[NCLUG] Re: Thoughts on Linux Users

[Daniel Herrington]

Paul,

I appreciated your responses. I'm wondering if you might elaborate on  
some things.

Daniel

On Nov 11, 2007, at 11:13 PM, Paul Hummer wrote:

> Every time I use a Mac or a Windows machine, I wish I had something  
> as robust as either yum or apt.

I'm not sure what you mean, as robust as yum or apt. On the Mac I  
install a new application by just dragging the application to the  
Applications folder.

>> 2. I'm still frustrated when trying to browse certain websites  
>> with the Linux version of Firefox. For example, Best Buy and  
>> Circuit City have menus that are supposed to pop down in front of  
>> the flash animation, but instead they just disappear behind the  
>> flash.
> Just tried this, and the both work for me.

I just installed Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop, Firefox 2.0.0.8, and Adobe  
Shockwave Flash 9.0 r48. I still have cut-off menus behind the flash  
animations on bestbuy.com and circuitcity.com. What versions are you  
using? Am I the only one seeing this?

> Thunderbird opens documents in OpenOffice just fine here.

My experience has been that tables, diagrams, and page breaks rarely  
transfer correctly from Word to OpenOffice. Maybe my experience is  
uncommon?

> I do it at least once a month to send DVDs of my family to my  
> brother in Taiwan.

And you enjoy using the Linux apps over using iMovie and iDVD for  
this purpose? That surprises me.

> Is it the same hardware?  We had this problem with SuSe at a former  
> employers, even though the boxes were the same Dell machines,  
> ordered two months apart.  Turns out they weren't the same hardware  
> after all...

Yeah, I shouldn't have to worry about which hardware revision I have,  
the OS should take care of it, within reason.

>> 6. Even though the GUIs available for Linux have come a long way  
>> in the last 10 years (like Gnome and KDE), in my opinion they're  
>> still behind something like the GUI on a Mac.
> Like, multiple desktops?  Maybe the UI effects?  I've heard this  
> argument many times, and I'll admit that many things with OS X  
> "Just Work" but let's not put Apple out to be the most original.   
> They just take the idea someone else had a put a little polish on it.

I wasn't trying to infer that Apple was the most original, just that  
they seem to have put more effort into making sure things "just work"  
together. This makes the need for technical support for my less  
computer savvy family members almost nil.

> I would seriously suggest you stay away from the Mac, from one  
> roboticist to another.  Apple wouldn't really be "maintaining" it  
> at all, and it's not a great open platform (I tried with my Mac  
> mini, becomes quite difficult).

I'm interested in what limitations you ran into. Can you describe  
your setup and the problems you ran into using a Mac mini? (Even an  
offline email to me directly would be great, if you think it's too  
far off topic.)

> "Not the right Pepsi, but the right Pepsis"

Yeah, I watched the pepsi/spaghetti sauce video, and I see the  
"happiness through diversity" philosophy being applied to other areas  
like religions and moral standards. I can't agree, since I am a  
Christian and I put my faith in the God of the Bible and in his one  
and only son Jesus Christ. In my opinion, if you spend all your life  
just trying out different Pepsis, you've missed out on the real food  
that satisfies. Endulging in too many life choices just leads to  
distraction, discontent, lack of purpose, and ultimately  
hopelessness. Of course, I guess it makes sense that many people  
believe in moral relativism and no absolute standards these days,  
since the theory of evolution has been pushed so strongly as truth  
over the last few decades. It's a challenge for people to break  
through those barriers to see the truth that there is one true God  
who loves them and sent his son to die for them so that they could be  
with Him for eternity. (I'm sure I'll get flamed for these comments  
being off-topic, too narrow-minded, etc., but oh well.)

To bring it back to Linux, when I was spending all of my time trying  
out different distros and different programs, I was distracted from  
my real purpose (the task I was trying to accomplish with my computer  
in the first place).