Re: And Microsoft moves closer to Linus Torvald
 

> Microsoft makes a great operating system for the end user, has anybody ever tried to use gentoo?

I can never understand why people suggest windows for end users. Just the spyware problem alone is more than most savvy users can handle. Regular people have a miserable time of it.

One other really nice thing about linux is the ease of updating.

Go and update every part of your microsoft system. Sure, the base system (and maybe office) have an update mechanism, but with a linux system, every installed package can be updated with a few commands.

In gentoo, I do ...
esync
emerge -uD world

and my system is completely updated.

Of course with gentoo it may take a while since everything is compiled from source. I just start it in the evening and let it go.

Re: And Microsoft moves closer to Linus Torvald
 

I fear more end-users are more worried about getting pictures easily from their digital cameras and printing them with their photo printer. Or playing their favorite game. Or syncing their palm. I don't think most people care if they're using the latest x.x.x release of all their software. Linux just doesn't quite offer the ease-of-use of Windows. I just don't think Linux is ready for mainstream (or any time soon.) While Linux offers many choices to users who care, the regular users probably don't want to have to choose between KDE, Gnome, CDE, XFCE, E or Alsa and OSS or Cups, LPR, LPRng or any of the hundreds of Linux distros out there. OS X is really the only Unix-based OS ready for the general public.. I think a large part of that is because they don't offer tons and tons of choices just to have the system running.

Re: And Microsoft moves closer to Linus Torvald
 

That really sounds simple. The common computer user is not even going to understand a single one of those statements.

This discussion reminds me of a presentation someone from Microsoft gave on robotics and their research department.
Man from Microsoft:"You can see our the differnt curriculms that universities use on our website."
Man in audience:"What's the catch?"
Man from Microsoft:"No catch. It's free."
I also learned that Microsoft persuaded First in using something other than the system we use now. Obviously it had to be some type of embedded Microsoft system.

Re: And Microsoft moves closer to Linus Torvald
 

I don't really think the comparison between Gentoo and Windows as being comparable solutions for end users is valid.

Gentoo was never designed for end-users. My grandmother will never tweak her GCC settings or know what the heck fomit-frame-pointer means. I don't think I'll see my 9 year old sister compiling Open Office for a 2% speed increase. Configuring Gentoo takes a much more technically savvy person than one who can assemble their computer from components. It's an apples to oranges comparison.

A good comparison would be to compare one of the easier to use distributions such as Red Hat or SuSe to MS Windows.

Re: And Microsoft moves closer to Linus Torvald
 

>> my system is completely updated.

> That really sounds simple. The common computer user is not even going to understand a single one of those statements.

Reads like English to me. Not sure what the trouble is.


> Gentoo was never designed for end-users. My grandmother will never tweak her GCC settings or know what the heck fomit-frame-pointer means. I don't think I'll see my 9 year old sister compiling Open Office [...]

Well... in this particular forum, I hope I am speaking to technically capable people who are not so ossified in their ways that they might be interested in trying something _better_.

Sure, Gentoo is a "meta-distribution", but for me that just means that it is perfectly optimized for my needs. That said, my "make.conf" is pretty vanilla. I am not very interested in tweaks, just ease of use.

It seems to me that people out there building their own robots might be interested in leading-edge technology. It is a bit scary to me how few FIRST participants seem to be interested in alternative operating systems.

How much FIRST programmer time has been wasted on battling spyware, viruses and junk? Too much, if you ask me.

It scares me when people scan the monitors in our linux lab, fail to find the little blue "e" and ask "Hey! Where's the internet?"

I guess for most people, windows is "good enough", but not for me.