Technology news and Jobs 
linux.conf.au The Linux tinority responds
linux.conf.au The Linux tinority responds | The Linux tinority responds |
|
| by Sam Varghese | |
| Friday, 21 November 2008 | |
|
Page 2 of 3 There are some basics one goes through when thinking of benefitting by switching operating systems. First, one should read Dominic Humphries wonderful essay on why Linux is not Windows. That is if one is really serious about making the move. The expectations then become realistic. Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
One needs to evaluate the mandatory tasks one needs to do - and check whether the software on the other side of the border is suited. Else, one needs to look at ways of getting organised so that this does not become a stumbling block. You can't give up cigarettes in the morning and then go out drinking with your friends in the evening - the first thing you would reach for after a refreshing sip of alcohol is a nicotine stick to cut through the taste. Using a virtual environment to look at GNU/Linux is advisable as it is more easily accessible than a dual-boot system - and VirtualBox provides an easy environment for this. It's free, very easy to set up and GNU/Linux runs wonderfully well within its confines. Running a few Windows applications on GNU/Linux can easily be achieved by using Crossover. I've even installed Internet Explorer using this wonderful piece of software which is developed by CodeWeavers, folk who even had the good sense to run a promotion recently to mark the approaching end of the reign of the worst president in US history. The lack of an Internet Explorer clone for GNU/Linux has nothing to do with freedom - it doesn't exist because IE itself is not a typical application, but a series of libraries, the main one of which is part of the Windows system itself and cannot be removed. GNU/Linux observes the distinction between kernel space and userspace, a fundamental when it comes to designing an operating system. The golden rule is that applications can fail, the operaing system should not. IE was designed this way to provide functionality beyond that of Netscape Navigator during the days of browser wars - and this also means that it has opened the door for remote execution of code by virus, worms and the like, activity which can take down your entire system. As to the speed of browsers running on any GNU/Linux distribution, there cannot be comparisons unless there are proper benchmarks. Ubuntu is just one distribution and what happens there cannot be extended to mean that the same happens on GNU/Linux everywhere. Windows may have a billion users more than GNU/Linux but does widespread use indicate that something is better? Then the Spice Girls are infinitely better than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Would you buy that argument? Sounds silly, doesn't it? The number of users that GNU/Linux has is something I am least bothered about - I use the operating system for strictly selfish reasons, because it suits me, saves me money and does what I want it to do. |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
