Copying the wrong stuff

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Copying the wrong stuff

Monday, January 29. 2007

Why the heck everybody beliefs, that it´s sufficient to build a descent graphical interface to build a so called "Mac OS X" killer or even an Vista-Killer like Rich ... As long you get told "you have to echo this sequence into that file in the /proc file system for suspend/resume" and you have to twiddle here and to twiddle there even to get the basic stuff running, Linux isn´t anywhere near of being a desktop operating system outside the restricted environment of corporate desktops. At maximum it´s a smaller variant of the favorite operating system of some server jockeys.

Usability is more than a rotating cube with desktops. This is a sugar icing on the cake, but in the case of the desktop usage for Joe Sixpack the there misses something important: a finished cake under the icing. And to be honest, in the past years i didn´t saw Linux catching up. Today it´s perhaps there, where MacOS X was at 10.0, you can use it, but your environment learns a swearword every minute

So, as long OS/X will be developed by Apple and Microsoft makes a bad rip off of all the good feature every 5 years or so, i don´t see a Linux distro as an killer for anything for the next time.

Posted by Joerg Moellenkamp in English, Sun/Oracle at 21:48 | Comments (2) | Trackback (1)

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Ubuntu vs. OS X
Ich wollte ja schon lange mal irgendwie kundtun, wie gut mir Ubuntu Linux in letzter Zeit gefällt. Nur schon die Fortschritte vom 05/10-Release zum aktuellen 06/10 sind riesig. Auf meinen beiden Maschinen lief alles sofort, inklusive WLAN mit den MadWifi

Weblog: dur.ch/
Tracked: Jan 30, 21:14

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My high-school German is a bit rusty; hope English is OK. Don't underestimate the value of the UI - MS have had a series of unfinished cakes (poor underlying OS) but have papered over the cracks with some pretty nice icing (UI) - and they've done pretty well. Of course some of those cracks open-up and things like security become impossible to maintain.

btw. suspend on Ubuntu works the way it should - close the lid (or don't touch for 5 minutes) it suspends; open the lid or touch a key and it unsuspends. No shell scripting required.

Seriously - give it 3-5 years - watch out Apple and Microsoft.

#1 Rich Sharples (Homepage) on 2007-01-30 00:42 (Reply)

"Joe Sixpack" doesn't make a conscious decision as he doesn't really care about operating systems. He uses whatever comes pre-packaged with the PC bought at MM, S*turn, Aldi and friends. "Joe Sixpack" is not happy with Windows, wouldn't be happy with Linux or Mac OS or any other user interface because advertisement suggests that using a computer, "being online" and all these things is even easier than getting a VCR programmed right (remember this AOL(?) ad some years ago?), and this simply isn't true for any of these operating systems. In fact, I have to deal with a lot of graphics designers who feel like they are "forced" to work with a Mac and Mac OS X while they admit that they would prefer MS Windows... and I had to spend quite some time (at "install-parties" throughout the last couple of years) installing Ubuntu to recent Mac hardware (which is a really enjoyable experience by the way).

But perhaps we should look at things a different way: Does Joe Sixpack actually have to deal with how to get suspend to work well? Does Joe Sixpack have to deal with how to get the gearbox in his/her car maintained? In most cases in everyday life I need help of an expert as either I can't or I simply don't want to deal with gory details of technology. And if you do have someone who takes care of administering your machine, installing an OS, getting things configured the way they are, I am convinced that Linux is no worse than MacOS X and a lot better than MS Windows in terms of being "just" a working-horse for doing what you need to do using your computer...

#2 kawazu (Homepage) on 2007-01-30 08:26 (Reply)

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