>> Linux is free and it may be better (it's abosolute hell to install)
>
>I'd disagree with you on "absolute hell". It's much less difficult
>than the "historical" Unices that I've installed over the years on
>PDP-11's.
I have a shorter time installing Linux (Red Hat 5.0) than I do Windows
95/3.1!!! It's easy, if you're like me, using standard IDE/UDMA componets,
a PCI bus, etc.
>The only "difficult" Linux installs that I've done were when none of
>the commonly-distributed kernels had support for some particular
>device necessary for system operation (i.e. some obscure SCSI
>host adapter), and I had to do a kernel build on another system
>for this configuration first.
SCSI makes things difficult. Seriously. On this 'ere machine, the SCSI
contoller makes for... a partially cooled hell for instalation.
>On the other hand, many "free" Unix ports I've seen are not only
>absolute hell to install, mainly because the installation instructions/
>script are badly out of sync with the distributed binaries. NetBSD-VAX
>is what springs to mind at the moment!
I'll have to take your word on that. But then again, the first name usually
denotes a total genius!!! (Tim O'Reilly, Tim Berners-Lee...)
>Of course, it depends on what you're comparing against :-). From
>your other comments it sounds like your standard of reference is
>probably VMS, in which case I'll agree, by comparison Linux is
>absolute hell.
How 'bout comparing it to... FreeDOS? (
http://www.freedos.org) I BTW,
support this idea entirely, as after Windows 98, MS said they arn't going to
include a DOS with Windows, so you'll need a DOS if MS isn't around/making
OS's. Actually, I think that MS has had a smart strategy in recent months.
Internet Explorer for Solaris, NetShow for Linux... I think that it's about
time that MS dropped their dead-weight which gives them little profits and
focus at what they're good at: Ease of use (on dirt cheap PC's), etc. Now,
I kinda like Windows, like MacOS for the rest of us. But I think that if MS
focused on other things, or stopped focusing on "We're the best at
everything" and started thinking "We could save money, time, and PR funds by
working on other OS's"... like making a cross NT-Linux.... that'd be COOL!!!
>Tim.
Yep.
Received on Fri May 22 1998 - 09:55:54 BST