[xubuntu-users] The Devil's Advocate

[Joao Monteiro]

Right. Comparisons.

As much as they may be unfair, not sensible or even downright absurd, they
are an intrinsic part of life - and of our human nature. That's a fact.

A substantial part of the decisions that we make in our everyday lives are
based on the conclusions that we make after making some comparisons.

So...

Do I need a computer? For what? Then what do I expect it to be able to do
in order to allow me to get what I need through using it?

Need. Purpose. Expectation.

Ok, now that I have answered the initial critical questions, I got to ask
the easy, trivial one... which computer do I buy?

Oh... lo and behold... I NEED to check a few different ones... and after
COMPARING their specifications, I DECIDE which one I think it will meet my
EXPECTATIONS to achieve the PURPOSE that I aim to achieve...

Ok... tiny problem here... different operating systems available... hell, I
don't even know what a hell that is... I only know that I have a few
choices available, which people call "wndows", "mac os", "unix", "linux",
"solaris".... damn.... go figure how many more... hmmmm... I know... I"ll
look at the ones that people use the most... ah, good, down to two...
windows and linux... ok...

Start from scratch...

How does one and the other do what I expect them to do so as to fulfil my
need to achieve my purpose??? Damn... more comparisons... sigh... ok...
let's see...

Hmmm... both have prons and cons to me... crap....

Being the devil's advocate, I have to give to Caeser what's of Caeser. And
given that I'm a life long dependant of windows and that I never liked
anything Mac, I have to stick to windows and linux and leave all other
systems aside.

So... without going into the myriad of "why" yet, here's some facts:

- Games wise, windows is the supreme king, for the better or the worse

- CAD wise, linux is still useless - compared to windows of course

- Command line wise, linux is undeniably and unarguably much more powerful
and infinitely more versatile and useful than windows

- Help files wise, in an organized, structured  and centralized manner,
windows is far better

-Help files wise, in quantitative and quality terms, linux is far better

Bearing in mind that I'm a newcomer to computers, and a mere user rather
than a programmer or someone with a programming inclination, the GUI nature
of windows is far more appealing and easier to grasp and work with than the
more Command Line nature of linux, albeit its excellent improvements in the
GUI field in recent years.

Furthermore, as a user, when I look into windows I am faced with a single
system that gets updated to a newer version every so often, that can run on
any PC or laptop that meets a certain hardware criteria. Whereas when I
look into linux, I am confronted with a vast multitude of different
versions (distros), each requiring its own hardware criteria and a quagmire
of uncertainties about how long is each one of them going to be maintained
for, with an equally substantial ammount of them offering long term support.

So... as a new user - and as the devil's advocate - the obvious choice for
me becomes quite obvious: windows.

Right. Based on all the above, please procede to help me understand why on
earth will I or anybody else in the same shoes as I am, be better off
chosing a system that requires me to grasp and understand a lot of complex
command line instructions' sets, wasting a lot of time typing on a
keyboard, and which doesn't offer me the gaming and CAD experience that a
system that barely requires me to use the keyboard and rather allows me to
point and click a cursor on a screen to achieve the same, does?

Prosecutor, the ball is in your court :)

On 12 Jul 2017 08:01, "Joao Monteiro" <jmonteiro257 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> For those who may not have read it in the thread where I mentioned it, the
> purpose of this thread is simple:
>
> My humble way of giving a contribution to the community within my rookie
> means, in a threefold manner...
>
> 1) The original subject of a thread usually gets lost in the twists and
> turns that the replies take, often going astray into subjects that have
> nothing to do with their original subject. When that deviation from the
> original sibject happens, people are welcome to bring that deviation into
> here. That way the threads can remain as useful references to their titled
> subjects and with valuable info pertaining to that subject alone
>
> 2) To bring forth insights into pros and cons of one too many things linux
> related and
>
> 3) To gather as many and varied views and opinions - preferably with
> sensible explanations as to "why" - as possible, which can bring precious
> insights into the needs and expectations that users have from their
> particular linux distro (in this case xubuntu xfce); a graphical or musical
> user will have different needs and expectations than a math teacher, an
> average user, a programmer, a forensic analyst, etc...
>
> This can in due course offer a substantial picture, map, of what is
> lacking, what can be improved and how, etc...
>
> I have asked Ralph to please be the Prosecutor beating the crap out of me,
> who will be the horned bugger's advocate :) .... I hope he accepts, as he
> has very good views and strong opinions well reasoned...
>
> So... I'll open it with a subject that is pertinent enough to have some
> buying me a coffee and others hanging me by my balls :)
>
> Give me a few minutes to dawn a pair of kevlar undies and I'll kick start
> the fuss :)
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/xubuntu-users/attachments/20170712/ea4b6a0c/attachment.html>