linux that works

[Graham Todd]

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:02:16 +0000
sir alaric <sphinx at q.com> wrote:

> linux and all it's offshoots, and i do mean all, claim to do what
> windows does, only better. unfortunately, it's a lie.
[snipped]

Do they?

I believe that an open society is essential to our freedoms.  I believe
that free software (as defined by the FSF) is one of the essentials of
a free and open society in the digital age.  The GPL and other open
licenses preserve our freedoms in a way that Microsoft's EULA does
not.  Any distribution of Linux that preserves those freedoms are
better than Windows on that basis, in my opinion, and don't claim to do
it as the Windows' EULA does.

My main Linux distribution is UberStudent (based on Ubuntu Lucid) and
its specifically directed towards higher education (I am a very mature
university undergraduate) with applications which I won't find in a
basic installation of Windows.  So for me, Uberstudent does "just
work", and help me to do my work more effectively than Windows could
without a lot of fiddling.  For me, its better and meets *my* needs:
for *you* it may be distributions of Linux do *not* meet your needs so
they may not be as good for you as Windows.  So go there, use
restrictive, proprietary software; but the implicit truth that at least
one distribution of Linux is better than Windows is demonstrable by my
use of UberStudent, even though it may not make that claim, and that
makes your argument fail as far as I am concerned.

A few years ago, I had to attend a stroke victims day centre following
the first of my strokes.  While I was there, the day centre was under
even more restrictive funding and they were looking for ways to save
cash.  At my suggestion, they called on the local computer club (there
wasn't a local LUG at that time) to provide "tutors" for the staff to
see if switching to Linux would be an option for the networked victims
and ditch the fees proprietary software charged.  After a short while,
the users (the stroke victims) found Linux more logical and for that
reason easier to use, and this was at a time when the interfaces (the
GUIs) had not improved to the level they are today.

Use of the terminal forced me to use my arms and fingers to preserve my
dexterity and in the process I overcame the worst  disadvantages that
the stroke had given me *and* I learned more about how Linux works.
Thus I was able to help other stroke victims use Linux and I'm still in
touch with some of them who have stayed with the community operating
system for something like 10 years.

As I say, for *me* its better and I have found a distribution of Linux
that meets my needs.  And that's no lie.

-- 
Graham Todd