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The Advantages of Using Linux
This article started out as a reply for the article, "Disadvantages of Using Linux." from DarDuck; By Lisa Hann. The full story is here. http://lxer.com/module/newswire/ext_link.php?rid=158814 |
Comments (60)
Untitled
(The voice of experience...)
If I may, I think you can abbreviate your comment to a simple "MS-Windows does not do a good job."
No sense in wasting perfectly good electrons belaboring the point.
Hardware compatibility
Yes, I might be splitting hairs, or maybe she knows something I don't.
Quoting:You could have a computer from the last few years of the last century and there are Windows distros that will run on it.
My son has a 9 inch Samsung netbook, and I work with a 13 inch Asus. The Samsung came with Winblows XP, and ran like a drunken slug when someone dared to run XP. However, with Mint it even plays games at an acceptable speed.
The Asus came with Winblows 7, and every time I start 7 (Not very often) I am reminded of watching an old drunk trying to get up from a night of sleeping/drinking on a park bench. You can almost hear the creaking of bones.
Now, to be certain, this Asus was designed from the ground up for battery life. And it does quite well. But, under Mint Debian, SalineOS, and now Sabayon I can easily get 8+ hours of usable time out of the battery with a system that is noticeably faster than the Samsung. Plenty of speed for an academic, it often outpaces the fancy, schmancy, desktop on campus saddled with XP.
There may be a Windows "designed" for these systems, but Windows most certainly does not RUN on these systems. Staggers, crawls, or upchucks are much more appropriate descriptors.
Now that is halfway to being an article, itself!
I usually subscribe to the Charles M. Winchester III philosophy, "Be brief and be gone."
DrGeoffrey is also very right about performance. Stick Vector Linux 7 on the same box and watch it fly.
Add Your Favorite Advantages
27 earlier comments in the full thread.
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AFAICT your X-based mouse actions don't allow that. Under X, the selection is the clipboard.
But I know, at least for myself, I've used it too many times to give it up. It's indispensable for smoothing out long compositions.
Heavens, it took me almost a year before "googling" sounded natural to me as a verb. "I Ducked" it has some strange possibilities and I'm going to sit back and watch the evolution of this phrase with interest. "I Ducked it" will probably be the next logical step.
Aflac!
Four seconds on the power button will temporarily disable that behavior for all OS's.
On a windoze machine, that is an open-door invitation to a BSOD. In Linux, not so much but it can cry havoc with Windows.
I'm not sure what you are implying. Are you saying that you don't believe this statement or that MS Office is a bad product?
If someone already has MS Office and they like it, Wine enables them to continue using it whilst disrobing themselves of the Windows stranglehold. For practically everything I have ever used it for in the past, the functionality of Office 97 is still entirely sufficient.
I used some of the older MS Offices and found that it was great. I use LibreOffice these days and it serves me and my family well. However, I wouldn't criticise others for their decision to stick with what they like on Linux.
So goose it.
There, that's better!
While your position sounds at first blush to be eminently reasonable, what it really accomplishes is to allow the junkie to keep his regular fix, and the dealer to keep his cash flow.
I work on an all windows campus and am surrounded by people happy in their ignorance. That is, they're happy until they once again access yet another buggy feature, or pick up another Windows/MS Office virus. Then they call IT for help, and IT (which staffs a boatload of tech people who appear to work exclusively to correct Windows problems) is more than happy to justify their existence. On a campus where tight budgets rule supreme, the waste involved in this never ending do-loop must be astounding. And that doesn't consider the cost of the software, or the never ending train of replacement hardware for systems that are a few years old, but still quite functional.
This is a school that prides itself on its fiscal responsibility.
Perhaps it's my training as a bean counter, but I prefer funds being spent productively.
Even more frustrating, as an all windows shop we are busy training students to be skillful at working with dated and buggy software. Not to train them in the much more important skills of flexibility, resourcefulness, and ability to learn.
Years ago a Professor of mine once noted that University's prepare their students for the previous decade. I prefer to prepare them for the future.
No. I think the P.T. Barnum quote is most appropriate.
I would support the user's freedom to do whatever is cost-effective and convenient for them. Moving to Linux and continuing to use software which you have bought, paid for and are happy with is one of those freedoms.
The issue you are talking about is institutional stupidity. Using free software does nothing to eradicate that.
But then most of your reply is about Windows and I wouldn't advocate anyone use that if they possibly can do without it.....
Point 1: MS Office is only a slightly smaller bug-ridden and virus-laden fiasco than Windows.
Point 2: Having made the transition from MSOffice to LibreOffice, I can assure you it is not difficult. In fact, many aspects of LibreOffice are much more carefully thought out, and therefore much more useful (e.g., customizable toolbars vs a rigid ribbon (and only one customizable toolbar)).
Now, I am not advocating an all Linux shop. Such a position would be self-defeating for the students. Also, there may be critical software that is not available on Linux (yet). But, clearly, MS Office is not critical software.
In any event, I am a lost voice in the wilderness.
Quoting:(Sure, you can probably disable this behaviour in Windows.)
For a couple of hours, at least... Then it magically turns itself on again, because Microsoft cares about you sooo much.
Concerning Libre Office, specifically Calc as a replacement for Excel:
Until there is a solution for problems with heavy chart and graphics interchange between Calc and Excel users, we're not going to be able to touch the Enterprise. As recently as two weeks ago, I had someone complain that it looked like a bomb went off in an Excel document we were both editing and exchanging.
I know much of the fault lies with Microsoft and even cross exchanges with different versions of MS Office will produce the same problems. However, most people will just tolorate it if it's a MS office/MS office document exchange but if it's a MS Office/Libre office exchange, then Libre Office/Linux sucks.
Quoting:I know much of the fault lies with Microsoft and even cross exchanges with different versions of MS Office will produce the same problems.
A defining moment came for me sometime back when I created a PowerPoint presentation with MSOffice 2003, under XP, transferred it to a classroom system, which was running MSOffice 2003, under XP, only to have a corrupted presentation appear on the screen.
Upon returning to my office, I accessed the very same file with my office computer. . . and found no corruption.
MS Office's graphics problems extend beyond Excel, and there's no need to cross versions.
MS Office and Windows are made by a huge corporation, that people have seen television advertising for (and that made BG ludicrously rich and famous). And people can easily find it at Walmart or BestBuy or Dell. But Linux was made by students and hackers in their parents' basements, isn't advertised on TV, hasn't made anyone a billionaire yet. And just try to find it at Walmart or BestBuy or even Dell.
So obviously the issues you described passing documents between Windows computers under MS-Office are are inevitable and unavoidable -- or far more likely just your own stupidity -- while the issues passing documents between Linux (or Windows) computers under LibreOffice show that both Linux and LibreOffice are cheap and shoddy, substandard imitations of a near-perfect product.
Any other perspective is plainly rabidly partisan -- if not actually delusional. Can your doctor refer you to good, professional help? ;-)
Gosh. I'm sure glad you cleared that up.
The good news is that my "professional help" says that I, myself, appear to be getting better. ;-)
Just for you then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk0dBZ1meio
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And for a "non-supported hardware" issue, MS-Windows-7-64bit is a nightmare!