APPLEVISION Monitor

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Tue May 7 04:11:09 2002

I do somewhat agree with your comment under (4) below ... have a look.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Doc" <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: APPLEVISION Monitor


> On Mon, 6 May 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
>
> > (1) Several guys believe that using Windows obscures much of the power of
the
> > computer from the user. Is that important if the user's needs are met?
>
> Yes. There are needs, and then there's "OhmiGod, THIS is COOL!"
>
I'm not much for COOL.
>
> > (2) Several guys believe that using Unix/Linux is "Better." Why? If the
> > user's needs are met, what does it matter how it happens?
>
> You might want to look for references to Largo, Florida's switch to
> Linux on most of the city's hardware. Most telling are the reactions of
> Joe Receptionist and Mary Data-Entry. They LIKE it. They had a site
> admin system that was helpful with the transition. They _really_ like
> not losing data to random crashes. They like the configurability and
> the beauty of the KDE desktop.
> The City of Largo thinks it's "Better" because they stand to save
> millions in reduced licensing fees, reduced downtime, and a greatly
> extended upgrade cycle on their hardware.
>
That is interesting ...
>
> > (4) What does it matter which OS or hardware arrangement is "better" if
the
> > user's functional and budgetary requirements/limitations are met?
> >
> > This shouldn't be a religious matter, should it?
>
> I've stayed pretty much out of the religious/political discussion, but
> Yes.
> It _is_ very much a matter of principle, and a matter of philosophy.
> Microsoft has been spanked repeatedly by the courts for its abuse of the
> computing public, and its blatant disregard of the law. In my world,
> that means you get points for not supporting them. If enough of us step
> quietly (or not) off the Windows playing field, even Gates & Ballmer
> might be able to see the light. If not, it soon won't matter. Nothing
> that Windows offers is impossible in other operating systems.
>
I'm pretty tired of MS adding features that don't work to the Windows OS. My
own pet peeve is the backup utility, but there are others that either don't
work or trip over one another. The video handlers are nice, but I'd be
happier without them and a decent set of background diagnotics instead. With
memory sizes approaching and exceeding 2 GB, systems need a logged memory
check that runs in the background pretty much all the time. It also needs a
diagnostic for the HDD so things don't get out of hand there, and it needs a
more fully automatable garbage collection system. They added a backup program
that almost works, but then left it, warts and all, just as Seagate/Veritas
left it.

I'm not buying any more releases of Windows, for now, until they fix some of
the problems. That's why I'm looking around. I've really got little to
complain about, myself.
Received on Tue May 07 2002 - 04:11:09 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Fri Oct 10 2014 - 23:35:21 BST