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Even though Windows sucks, this is cool

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bigpook:
Sorry, I have to disagree. Windows does suck. But I agree that it is the OS for idiots.
While XP may be ok, there is no way it is more stable than linux.
Talk to me when you get uptimes that surpass a year.
Talk to me when windows doesn't need multiple layers of protection to keep from being exploited.
Talk to me when windows has a file system that doesn't fragment.
And whats up with drive letters? How about a unified file system. Why is Desktop at the top of the tree? That makes no sense to me.
Windows is an OS on training wheels...

I use the command line everday, while I am no guru, it can be the fastest way to get some things done. I don't really think you have to be a nerd to use the command line either. It is just another tool to get things done.
Granted you need to know what you are doing, you have to be willing to learn, but thats the price of knowledge.

Sorry for the rant, not having a good day.

Waves77:
Couldn't agree with you more bigpook.

Little too add to it actually, except for the fact that Linux everything is transparent and open, I can learn, change, rewrite or add anything I want. In windows there's very little control that I have except mostly tweaking through a gui.

Plus cost. I do freelance development, the amount of tools that I use day to day would cost me an arm and a leg if I needed those on Windows.

bigpook:
I just didn't want to come off like some kind of prick. Which I probably did.

So I apologize for that. My computer needs are fully covered by linux, with the exception of gaming. I do have an XP box that I fire up just to play Battlefield 2. And I do use XP at work because I have to. If the software I need to use would run on linux, then I would run linux, but until that day comes, I am stuck with windows.

Everybody has different needs. So windows may be the only choice for you. Thankfully, I don't have to run windows(at home), which means that I don't have to pay for it, which means that I do not worry about malware, virus's and other crap that seem to afflict the windows os, which means I don't have to reboot, reboot, reboot, which means I don't have to let the machine run for hours while it defrags itself, which means I don't have to go to the manufacturers site to download drivers, which means I don't have to worry about windows genuine advantage( or whatever corporate spyware they want to call it), which means I can install a package simply and quickly from the command line using apt-get install, which means I don't have to call microsoft to ask permission to re-validate my license so I can re-install it on another machine, which means I don't have to answer to a corporation in order to run my OS, which means I don't have to deal with some brain-dead call center when I need tech support, which means I don't have to deal with some windows user who thinks they know more than me, which means I am free from having to deal with a corporation that I do not trust.

windows is the 10 dollar rubber dome keyboard.

linux is the old-school IBM model M/HHKB Pro 2.

The above is purely my opinion. Most will not agree with me. If I have offended anyone please accept my apologies in advance.

graywolf:
I started using Linux with Slackware 1.0. That was back in the days when your choice of distributions was Slackware or roll your own. I used it for 10 years, then I got to where I required MS Windows to run the software I needed. But I continued to run Slackware on my server.

I tried various distributions over the years, but I always went back to Slackware because I liked the BSD type environment. Did you know that Slackware and its derivatives are set up like BSD, while all the rest of the Linux dist's are set up like Sys V?

If you do not know the ins and outs of Linux you are even worse off than if you do not know the ins and outs of Windows. The BSD's tend to be more stable, but back in the day you could not get BSD free unless you were in a University setting. OSX is based on FreeBSD, BTW, they chose that because the license lets you develop proprietary systems with it while the license Linux is under requires you to release the code if you base it on Linux. Note that does not mean you can not develop proprietory software that runs on Linux, just that you can not use Linux for the base of it.

As for needing all that stuff to be safe on Windows, you don't! It is a case of FUD selling the stuff like hotcakes. I do not run all that crap, I have had one case of a virus. I was running all that crap when I got it. I decided that if it was not going to protect me I was going back to my old way of doing things and not waste the CPU cycles. How is my old way?

Well, first I virus scan any software I download before running it. Second I do a virus scan every Sunday followed by a Spyware scan. Nothing runs automatically. In the year since I went back to that I have had zero problems. I seems that most of those things your antivirus and antispyware programs find, are downloaded witht the updates so you will see it find something and think it sure is doing a good job, and maybe you should get the pay for version. Simple salesmanship. Not exactly honest, but it is making some folks rich.

Nope, in my experience, and I have only been dealing with computers since 1961, you are wrong. All of the OS that I have delt with require extensive tuning for a geek or nerd to be happy with them. The only real advantage Linux has is that you can compile a custom kernel, if you are not going to do that, you might as well stick to Windows. And the real disadvantage is that if you have to run some particular commercial software, usually for work or business reasons, you are SOL.

xsphat:
Well damn, now I'm gonna go buy a Windows machine instead of a Mac.

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