Re: [Hampshire] pcworld southampton & linux

> I have the greatest respect for the windows system provided it has no
> contact
> with the Internet. I have seen well created windows systems boot in 20
> seconds flat which is faster than any linux system I have seen.

Pick your hardware. I can build a Linux system on it that will boot faster
than Windows.

Don't confuse the time before a desktop appears with the time to boot;
Windows is notorious for bringing up a GUI before anything is actually
functional.

Add to that the fact that most Linux systems are running far more services
than the average Windows box; start piling on the apps and Windows boot
times go ballistic. It's not uncommon to see reboot times of >30 *minutes*
on Exchange servers...

> I can load a new bit of hardware and drivers on windows with no problem.

Yep, So can I.

> A
> piece of hard ware for linux well thats a search on the Internet to find
> out if its is compatible and how to get it to install.

Hardware compatability is only a problem because some hardware vendors are
deliberately obstructive in terms of getting their kit to work with Free
Software. The fact that they go out of their way to prevent sales to FOSS
users implies that they are being leant on.

> I can upgrade and install software on Linux. But I have no real idea what
> I am doing. I don't care, because if the install or upgrade works I am
> happy.

That is just your lack of familiarity. If you knew more, you would be
happily installing whilst knowing *exactly* what you are doing.

> Doing the same in Windows I knew where everything went.

And that just isn't true.

Do a large installation in Windows - say, Office or somesuch. Do you know
every key change in the registry? Can you find every single change to your
filesystem?

On my system, I can determine every file change and every installation
scriptlet *before* I install something.

> I have OCR programs in windows which work fantastically. An OCR program
> in Linux has just wasted my time.

Conversely, many people get on fine with such apps. Do not confuse "I
don't know how to ..." with "Linux can't ..."

> I have used disk backups and disk partitioning in windows and they have
> worked very well and I have lost no work.

I have used disk partitioning apps in Windows that have trashed the entire
disk. I have *never* had a problem in Linux - even when I decided to try
stuff that required me to build my own tools.

> I have used those in the Linux system
> and have had my hard disk over written when it should not have. (More
> a case of > using windows logic on a linux program which was not a good
> idea).

You made a mistake. That happens when you're learning. But you know what
they say about the workman who blames his tools.

> I have free video editor programs in Windows which work very well. A
> video editor in Linux often leaves me with a bit of swearing.

I've used video editors in both Windows and Linux. I found them all to
work acceptably. But the Windows program cost me a *lot* more money.

> We really need to use an engineering approach to this. Use each operating
> system the best way possible. Use the strengths of each operating system
> and make allowances for the weaknesses.

The first part of any such "engineering approach" would be an objective
assessment of what can be done - not just which OS you are more familiar
with. Your argument so far boils down to "I don't understand Linux, so
Windows must be better". That isn't persuasive.

> Setting up to watch videos in windows took me no more than a minute.

Setting up my Linux system to watch videos took me a very small amount of
time. I don't know how much, because it all happened at install time when
I was doing a bazillion other things at the same time.

> Crafting mplayer to do what I want took me a lot more than five minutes
> and then I had to hunt down information to get the subtitles to work.

Subtitles work just fine on my mplayer installation. What did I do to get
them to work? Nothing at all. I just don't mess with things that don't
need messing with.

Vic.