ordinary computer user

[Neil Woolford]

At 23:13 27/02/05, Frank McCormick wrote:


>    I am an almost fanatical  user/promoter of Linux...but find myself
>forced to agree. I have to use Win2000 at work- (I use Linux at home
>and have two distributions on this machine) -- and the interface is much
>more smooth and professional-looking ( to me anyway). Both GNOME and KDE
>are valiant attempts to emulate the Win interface. They are
>both getting closer but for the millions out there who know only MS, the
>differences right now are large, too large to bridge.

Oh dear.  Now I know I'm odd...  On the handful of Windows XP computers
that I go near, the first thing I do is set the appearance of my desktop to
'legacy' and try to turn off the smooth stuff.

On the other hand I couldn't help be impressed that Dell had installed the 
driver
for an obsolescent (but still fit for purpose) Lexmark printer on a 
friend's brand new
laptop.  No faffing with install discs there, just instant hardware 
recognition and
quick configuration.  (I've given them the printer partly because there 
isn't a decent
Linux driver for it.)

> >
> > >Some of the points raised seem to elict some rather childish
> > >responses from some of the Linux fan(atics) that spread their rather
> > >boring propaganda on the (fictional) merits of Linux (let's just say
> > >that I've never seen -- let alone HEARD rumours of -- a virus or
> > >spyware affecting our corporate network of Win NT (with XP being
> > >rolled out slowly) computers (30,000 users)... the head aches and
>
>    I work on a system of about 1500 workstations on a Novell net and
>know of only two incidents of virus/spyware infection.

Yes;  a good IT department who are on the ball and keep everything tightly
locked down, scan emails, enforce sensible policies can make this work
very well.  However, as the original poster observed, many non-corporate
Windows computers are clogged with spyware, viruses, browser hijacks
and general cruft.  (And they've never had their disks defragged...)

Neil 


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