Robert Holmgren wrote:
** Reply to message from J R FOX <jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxxx> on Wed, 12 May 2010 10:54:44 -0700 (PDT) ... but I think you're comparing bumble bees to locomotives: misunderstanding what *nix does and why it is used. For the most part, Unix/Linux is harnessed to a huge range of very narrowly defined purposes. Most installations devote all resources to a very few jobs. But they do those jobs with unmatched efficiency and a degree of manual control that noother operating system offers.
just because diesel engines have traditionally not used in conventional automobiles, does that mean they never should be? should I never "borrow" some robustness for free, with the help of GUI environments that have evolved quite usefully? in fact Gnome is very appealing and gives me everything I want in a graphical environment, and it's got industrial strength -- in the year and a half since I've been using Ubuntu in earnest, I have never had to power down the computer -- not the case when I was using Suse occasionally.
I don't relish educating people who have no business experimenting with a computer system if they don't understand they must educate themselves to use it. I guess to that degree I concur with your judgement it's not for everyone. but if you're willing to read a book or two, and know exactly what you want, it's a great solution. in my limited experience, Linux wasn't particularly end-usable (for me) until recently, but right now it is, and it is in large part because people who aren't sysadmins are seeing -- and contributing to -- its value, strangely almost as an echo of/answer to Jobs' co-opting of FreeBSD.
rafe t.
