The Ubuntu Experiment

[Cybe R. Wizard]

"Dotan Cohen" <dotancohen at gmail.com>  said:
> Let's not degrade this into another "freedom! freedom!" thread. I want
> to concentrate on what people can *do* with their machines, not what
> freedoms they will be afforded or money they will save.

Then you might be interested in this.  I've posted it before, several
places, in fact, but, though old, it still holds true:

--------------------------------------------
This was originally posted on another (news)group by Kelsey Bjarnason
<kelseyb at lightspeed.ca>


Let me give you a few quotes to ponder.

"Up and running, not up and coming"
"Not Today"
"Wait for us, we're the leaders"

Do you know where those came from?  From the OS/2 camp.  When IBM had 
released its latest version of OS/2, and Microsoft's competitive 
offering was facing delays, slipping schedules and much public ridicule.

Windows is not "always in the here and now", it is frequently in the 
"maybe tomorrow" category.  In fact, that's where it is *right now*.  
The version of Windows which is supposed to magically cure all those 
security problems, render viruses harmless, make a perfect cup of
coffee and tie your shoelaces is going to be released - *maybe* - in
2006... but, according to MS, with a crippled feature set.  And it'll
*still* only run on an x86.

Meanwhile, Linux is running everything from palmtops to supercomputers 
and doesn't have the virus problem.  What it does have is a rich set of 
applications and tools, and a license that lets *you* decide what to do 
with *your* computer.

Let's see what Windows offers now that Linux doesn't, 
shall we?

Windows, of course, has a journalling file system, NTFS.  Mind you, as
I understand it, NTFS only does metadata journalling... unlike, say,
ext3.

Windows, of course, supports multiple virtual desktops.  Oops, no, it 
doesn't.  Yet virtually all the WMs and DMs for Linux do.

Windows, of course, supports multiple GUIs, from lightweight ones good 
for remote access to serious heavyweights with all the bells and 
whistles.  Ooops, no, it doesn't.  Linux does.

Windows, of course, supports sensible package management for 
installation and removal of programs, even when those programs aren't 
from Microft, right?  Ooops, no, it doesn't.  It doesn't even have this 
for its own applications.

But wait... Windows *does* have "Windows update", a nice little tool
for determining, downloading and deploying the latest bugfixes and the 
like... except it only works for Windows.  It doesn't even do this for 
Microsoft's own applications, such as Visual Studio or Office.  Funny, 
my Linux system has just such an update feature... but it works for all 
the packages it knows about - several thousand of them from hundreds of 
vendors.

Well, okay... but Windows comes bundled with all the things you need to 
get up and running, right?  Development tools for the code monkeys, 
database servers for the DB geeks, web servers, mail servers and the 
like for web developers, irc clients, IM clients, streaming media
tools, intrusion detection, firewalling, spreadsheets, word processors,
spell checkers, dictionaries, browsers supporting ad-blocking, popup
blocking, tabbed browsing and the like... Windows does include all
this, right? Sorry, was that a no?  Oh, well, Linux does.

How about hardware support?  I have some old 486 boxes here which are 
perfectly usable... I *can* run current Windows versions on them,
right? No?  Hmm; I can run (some) current Linux versions on them just
fine.

Well, okay, how about configuration options?  Let's try something 
simple: I have a server which has no monitor attached - I do all the 
maintenance via an ssh connection.  So I don't need - or want - a GUI
on the box.  Just wastes resources which could be better used for what
the box actually does, nameley, serving.  I *can* remove the GUI in
Windows, right?  Hmm.  I can in Linux.

Well, okay, that brings up another item - administration.  Windows
does, in fact, make it simple to adminster the machine via the command
line, right?  That is, I can perform every administrative task, from
starting and stopping services to user and group administration to
group policy editing to audit tracking and more, all from the command
line, right? Even so far as doing software isntallation, removal and
upgrades? Whoops, no, not quite.  The tools to do such things in
Windows are at best primitive, and sometimes don't exist at all.  Odd,
though, that I can do all that in Linux.

Hmm. This is getting more limiting by the minute.  Okay, here's an easy 
one.  I want to perform a series of operations on a half-dozen machines 
at the same time.  Why?  Well, I'm upgrading the accountants' machines, 
and the simplest way is just to ssh into each of them, then issue a 
couple of commands to start the update.  So, as I said, I just ssh into 
them, set the terminal to echo the input across all the sessions, then 
go.  Windows can do this, right?  Whoops... Windows doesn't even come 
with ssh, does it?  Well, okay, so we'll use telnet.  I *can* fire up 6 
telnet sessions and, by typing in one, have the information 
automatically transmitted to all of them, right?  Guess not.

Well, at least, finally, XP brought in multiple user logins.  So now, 
the wife can use her machine and I can log into it, do some word 
processing or whatever, and she can keep right on using the machine, 
right?  Oops... nope, that's Linux again.

Wait a sec... Windows, as it ships, *cannot* do, or *does not* include:

Office tools
Development tools
Server tools
Database tools
Multiple virtual desktop support
A range of GUIs
The ability to completely disable the GUI
Tabbed browsing
Pop-up blocking
Ad blocking
ssh
cross-terminal-session input broadcasting
IRC clients
IM clients
Streaming media
Command-line administration that works
Package management
Software updating that works
Intrusion detection
File-alteration monitoring
Flexible firewalling
Multi-user logons
Decent graphics editing
Decent video editing

Okay, now wait a sec.  All of this is available, right now, in Linux.  
Most of the popular distros - Debian, DeadRat, Mandrake, Gentoo, SuSe, 
etc have all of these and more.  Several of them are also available for 
a variety of hardware platforms.  This is all here now, and Windows 
doesn't have a bit of it.  This, in your mind, makes "Linux in the 
future, and Windows in the here and now"?

Oh, wait.  I get it.  You're saying "Windows is now" because there are 
more people willing to *pay* to get such limitations than there are 
people willing to be freed of such limitations for a lower price, or 
even no price at all.  Well... yes, that does seem to be the case, 
doesn't it?  Doesn't make much sense, but there it is.

BTW, for the record, I do, in fact, still run Windows on occasion.  It 
makes for a good gaming station.  On the other hand, if faced with 
paying $200 for a new version of Windows, or a similar amount for a
game console... well... let's just say my trusty old Win2K setup will
remain just that - Win2K.
-----------------------------------------------------
Pretty cool, eh?

Cybe R. Wizard
-- 
Linux User # 126326
Ubuntu User # 2136