Re: Why I like Linux (but an not really satisfied)

From: Aragorn (stryder_at_telenet.invalid)
Date: 10/21/05 

Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 21:26:58 GMT

On Friday 21 October 2005 20:54, Mark Healey stood up and spoke the
following words to the masses in /comp.os.linux.advocacy...:/

> This is my response to the "Why I Hate Linux" thread.
>
> I'm not going to go over all the shortcomings of Windows. Everyone
> knows them.

For the record, running to GNU/Linux as the consequence of running away
from Windows is the wrong kind of attitude. There are Free & Open
Source Software initiatives to create a Windows-like operating system.

GNU/Linux is a UNIX-style operating system and should only be seen for
what it is, not as a replacement for Windows. This said, let's read
on... ;-)

> I'm just going to focus on the main reason I don't use it: All
> the extra crap that is installed every time you install the drivers
> for new hardware. It seems that with every new driver installation
> you get a bunch of spy and ad ware added as well. Of course they bury
> your assent in the middle of some mile long EULA that no one had the
> time or legal training to understand. If I want AOL I'll use one of
> those CDs they are always sending me.

I'm afraid spyware and spam are just as much part of the
overindustrialized business models as Microsoft itself is.

> Let's talk about the shortcomings of Linux.
>
> THE GUIs: They all suck. I was an OS/2 user for years. IBM's WPS is
> hands down the best GUI ever, ever, ever (except for maybe BEOS, I
> never saw that one).

Allow me to disagree. I too have used OS/2 - for five years, even. So
far, I think KDE is definitely one of the best GUI's I have ever seen.
It's also highly tunable. You can download themes or even create
themes yourself. Even the default KDE already has lots of options.

In other words, your judgment here is based upon personal favor, and as
they used to say in Latin: "De coloribus et de gustibus non
disputandum" - "one does not discuss colors and tastes (because there
is no point in that)."

As for BeOS, I have seen it and even checked out BeOS 5.0 Personal
Edition out of curiosity on an old Pentium MMX. I don't really like
the GUI of BeOS much myself. It has small window titlebars and uses
old Mac OS-style buttons. The main menu is in the top right corner of
the screen in a pull-down style.

Here's a screenshot I've found...:

http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/bsgfx/beinc/beos-scr-08.jpg

Anyway, you can find screenshots through Google. There are even some
FOSS and proprietary initiatives to resuscitate BeOS, albeit that they
suffer from much of the same problems of the original BeOS: the lack of
hardware support.

> Unfortunately IBM can't open source it because of stupid agreements
> they made with Microsoft way back when. The multi user nature of
> Linux would also pose some challenges, but c'mon guys, it can be done.

Environments like KDE can easily be made to resemble the OS/2 WorkPlace
Shell. Perhaps not identically, but would that really be necessary?
Besides, you're free to write up a desktop environment that looks like
the OS/2 WPS. ;-)

> Another thing, how about some consistencies in the keyboard shortcuts.
> The one that hits me the most often is "select all". Sometimes it is
> CTRL-A, sometimes ALT-A, or CTRL-ALT-A, CTRL-SHIFT-A.

I always set up my own custom keybindings. That way, it's consistent.

> The xorg people should define the keystrokes for these common
> functions in a header file that programmers would have to manually
> override if they want to be idiosyncratic.

There are predefined keybindings in X.Org already - e.g. the
*Ctrl+Alt*Backspace* combo that kills the X server - but considering
that everyone is free to use the GUI of his choice, one cannot put a
finer point on it at the X.Org level, and so most is left up to the
window manager and applications.

Additionally, you may prefer the *Alt+F4* key combination to close a
window - who doesn't, in these MS-indoctrinated days? :-/ - but I
myself actually prefer to use *Alt+Escape* for that.

The more you predefine in this area, the less choices you leave to the
user.

> CONFIGURATION IS A NIGHTMARE: If you want to be come a dedicated
> computer setter-upper and configurator it's reasonable to plow through
> the poorly written documentation to edit the text files but for people
> who just want to get things done it isn't.

This is totally untrue. The plain text configuration files are
human-readable, and there are often other means to configure your
system.

/webmin/ is included with most distributions as a web-based interface to
the system's configuration at...

        https://127.0.0.1:10000

/CUPS/ has a web-based interface at...

        http://127.0.0.1:631.

Distributions like RedHat, SuSE and Mandriva offer wizards and graphical
configuration utilities, and I'm sure (K)Ubuntu and the likes offers a
similar approach to configuration.

> THE DOCUMENTATION: There is a huge gap in it for mid level users.
> There seems to be plenty of stuff for secretaries who just want step
> by step instructions.

Gentoo - which is not exactly the newbie-kind of distribution - actually
has very good step-by-step and up-to-date instructions on their
website, here...

        http://www.gentoo.org

Other distributions often lack this kind of approach, I agree, but a lot
can already be found in the distribution-specific manuals. Enough to
help you on your way, anyway.

And then there is always Google... ;-)

However, nothing is stopping you from writing a /HowTo/ or start a
documentation project yourself. FOSS is a community, and those of use
who can give something in return for what the community has given them
are invited and encouraged to do so.

> There is also plenty for people with comp-sci degrees who can read
> complex specs. There is nothing for those of us in the middle.

That sort of comes with the territory. GNU/Linux *is* a specialized
kind of operating system and requires some skill and/or willingness to
understand from the user.

You can't expect a driver's license to qualify you for the pilot's seat
on the Space Shuttle. Power requires skill, and skill requires
knowledge. And knowledge is there for everyone now, thanks to the
Internet. ;-)

I also disagree with the too radical view that there isn't anything for
"the man in the middle". The Linux Documentation Project has very
useful resources at...

        http://www.tldp.org

Also please bear in mind that I have managed to install GNU/Linux all by
myself and without any configuration or hardware support problems now
about six years ago, while I didn't even have an Internet connection at
home yet.

There was no such thing as Usenet or the WWW for me, and yet I managed.
And no, I do not have a Professor's degree in Computer Sciences hanging
from my wall. All it took was an interest, a motivation and common
sense... I simply started by reading the documentation, in the form of
the printed manual that came with my Linux-Mandrake 6.0 PowerPack
Edition box.

It is therefore a good recommendation to first-timers that they would
buy a boxed distribution such as Mandriva, RedHat or SuSE, rather than
to go for the el-cheapo "I can download it for free from the 'net
anyway"-approach.
 
> By the way, the same goes for programming tutorial materials.

The only problem with programming is getting to know the language and
the interfaces you wish to program for. Libraries are full of books on
those subjects. GNU/Linux - and this goes for most other UNIX systems
as well - provides you with all the tools you need.

> THE LACK OF DRIVERS: Unfortunately this can't be helped until the
> hardware manufacturers realize that they would sell more stuff faster
> if they made the info to write them available.

Or you can simply opt to build your own computer - or have someone do
that for you - with components of which you know that they work. This
is what I have done, and this machine here is not even a typical PC -
it's a deskside server/workstation, built upon server-grade hardware.

The biggest hardware support problem with GNU/Linux lies simply in the
fact that most people purchase hardware for another platform, notably
one from somewhere in Redmond, Washington.

It is true that said platform supplies most of the supported hardware,
because the hardware vendors choose to support said platform by default
- mainly because they know what Microsoft would do to their reseller
agreements if they were focussing on GNU/Linux.

There is however a growing tendency with hardware vendors now to stand
up to Microsoft and start supporting GNU/Linux more, especially since a
few of the bigger names have sided up with the FOSS community, such as
IBM, HP, SGI, Sun Microsystems, Novell, Adaptec, and even Intel and AMD
as microchip producers.

Despite the claims from Microsoft and its advocates, there is no such
thing as a standard operating system for the IA32/IA32-64/IA64
architectures.

Market share does not necessarily equal quality - which Microsoft is the
clear evidence of - and Microsoft has always gone to great lengths to
bend or pervert existing standards in such ways that they could push
their own technology - which was often "borrowed" from other, existing
technology - onto the public.

Microsoft's HTML and XML "standards" are only just small examples of
that.

> Why don't people use EAs to store metadata. C'mon, ID3 tags? That's
> exactly the type of data that belongs in EAs. I know that it would
> require alot of changes all over, transfer protocols, compression
> routines. Hell even "ls" would have to be changed. But backward
> compatibility could be done.

In fact, the interface is there. Filesystems such as /reiser4fs/ and
/XFS/ support metadata. I'm not sure of /ext3/ in that respect -
perhaps others can shed a light on this.

It's just like you said: not too many developers are making use of it
yet, but again this is not to be generalized either. The system
supports it and to some extent it is already being used.

> Overall, I use Linux for the same reason I drive an air-cooled VW.
> It's a pain in the ass but I have more control than I would if I
> bought a new car (but the Subaru WRX looks like a lot of fun). 

-- 
With kind regards,
*Aragorn*
(Registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
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