Windows, Linux, The Debate: which is best?

[Sasha Tsykin]

Duncan Anderson wrote:

> Sasha Tsykin wrote:
>
>> Duncan Anderson wrote:
>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> 2. Windows is an overpriced form of neo-colonialist spyware which 
>>> consists of badly designed software overlaid with more badly 
>>> designed software overlaid with more badly designed software 
>>> overlaid with ...
>>
>>
>>
>> Do you even know what neo-colonialist means? I admit, that is the 
>> context, I have no idea what you are talking about and must assume 
>> you have launched into a rant. How is windows spyware? As for the 
>> badly designed software, that is in my opinion wrong, but definitely 
>> up for debate and not a foregone conlusion.
>>
> I think I have a fairly good idea of what neo-colonialist means, thank 
> you. I think that Microsoft forms part of the neo-colonialism that is 
> practised in my country, South Africa, and many people would agree 
> with me.

I don't know enough about South Africa to argue, but it sure isn't neo 
colonialist in Australia.

>
> As for spyware, if you can't see that, then you must be smoking 
> something strange.

I don't smoke anything strange. Does Microsoft have an objective to spy 
on you? Does it puposefully harm your computer by slowing it down. Does 
it in fact seek to do anything negative? No, unless you count making 
money as an evil, in which case I would suggest that you turn yourself 
over to the nice men in the white coats as soon as possible.

>
> As for badly designed, I could give several examples. However, here 
> are a few:
>
> 1. Setting the default stationery type on a printer. Why does it have 
> to be performed more than once?
> 2. Explorer shotcuts vs actual files (send to)
> 3. Outlook .PST files

Not all software designed for windows is good, but neither is it all 
bad, or even all inferior to linux alternatives, linux has its own share 
of bad software. Open Source and better are not synonymous.

>
>>>
>>> 3. Compare the number of hits you get if you do a google search 
>>> using the following arguments:
>>>
>>>   a. +linux +security +problems -windows -microsoft
>>>   b. +windows +microsoft +security +problems -linux
>>>
>>> This may not prove anything, but it is surely evocative.
>>
>>
>>
>> You're right. It proves nothing. Quality, not quantity. If one bug is 
>> a showstopper, it is worse that a hundred (or ten thousand) which 
>> aren't.
>>
> I should like to hear of real "showstopper" bugs in Linux. I'm sure 
> there are some. Windows has many. Half of my company's bandwidth gets 
> eaten up with the downloading of patches for Windows, most of which, 
> if not applied, cause the"show" to "stop".

I have never encountered (in ten years of experience with windows) a bug 
which causes the system to become unusable. I have never been forced to 
reinstall because I couldn't figure out what on earth had happened, and 
neither could anybody else who I asked. As this has happened to me 
several times in linux (although not in Ubuntu), I would have to say 
that from my personal experience, linux has more "showstopper" bugs than 
windows.

If you want an example of a showstopper bug in linux, all you have to do 
is look at the latest 64-bit release of source mage. There is no way to 
get the internet to work, as far as I know, and thus no way to install 
any additional programs, making it totally useless, because it comes 
with nothign I actually use.

> <snip>
>
> I make no pretence to being "objective" about this matter, you 
> understand. Windows makes my day to day life miserable, so my response 
> to it can only be highly subjective.

Windows makes my life wuite pleasurable, because of it, I don't have to 
fix my mum's computer all the time. Linux also makes my life easier, 
because my computer almost never crashes. In my life, there is 
definitely room for both.

>
> cheers
> Duncan
>
>
>        
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>
Sasha