Performance shock

[Andy]

> Windows is just so fast to use by comparison. Firefox starts
> up almost instantly and doesn't hog the cpu once a few tabs are open,
> windows explorer (atrociously designed though it is) lets me get
> instant access to any part of the filesystem, unlike nautilus which
> kind of oozes around. It occurs to me that due to my pleasure re so
> many aspects of using linux (esp Gnome, which I love) in general, and
> Ubuntu in particular, I had just got used to how slow it is.
> 

I've notices this too.  Windows definitely boots faster and often has
a faster application start-up time.  Comparing the start-up time of
OOo2 Writer (which is faster than 1.x) to Word is frustrating.  I use
Word sometimes at work on a MUCH slower machine than my laptop, and
Word is definitely snappier than Writer.


> Don't hate/attack me for saying this. I'm certainly not going back to
> Windows (there's too much I can't do on it without impossibly
> expensive software), and I'm not criticising Ubuntu (whose developers
> have done a great job). I don't really care either if you 'disagree'
> with my comparison (it wouldn't mean anything to me, because on my
> system, the speed difference is unarguable). But I'd love to know if
> there's either any general/fundamental reason why linux is just never
> going to be as fast Windows as a desktop, or if there are any things I
> might do to speed it up.
> 

No hate here.

I really hope that as Desktop Linux continues to mature, this will
start to even out.  The boot time of the computer isn't as important
in my view as the start-time of applications like OOo.  I know one
thing that Windows does is pre-load certain parts of IE and Office.  
One thing you can do to speed OOo up is to download ooqstart.  There
is a Gnome version that you might like.



> Two caveats -- it's not an issue of unnecessary services (I'm
> comparing fresh installs here), and I don't want to use a ligher
> environment (Gnome's clean design and facilities have become integral
> to the way I work).
> 
> --
> ubuntu-users mailing list
> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
> 


-- 
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Andy Choens
Teen Leadership Program Director
Ramapo For Children
Office: 845 - 876 - 8403
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