RE: [COMP] Windows 2000: 65,000 bugs

Linux has a long way to go before becoming user friendly and widely accepted
by the market.  Desktop environments like gnome and KDE are helping this
process along, but the basic infrastructure of the operating is built around
UNIX, an operating system that is just not meant for the average everyday
users.  In my opinion Linus copied the wrong operating system.  UNIX is a
pain, and thus since Linux is a clone of UNIX, it is a pain also.  He should
have just started from scratch and made something without incorporating
UNIX.  Despite Windows' bugs it is still a much better operating system then
Linux for most users, because everything in it is intuitive.  It will remain
that way until developers for Linux do something to make the operating
system easier to configure and the programs more professional (Although
there are quite a few exceptions, most programs written for Linux look
cheesy are generally featureless).  For example, try to find a good file
manager for Linux.  Linux development is not standardized and it really
needs to break away from the command line.  This is getting better every day
and eventually I believe Linux will be just as common to users as Windows.
For now, however, if you are not interested in spending days and even weeks
trying to get everything in your computer to work with Linux, you should
probably just stay with Windows and tolerate the bugs.

Despite the 28,000 critical bugs in Windows 2000, I'm going to purchase a
copy.  Why?? (I'm sure all of you are asking).  Because I have been using
the latest beta for about 1 month extensively, and it is still more stable
than Win9x.  Windows 2000 might have 65,000 bugs, but that's got to be an
improvement compared to Win9x.  There are some major compatibility issues
between Win9x software and Win2K, but just about everything written for NT
will work fine.  For those of you who have had a bad experience with Win9x,
get NT.  You are guaranteed to have fewer problems despite what Linux lovers
might think.

And just to let it be know, Linux is not bug free.  Try this

# modpobe eepro

guaranteed crash every time.  Need some new software for Linux, go to the
website and download it.  But before you do, read the BUG!!!!!!!! Report.
That's right.  Linux software has bugs too!!  All you computer scientists
out there know it is virtually impossible to write a sophisticated program
without bugs.  Those of you that have taken a software engineering course
will know that software engineering is a relatively new field with areas of
extensive research that have only been around for about a decade ( a
relatively short time especially when the requirement for sophisticated
software grows so rapidly).

My conclusion:
Windows is good, but not great.  Linux is good, but not great.  If you want
a great operating system (for an X86 processor anyway) you will have to
write it yourself.  I love Linux, I use it everyday an probably spend more
time on it then I do my Windows machine, but it does not live up to all its
hype.  I hope the operating system of the future will not be either of them.

 -----Original Message-----
From:   weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]  On Behalf Of
Alexandre Jorge Fontes Laranjeira
Sent:   Monday, February 14, 2000 6:45 AM
To:     computers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; computertalkshop-list@xxxxxxxxx;
systalk@xxxxxxx; pethessa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
ccdennis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:        Re: [COMP] Windows 2000: 65,000 bugs

Congratulations, John!

I think it's time for us to break free.

I keep on asking myself how could a nasty piece of software such windows
o.s. dominate the market.

Unfortunately, there are some answers.

First of all, in spite of all the crashes, windows is really user-friendly.

Besides, the plug-and-play features allow regular users to configurate their
computers.

These things enrage some programmers and computer professionals because they
want to keep all the knoledge to themselves.

Some of them even dislike the GUI interface because it has made the computer
a piece of furniture, allowing millions of ignorant people to run a program
with a single click.

Here in Brazil, there are lots of people happily pointing the complexity of
the Linux o.s. as a signal of the return of an era when only a few people
could operate computers.

That's really sad because computers are very usefull to almost everybody and
can help people to achieve their educational and professional goals.

For example, in spite of being a lawyer, I can no longer work without
computers.

Linux will be the solution, since it4s good and it4s free. But it has to be
popularized. Everybody should learn how to operate this new o.s.

That's why the "open source" people should be concerned about making not
only good and free software, but easy-to-use software. That4s the key to the
market.

Down with expensive and "crashy" software! Power to the users!


----- Original Message -----
From: John Madden <weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <computertalkshop-list@xxxxxxxxx>; <computers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<systalk@xxxxxxx>; <pethessa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<ccdennis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2000 1:42 AM
Subject: [COMP] Windows 2000: 65,000 bugs


> To all the folks willing to let Mr. Gates continue to rule their lives:
>
>
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2436920,00.html?chkpt=zdnntop
>
> And to anyone willing to break free, and use software that isn't
> released with known bugs:
>
> http://www.linux.org
>
> Nuff said?  Sorry, but this article made me sick, and their PR response
> to the leaked memo made me even more angry.  What right do they have to
> do this?  Oh, and then charge you 300 bucks for it?  I'd like to thank
> Linus, Alan, and the thousands of other programmers out there who put
> their blood, sweat, and tears into an operating system that was built
> from the ground up to be a decent piece of software, and to the method
> (open source) that has brought us to the top of the IT world.
>
> There's simply no excuse for the sort of things Microsoft does to the
> user community, and hopefully, they won't be allowed to do it anymore.
> The problem, as I see it, is something of a snowball effect: once you
> run Windows, and use Windows software, you feel as though you have no
> choice, and that anything else is insufficient, or too difficult.  You
> create excuses, because "it's ok," and "everyone else uses it, so it
> can't be bad."  But would you buy a car that had no steering wheel?  Of
> course not.  The fight to force MS to write decent software starts with
> you: you hold Microsoft (and any other software company, for that
> matter) by the purse strings.
>
> I'm sick of it.  Maybe some blood vessel somewhere in the middle of my
> brain will burst someday, and all of the stress and frustration this
> situation causes me will have been for nothing.  Who knows... But many
> of you know me pretty well, and you know I can't just sit around and
> watch these things continue.
>
> There are alternatives: all the software you could ever want is
> available for FREE, for a FREE operating system, built on stability,
> reliability, and correctness.  All the help you could ever want in
> adjusting to this alternative and amazing environment is also available
> FREE, on the internet.
>
> I've got a challenge: I challenge each and every one of you to think
> twice the next time you go to buy a piece of software.  Stop and
> think: "Am I really going to get my money's worth here?  Are they going
> to screw me over with bugs?  Do I care to do anything about it?"  If
> your local government were to, say, allow your children to just watch TV
> all day in school, would you stand by and let such an atrocity take
> place?  Of course not!  You'd complain!  So why run poor software, on a
> poorly written OS, that was released with thousands of known bugs?
>
> Take a stand folks, and user by user, bit by bit, change will happen.
> You'll look back on these days and wonder why it took so long to change
> things.  The challenge: install an alternative OS (sure, Linux is great,
> but it doesn't *have* to be Linux) and live with it for two months.  Use
> all the software you like; go ahead- it's all free.  Enjoy the speed,
> stability, and flexibility.  Got problems?  Ask on a mailing list,
> newsgroups, a local LUG, or from  your nearby always willing-to-help
> guru.  After those 60 days, go ahead and try to go back to your old OS.
> You'll be amazed at how much your view on computing has changed.  Email
> me your experiences, tell me about your problems, how you liked it, how
> you didn't, ask questions, whatever.  I'm setting up a mailing list
> (details later) just for this sort of thing.
>
> Some people look at me strangely when I speak my views on certain
> commercial software, because after all, I'll someday be in the job place
> writing it (yeah, still in college here).  It's really perfectly
> logical: At the current rate, all crappy commercial software will be run
> out of the market by free software, which is usually technically
> superior.  Thus, the market for poor software will decrease, and
> companies like our favorite Redmond campus will be forced to either
> straighten up, or go out of business.  This puts a strangle on the
> market, decreasing my chances of getting a job.  By increasing the
> quality of software now, competition in the market will become fierce,
> and high competition is the strongest kind of market, and that means
> lots of jobs for me, and better software for the consumer.
>
> Am I an advocate?  Absolutely.  A zealot?  Hopefully. :)
>
> John
>
>
>
> --
> # John Madden  weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 2EB9EA
> # Sys-Admin / Webmaster, Avenir Web: http://avenir.dhs.org
> # LANdb: Network Admin Database - http://avenir.dhs.org/landb/
> # "A kernel compile a day keeps the blue screens away."
>
>
>
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