Re[2]: This is just wrong

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 9:44:25 PM, Mladen Gogala (mgogala_at_adelphia.net) wrote: MG> Jonathan, you're a very smart guy and a very nice one as well but I cannot MG> make sense of this clarification of yours.

Hey, it's possible that my comments make no sense. I never promise to make sense<grin>.

MG> Would you care to explain it a bit?

I read the ZDnet article referenced in the original note. What the Red Hat spokesperson said, essentially, was that for the vast majority of non-technical home users, Linux is likely not the best operating system to run. One might not agree with his position, but I think it's a reasonable, and defensible position to take.

The Red Hat spokesperson *did* say that Linux might be ready to tackle the broad consumer market in a couple of years. He was not by any means slamming Linux, just pointing out that in a couple years it might well improve to the point where it could be a player in the consumer space.

Finally, the Red Hat guy made a point of saying that Linux *was* ready for the business desktop. A business person who simply needs word-processing, email, spreadsheets, and presentations, can easily get that from Linux right now. Companies that roll out captive applications to internal users, could deploy those apps on Linux rather than Windows.

Support is something, I think, that makes Linux more viable in the business space. Few in the business world install their own operating systems. Thus, your average business person wouldn't really need to learn anything about the guts of Linux. A technical person would install and configure their laptop, hand it to them, and off they would go. If for some reason Joe Businessman needed to support something new, say a digital camera purchased for the office, he'd hand his laptop and camera to the technical support person who would do the work of making the two play together.

If home users could have their own, onsite support staff, then Linux might make more sense for the home.

Having said all of this, what did Red Hat recommend instead of Linux? They recommended Windows XP. That got me to thinking about my friend who bought a Dell earlier this year on my recommendation. Every time he calls me for help, every time he screws his computer up somehow, I sit there and wish I'd pointed him towards a Mac.

Now, Mac OS X is Unix, and Linux is essentially Unix, so what's the difference? The difference is that Apple has worked their magic with OS X. It just installs, and it just works. Printers, cameras, scanners, whatever, just plug in and work. Consumer software (games, etc) is available for OS X, though perhaps not to the same degree as for Windows.

So if I were recommending an operating system to my completely non-technical neighbors, I think OS X would be the more problem-free path. But if they had an Intel box, I'd have to point them to Win XP.

Consider too, that if I point a neighbor to Linux, then I'm responsible for sending the neighbor down seemingly (to him) unusual path, and he'll blame me every time he wants to do something but can't. That's not a position I want to be in.

Best regards,

Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:jonathan@gennick.com

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Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 9:44:25 PM, Mladen Gogala (mgogala_at_adelphia.net) wrote:

MG> Jonathan, you're a very smart guy and a very nice one as well but I cannot  
MG> make sense of this clarification of yours. Would you care to explain it a bit?
MG> What confuses me is that you agree that one version of Unix (Linux) is not
MG> appropriate for a home user, but then, in the same message, recommend OS X,
MG> which is essentially a version of BSD  Unix. Was that a joke? Are you  
MG> moonlighting as an Apple salesman?

MG> On 2003.11.04 20:29, Jonathan Gennick wrote:
>> Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 7:19:25 PM, Joe Testa (jtesta_at_dmc-it.com) wrote:
>> JT> Redhat recommending windoze for desktop.
>>
>> JT> http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5101690.html
>>
>> I find that assessment reasonable. It's no slam against
>> Linux, just a recognition that for perhaps the vast majority
>> of non-business users (i.e., home users) that Windows is a
>> more appropriate choice. Actually, given the number of
>> support calls I get from "friends" running Windows, OS X
>> might actually be the *best* choice for such people.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Jonathan Gennick --- Brighten the corner where you are
>> http://Gennick.com * 906.387.1698 * mailto:jonathan@gennick.com
>>
>> Join the Oracle-article list and receive one
>> article on Oracle technologies per month by
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>>
>> or send email to Oracle-article-request_at_gennick.com and
>> include the word "subscribe" in either the subject or body.
>>
>> --
>> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net
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>> Author: Jonathan Gennick
>> INET: jonathan_at_gennick.com
>>
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MG> -- 
MG> Mladen Gogala
MG> Oracle DBA
MG> -- 
MG> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net

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