Trond wrote:In italic, then: The problem is, Linux sucks.
Or, certain people assume they know everything when in reality they know close to nothing!
Trond wrote:Well:
- Monolithic kernel which means that a driver bug can (and does) take the entire system down
Yeah, like any OS, monolithic or microkernel, can prevent a driver bug from taking the entire system down... Here's a hint: protected mode doesn't work once hardware gets involved (drivers interface to hardware, FYI).
Trond wrote: - Unfrozen kernel ABI, which means that drivers must be compiled for your particular kernel, which means that vendors can't easily create stable drivers without a lot of maintenance work
The ABI is not *intentionally* not frozen to discourage people from maintaining "drivers" outside the mainline kernel tree. This is because any driver maintained outside the main tree is generally either 1) horrible code anyway, or 2) a violation of the copyright terms Linux is distributed under. When this isn't the case, a driver will be merged and included with any standard kernel distribution, thus avoiding any ABI issues.
Trond wrote: - X is a client-server system that effectively kills screen performance
How does it kill performance at all? Cite some sources. When the X11 programs are on the same computer as the display, the protocol uses UNIX sockets, which are completely local and don't have the overhead of TCP/IP. For programs that demand low-latency drawing, X11 extensions such as Xv and DRI/GLX allow the local application to bypass the socket layer completely and draw directly the the screen.
Trond wrote: - In addition to X, GTk, the de facto GUI toolkit, is roughly twice as slow as the Windows API even without drawing anything.
Yes, GTK sucks. But with the rest of your "points", you prove that GTK is *not* the de facto GUI toolkit. Qt's toolkit, on the other hand, is far more mature and has no such speed issues.
Trond wrote: - Missing web browser integration: No linux web browser exists that uses native GTk widgets.
Konqueror is the most standards compliant web browser today and, guess what, uses native Qt widgets!
Trond wrote: - Missing office suite integration: No linux office suite suitable for large work (like OpenOffice) exists that uses native GTk widgets.
KOffice works just fine and again, uses native Qt widgets!
Trond wrote: - Missing standardised software installation procedure
As if this problem is specific to any OS? There is no cross-platform installation procedure, period. A Windows installer will not work on OSX, nor will an OSX installer work on Fedora. Nor will a Fedora installer work on Kubuntu. Keep in mind that Linux is just *one* small part of the OS, and has absolutely nothing to do with software installation.
Trond wrote: - Missing graphics program suitable for serious work (GIMP doesn't even have CMYK support (!))
Try Krita. It supports CMYK, and uses *gasp* native Qt widgets!
Trond wrote: - Font rendering of small serif fonts is dreadful
This is not a technical problem, but rather a legal problem in the United States. Bytecode and subpixel rendering of TrueType fonts is patented and for an OS to distribute these capabilities would leave them open to lawsuits from someone (probably Microsoft). The only legal workaround is for the end user to recompile TrueType with the patented code enabled themselves.
Trond wrote: - File type system is broken, it's absent
WTF does this even mean??
Trond wrote: Summary: Can't install 3rd party software, can't surf the web (did I mention that SUPPORTED wireless cards doesn't work and that flash must be installed via the command line to "work" (hang, that is)?),
Yeah, sure, as if the OS can provide support for hardware when the vendors refuse to provide documentation of it (yes, often Linux *does* support these, but only through hours if not months of reverse engineering). If your WiFi doesn't work in Linux, it is due to either the chipset being extremely new, or the vendor intentionally not cooperating with the Linux developers.
Trond wrote:can't edit documents (neither AbiWord nor OpenOffice can render serif fonts properly, dragging the middle right handle on a picture to make it wider makes it shorter in AbiWord), can't edit graphics for print,
Please explain how fonts looking slightly less pretty makes it impossible to edit documents.
Trond wrote: can't reinstall (ubuntu's *debootstraps doesn't actually work with ubuntu(!)),
Oh, no! So why don't you try reinstalling like you would any other OS? That is, boot off the install CD and start from scratch.
Trond wrote:can't extract files without having them deleted (did you try tar recently?),
User error, I'm sure.
Trond wrote:so what does Dave651 actually need if it does everything he needs? A new login in a window? How useful is that?
Or maybe he just knows how to do more than put a CD in his drive and push the power button...
Tipperton wrote:Add to all of that...
- Its very unfriendly
If someone has never used a computer in any form before in their life, KDE and probably even GNOME would both be far easier to learn than Windows's poor interface.
Tipperton wrote: - No standardized GUI
So developers usually have to produce two or more versions of their programs or decide on one of the GUI's loose the users of the one they didn't choose as potential customers.
Do OSX and Windows have a standardized GUI? Seriously, you people love to keep double standards, don't you?
Tipperton wrote: Just go attempt to download the binaries for some linux program and you get all kinds of choices. Binaries for Debian, SuSE, RedHat, Ubunto, etc., etc,. etc. and a separate binary for different versions of each. What a nightmare!
You don't see that in the Windows world and if you do its usually divided between DOS based (95/98/98SE/ME) or NT based (NT4/2000/XP/Vista).
Windows is one operating system. "Linux" is a whole category of operating systems. Big difference.
) it might be a good thing. But for now im a windows user..
Sorry, carried away there
Now back on topic: as i said i see more and more good things of it. Ubuntu is on the right course..
