for basically saving the x86 platform as it would have surely died if not for windows (and very bad mistakes by Apple). in the end though i have just never liked the Windows OS at all. while it can be more functional in some respect over Mac or Linux (so people say anyway). I just don't like it. I have always been a Mac person and now i am a Linux person too.

as for convincing other people to use *nix i wouldn't bother really because it is their choice i try to get people interested and i know i could probably get people over to linux more but if they do not want to take the final step then i sure won't push them.

alot is made by both linux lovers and linux haters about linux is or is not this or that but inthe end i just don't care what they think i and many rational people know full well it is a very good OS and a very functional one as well. Personally i don't get into OS debates because it is pointless. you cannot convince a windows lover that linux is every bit as good or better as much as you can convince a diehard fan of any OS that another system is better. it is a circular arguement that is a massive waste of time.

i hate os zealotry and close minded or politically driven OS debates. in the end it loses users more than gains them. linux users should learn to be less defensive and guarded. peopl ARE interested but it does not take much to get turned off by the ever pervasive pretentious/elitist attitudes of linux users. i do do it to but not to those having trouble or lashing out in frustration. we as a community have to be far more accommodating instead of treating people poorly because we may have been. *nix is hard to learn for the majority of the people that take it up. it is very different from what they are used to. i am sure all of us have had trouble and it is just not fair to rude or otherwise to greenies. i am not saying of course that we have to hold each noob's hand and lead him to water. just get them on the path and make sure they know the way. in the end everyone benefits because *nix gains more users and a better image.

well i could go on but i won't. i may be a *nix user now but i know what it was like just over two years ago when i was starting out. thankfully enough people out there were able to convince me not to give up.

and thankfully i found Arch Linux. I wen through alot of hell to get here but i am very glad this community accepted me.


AKA uknowme

I am not your friend

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#3 2003-04-27 22:11:50

Mork
Member
From: Visby, Sweden
Registered: 2003-03-09
Posts: 32

Re: Why Linux is not for You

I started using linux in september last year when I bought my first own computer . My reasons where that I wanted to spend my money on hardware rather than software and that I was tired of the Redmond Gorilla. Linux was rumored to be free (beer) and stable. When I started looking in to the issue I was also attracted by the free (as in french big_smile) license and adherence to open standards (protecting the users rather than a companys revenues).

I started out with RedHat and it wasn't easy and somethimes I felt like giving up and mayby would have if I've had a windows box to fall back on.. I stuck with it and am today very grateful to myself for that reason  8).

For most users I think the reason for not using linux are that they never heard of it, that they feel that windows kind of works for them or that they have been scared off by tales of 72 hour install sessions..


"Plurality should not be assumed without necessity" or "keep it simple"
            - William of Ockham (1285-1349)

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#4 2003-04-29 13:07:07

dariball
Member
From: Germany - Frankfurt
Registered: 2002-10-20
Posts: 118
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

why I use linux ???

I more or less growed up with dos and later windows and i would never say that m$ is not a good OS. In general for the "normal" (maybe office) user it's still the best you can choose, if money is not the problem. There are some points that are really good of these is surely the really easy installation and the overall easy usability of it.
But you lose a lot of control about the system, because anything is done for you and you often even not have a chance to do settings by yourself. So this is maybe my main reason why I use linux, because I want control. Control about my system, what it does and why? This helps to get the max out of the box, I think, what is the second reason - speed. Many, many applications run a lot faster and are more straightforwared as some do on a Windows box.....

Many people ask, if they should use linux...
My answer is quite simple. If you like Windows and you think it's enough, then why change to linux? If you think you want more than just a OS, which crashes randomly and is only updated every year with a patch for the patch for the service pack X, then you should change to linux.

And you will never find a windows community like this here smile

thx for reading, sorry for spelling .....
greetz dariball


nothing,
maybe I have a perfect signature _someday_

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#5 2003-04-29 19:51:10

jlvsimoes
Member
From: portugal
Registered: 2002-12-23
Posts: 392
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

got my 1 computer 4 years ago it used MS it drived me crazy ,  1 day a friend of mine told me that there was something caled linux so i tried it " debian " i used it for 5 min tongue then got miselv a copy of redhat 5.2 ... not bad manage to use the internet tongue i was dual booting stil
i buy a redhat 6.2 an dual booted for a long time no using linux alot
just recently i discovered arch linux and guess wath ... erased finaly the virus MS so i guess i use linux full time just recently . and i like it im still getting crazy but nothing that reading dos not cure
and surre im in control here and ho does not like control


-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GU/ d- s: a- C L U P+ L+++ E--- W+
N 0+ K- W-- !O !M V-- PS+ PE- V++ PGP T 5 Z+ R* TV+ B+
DI-- D- G-- e-- h! r++ z+ z*
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

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#6 2003-04-29 22:43:06

nifan
Member
Registered: 2003-04-10
Posts: 102

Re: Why Linux is not for You

using linux is like any other choice we make in life. either we chose to pay tons to use something that is full of bugs and bad engineering (not everything is bad do) or we chose to use an OS that do everything we need it to do and be happy about it. I've started my linux quest smile about 6months i've owned my 1º PC, with an RedHat 5.2, and other's like it.
the great thing in linux is the enormous quantity of programs we may chose to do the same thing, if we dont like one we still have another to try.

P.S- this is my fisrt post here. I'm trying arch linux and passed by to check out the foruns smile


______
"Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil." - Plato

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#7 2005-01-31 11:32:07

Moo-Crumpus
Member
From: Hessen / Germany
Registered: 2003-12-01
Posts: 1,487

Re: Why Linux is not for You

... what "is" linux?


Frumpus addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]

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#8 2005-01-31 11:45:29

dtw
Forum Fellow
From: UK
Registered: 2004-08-03
Posts: 4,439
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

a unix-like kernel developed by linus torsvald?

i think it is funny how the whole point of this thread is why not to use linux and everyone has posted why the do even tho there is a current thread running about why people use linux  big_smile

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#9 2005-01-31 11:52:09

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: Why Linux is not for You

Linux is choice and freedom. So much choice and freedom that many find it scary and go back to their familiar dungeon, where they feel safe.

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#10 2005-01-31 11:57:49

vacant
Member
From: downstairs
Registered: 2004-11-05
Posts: 816

Re: Why Linux is not for You

I'm a commited Arch Linux user - love it, 95% of my PC uptime is Arch. I also have SimplyMEPIS and Windows 98SE on my lilo boot menu.

I recommend you all have a look at SimplyMEPIS if you want to show ease of installation, automatic hardware detection, ease of use to your friends and relatives. It runs as a live CD and has an option to install it to hard disk.

(Windows 98SE partition for Sims2 and MS FLight simulator)

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#11 2005-02-01 13:18:31

Moo-Crumpus
Member
From: Hessen / Germany
Registered: 2003-12-01
Posts: 1,487

Re: Why Linux is not for You

I don't mind if someone uses linux or not. Prayer:Shall everyone be happy with his own decissions.


Frumpus addict
[mu'.krum.pus], [frum.pus]

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#12 2005-02-02 06:20:02

skoal
Member
From: Frequent Flyer Underworld
Registered: 2004-03-23
Posts: 612
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

He makes some "good" points, and I've heard them all before.  But, all those five arguments are counterintuitive.   He should apply that same line of reasoning to people wanting a college degree versus a High School education.  See where either of them gets you, and which best prepares you for the future.

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#13 2005-02-04 00:52:19

aCoder
Member
From: Medina, OH
Registered: 2004-03-07
Posts: 359
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

I think the biggest problem for Windows users switching to Linux are Linux users that scare them by telling them that Linux might not be the best thing for them.  Ease of use, the way it's applied to Windows is, ironically, a difficult concept.  On one hand, the user doesn't need to know anything about their PC in order use it, but on the other, someone has to at some point.  The way Windows handles hardware doesn't work.  That's a fact, and I will not allow anyone to argue it.  The only people who I think may want to don't realize that they did more work and wasted more time with the poorly designed 'Add New Hardware' thing than they would've setting up the hardware in Linux.  My opinion, which can be argued, is that anyone with the sense to work out the installation and configuration of Windows, or hardware added after the OS, OEM or otherwise, should be able to install, configure, and use exclusively, Arch Linux, should they read and follow the documentation available.  I've seen it happen many times now.  Being the authority on Linux around town, people come to me with installation or configuration problems on a regular basis, and I say, "Did you read the docs?", and they say, "No.", and I say, "Well, that's your problem, go read them and try again."

I've never had anyone come back with a problem after that, and they're all happily using Linux, with the exception of a few that gave up on PCs and left us to become part of the ever-so-hip-and-trendy world of Apple.


If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience.
  - John Cage

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#14 2005-02-06 01:14:03

miqorz
Member
Registered: 2004-12-31
Posts: 475

Re: Why Linux is not for You

Who really gives a damn what OS anyone uses?

As long as they're happy with it.

But sadly most people don't shut up about these issues.


http://wiki2.archlinux.org/

Read it. Love it. Live it. Or die.

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#15 2005-02-07 15:58:19

ravster
Member
From: Queen's U, Kingston, Canada
Registered: 2004-05-02
Posts: 285
Website

Re: Why Linux is not for You

I hate this.
Linux doesn't allow me to run virii, does not give worms, no trojans, no nothing(yayaya, I know it's supposed to be 'no anything') big_smile

I read on some forum that -
'Linux is an incomplete OS, there are no virii, no worms, no security problems. It is boring, 'cause it just works'

PS:- I saw a 'Why linux isn't ready for the desktop' article on newsforge the other day, giving out the same reasons.

All hail the winblows OS, down with linux :twisted: :!:

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