🚀 go-pugleaf

kson@junior.wariat.org (Kyongsu Son) wrote:

>Carlos Carbajal (cardinal@swcp.com) wrote:
>: shampoo@unix.infoserve.net (Ken Vong) wrote:

>: Linux is great: for an educational experience. It is not
>: user-friendly. But everyone is missing the point of OS wars: apps
>: determine the success of an OS. Right now this is why DOS/WIN is in
>: the lead. Linux versions of Word, Excel, Notes, Photoshop, CorelDraw
>: are unlikely for now.

>You can get CorelDraw. I have it on my box here... And why would any
>self-respecting linux user use a Microsoft product? Many vendors
>are seriously developing unix versions of their applications...
>Of course I wouldn't expect nor want any Microsoft apps for linux
>any time soon.
>--
>    Mind over Matter: If you don't Mind, it doesn't Matter
>          kson@apk.net    -+-    kson@wired.jolt.com
> 

Linux has apps that feature all of the above described applications.
Photoshop is also available for most UNIX systems, as is Wordperfect
and a host of other so called "user-friendly" applications. Awww..you
got me. Now, I'm going to have to make a statement about Linux and
UNIX in general.

<rant mode on>

The ravine separating UNIX and {DOS, Windoze, MAC} users cannot be
easily traversed. It is true that apps for Windows and MAC are very
easy to use. However, it is only in the last two years that either of
these have become "formable." ("Formable" meaning apps that can be
significantly altered by the user.) Unfortunately, these are still not
nor will they will be formable at source level. (Although Word and
Excel users insist that the provisions for alterations via built-in VB
constitute "aletrations" at source level. Apple Scriptors will insist
the same.) The truth is that Windows is not truly a multitasking
environment and never will be. Now, presumably, you have 95. Try
running two concurrent FTP sessions, each to a different host. Try it
on Window 3.x.x. You see, while many people become hot and heavy about
the issue, the truth is that the Internet - the real Internet, not a
handful of LANS - is built firmly upon the ground of UNIX. To use
another system to connect requires translation; translation that is
costly in time and resources. An individual using Windows does not
have the power of the UNIX user when connected to the Net. There is no
way around this. Someone using Win 95 will have some difficulty in
making a call deep to the host OS. Not so with a UNIX user. Writing
agents in Windows is just as limited. The agent still has to talk
through the screen of a non-UNIX system. Linux offers extreme power to
the average Net user. Admittedly, it is difficult to get started, but
it's well worth the wait. To use something other than UNIX on the Net
is to take a passive roll. One in which you accept what is available
and have no way of overcoming that which is not. At day's end, the
Windows user is at the mercy of the programmers at MS. A UNIX/Linux
user can break any rule, anytime, anywhere; talk to any machine of any
type; do anything that can reasonably be done on the Internet. The
proof is in the headlines. From Poulsen (Sun) to Mitnik (DEC,) those
who more acutely manipulate the Internet use UNIX. And, the number of
apps for UNIX increases daramtically every month. There are products
that allow all PC software to run on UNIX machines; products that
allow (in a distributed processing environment) a sysad to remote fix
a PC from a UNIX console. Linux will follow not far behind. IBM
apparently thinks a great deal of UNIX. They recently shipped PPC
laptops with AIX, *not* OS/2. (They are obviously looking to maximize
the power of the chip.) 

Equally, however, I will agree that Linux *is* an educational
experience. It is one way for someone to learn system administration n
their spare time. The six user default is plenty. Login as root,
Larry, Moe, Curly and begin your education. Mission 1: As Larry,
obtain root. Mission 2: As root, stop Larry. Also, the multiuser
environment places extreme power in one's hands. Power to do things
that, as I have said, no 95 user will be able to do. (Flooding one
server while assuming the ID of another is a good example. Don't try
this at home.)

Linux releases you from the hands of software companies that want you
to rely on their apps. This comes with a price to pay and that price
is hard-learned experience. I will admit, in closing, that this is
probably a significant deterrent, which is unfortunate. But, if you
can make it through the gaunlet, you'll be rockin' at the other end!

xenon