[arachne] Re: OS advocacy

Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!

>> I learned from first-hand experience that most Linux users
>> apparently
>> cannot stand someone using a non-Unix OS, no matter which
>> one, and will
>> do just about anything to "convert" him to "their" OS.

> The linux community can be a bit brutal :) But in my
> experience, it's more of a flaming someone because they don't
> like it and less of trying to convert people.

Well, I have experienced the opposite - Linux users acting aggressively
against users of other OSes, in particular DOS, and trying to "force"
people into switching to Linux. I often found developers dropping
support for DOS just because they did not like it in an attempt to make
the users of their software switch to "the right OS".

I once encountered a Linux user who let off his usual "Linux shall rule
the world" statement, and told him that currently, most people are
cursing Windows because they have to use it even though they do not like
it. Of course, he agreed. Then I asked him if it really would make him
happy if they would be cursing Linux instead.

>> If the Linux developers were actively trying to improve Linux
>> and work
>> on eliminating its weaknesses, then perhaps it could become
>> almost as
>> good as DR-DOS.

> Given the fact that in my eyes *nix has changed/improved
> greatly in the past 5-10 years, I'm interested in which
> weaknesses you think they need to eliminate but aren't?

The inflexible directory structure, the inability to mount separate
partitions as separate logical drives, the lack of a defined API that
does not change between versions, the difficulty to uninstall software
again, the need to recompile almost everything if one downgrades to an
older component, the necessity to mount removable media before accessing
them and unmount them before removing them again, the bloated X-Windows,
and of course, the inability to run PC software other then in an
emulator - just to name a few.

For about five years, I tried to maintain Linux as an alternative -
to Windows, not to DOS - and found it severely lacking. I compiled every
new version of the kernel, the GNU C library, the GCC compiler, the
X-Windows system, the Wine emulator and several other components. The
result was just frustration and a waste of my time. So I am really fed
up with both Windows *and* Linux now.

I like GCC, and some day, I will definetely continue my attempt to port
Wine to DOS, so I support these projects, but that is about all I want
of Linux.

Regards,

Udo

-- The DR-DOS/OpenDOS Enhancement Project - http://www.drdosprojects.de

-- This mail was written by a user of The Arachne Browser - http://arachne.cz/
                  Arachne at FreeLists                  
-- Arachne, The Premier GPL Web Browser/Suite for DOS --

Other related posts: