Why do people switch to Linux?
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Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
dime from elsewhere
yeah, the taxes I pay. :-D;P;P;P;P;P
ahz wrote:
yeah, the taxes I pay.
my taxes too. :) at least they pay me very little. ;) _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
I switched to gentoo linux on my main rig at home since May of 2004 for several reasons. 1) I am sick and tired of having to deal with antivirus software, spyware, worms. It is highly unlikely that any of these will affect a linux system especially if you compile everything from source and the source is digitally signed by the authors. 2) I like to play free games. It is so much easier to install them via a simple emerge command in liunx. 3) I have my main rig setup as a MythTV box which is basically a more advanced Tivo system with no subscription at all. 4) I am sick and tired of being bitten by licences that are in my mind unreasonable. If a software program I pay for has a critical bug I want the company not to charge me anything to download the fix even if it is found several years after the product was released. And then there is backup software. I have always found that I as a single user need most of the options(remote backup, database backup, disaster recovery...) that come with backup software so to be legal I would have to shell out thousands of dollars just to keep my systems backed up and I am a single user with 5 or less pcs. This is plain nuts. When I moved to linux I installed bacula which is in my opinion better then Veritas and it offers all the features I need (and more ) for free. 5) Cost. No need to pay for any antivirus, spyware, dvd burning, office applications, backup software... 6) Upgrading software in linux (including the operating system) is soo much easier than windows since all applications are upgraded via a simple command that can be scheduled to execute in the background with no user intervention and no need to reboot (unless you add hardware or build a new kernel). John -- modified at 12:32 Friday 28th October, 2005
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
Short answer: Job requirement. Long answer: I didn't really "switch" to Linux - at home I don't use it at all. At work, however, I joind the team that develops a CAT (computer aided translation) application where the server runs on Linux, and therefore I am busy porting our existing libraries to Linux. If it was my choice, I would still pick some other OS, either Windows or Solaris, since Linux does not scale that well, but it wasn't my choice and I am enjoying vim and gcc now ;).
My programming blahblahblah blog. If you ever find anything useful here, please let me know to remove it.
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
But they forgot about the real reason to switch... ...Beowulf cluster of atomic supermen!
George Carlin wrote: "Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things." Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: If the physicists find a universal theory describing the laws of universe, I'm sure the asshole constant will be an integral part of that theory.
My Blog[^]
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Short answer: Job requirement. Long answer: I didn't really "switch" to Linux - at home I don't use it at all. At work, however, I joind the team that develops a CAT (computer aided translation) application where the server runs on Linux, and therefore I am busy porting our existing libraries to Linux. If it was my choice, I would still pick some other OS, either Windows or Solaris, since Linux does not scale that well, but it wasn't my choice and I am enjoying vim and gcc now ;).
My programming blahblahblah blog. If you ever find anything useful here, please let me know to remove it.
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
enjoying vim and gcc now
So I guess the Kool-aid has finally kicked in :) Have you had the pleasure of GDB yet? Mmmm good times :) ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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I switched to gentoo linux on my main rig at home since May of 2004 for several reasons. 1) I am sick and tired of having to deal with antivirus software, spyware, worms. It is highly unlikely that any of these will affect a linux system especially if you compile everything from source and the source is digitally signed by the authors. 2) I like to play free games. It is so much easier to install them via a simple emerge command in liunx. 3) I have my main rig setup as a MythTV box which is basically a more advanced Tivo system with no subscription at all. 4) I am sick and tired of being bitten by licences that are in my mind unreasonable. If a software program I pay for has a critical bug I want the company not to charge me anything to download the fix even if it is found several years after the product was released. And then there is backup software. I have always found that I as a single user need most of the options(remote backup, database backup, disaster recovery...) that come with backup software so to be legal I would have to shell out thousands of dollars just to keep my systems backed up and I am a single user with 5 or less pcs. This is plain nuts. When I moved to linux I installed bacula which is in my opinion better then Veritas and it offers all the features I need (and more ) for free. 5) Cost. No need to pay for any antivirus, spyware, dvd burning, office applications, backup software... 6) Upgrading software in linux (including the operating system) is soo much easier than windows since all applications are upgraded via a simple command that can be scheduled to execute in the background with no user intervention and no need to reboot (unless you add hardware or build a new kernel). John -- modified at 12:32 Friday 28th October, 2005
John M. Drescher wrote:
- I have my main rig setup as a MythTV box which is basically a more advanced Tivo system with no subscription at all.
A little OT, but I always wondered... what is the quality of the recordings like? I've been considering building a MythTV box for a little while now. What would you recommend in term of CPU and RAM?
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Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
enjoying vim and gcc now
So I guess the Kool-aid has finally kicked in :) Have you had the pleasure of GDB yet? Mmmm good times :) ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
Jim Crafton wrote:
Have you had the pleasure of GDB yet?
Yep, both from command line and different GUI front ends. The only front-end I like so far is kdbg. BTW, this is not my first exposure to UNIX-like OS's. I made my first C program on a HP system in 1992 :)
My programming blahblahblah blog. If you ever find anything useful here, please let me know to remove it.
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
I've used Linux before out of curiosity, to stay more marketable (knowing Unix and Windows help), and as a job requirement. Personally, I don't like using Linux myself. I'm more of a FreeBSD guy, and I prefer it for server operations. Without getting into a debate, please just trust me when I say it makes a better server than Windows, so I made myself learn it. For the desktop world, I don't mind Windows such much. Things could be a bit better, but MS did make it a bit more idiot-proof than Linux et al (well except for Macs) which is nice to know when it comes to deal with customers. Jeremy Falcon
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
I added Suse Linux (I'll still keep Windows mahcines, so I'm not really switching) because Blender doesn't run properly on my main Windows box. I have a KVM switch between my main Windows system and the Linux box so I can use each OS for what it does best.
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John M. Drescher wrote:
- I have my main rig setup as a MythTV box which is basically a more advanced Tivo system with no subscription at all.
A little OT, but I always wondered... what is the quality of the recordings like? I've been considering building a MythTV box for a little while now. What would you recommend in term of CPU and RAM?
Almost dvd quality with my Hauppage 250 card. I record at 2.2GB / hour but you can get away with much less. John
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John M. Drescher wrote:
- I have my main rig setup as a MythTV box which is basically a more advanced Tivo system with no subscription at all.
A little OT, but I always wondered... what is the quality of the recordings like? I've been considering building a MythTV box for a little while now. What would you recommend in term of CPU and RAM?
Carl Mercier wrote:
What would you recommend in term of CPU and RAM?
It depends if you use a hauppage card (which I highly recommend) it has a hardware encoder that outputs a mpeg 2 stream so my cpu usage is like 5% max. I have a dual processor Athlon MP 2200 with 2GB of ram but you can use a system that is much less powerful. John -- modified at 14:01 Friday 28th October, 2005
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Any minute now... :) I vote for the hobbyist option right now but I can see how some groups such as schools and such need the ability to work with little to no budget. This to me would be easily fixed by MS if they offered a (gasp) FREE copy to these organizations. Consider it a marketing tool like the MSDN events where they get the kids, teachers, etc. hooked on the free stuff and then they are likely to use it at home for a NOMINAL fee. Or, has this been thought of already? :~ ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done. -- modified at 10:21 Friday 28th October, 2005
Nicholas Wigant wrote:
Consider it a marketing tool like the MSDN events where they get the kids, teachers, etc. hooked on the free stuff and then they are likely to use it at home for a NOMINAL fee. Or, has this been thought of already?
Sort of, Here in NZ The New Zealnd Education Department did a deal with MS so they would be free from almost any litigation. So now within the confines of the school or uni they can install what they like and be free of worry. However schools who were totally legit never got a refund or anything meaning MS had managed in some cases to sell the same product twice. But for future proofing I think it is the way to go. Regardz Colin J Davies The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow) :-)
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It's interesting reading the responses.[^] None of them strike me as particularly convincing. It's more like "it's what I'm comfortable with" and "free tools" and "I'm a hobbyist kind of guy". Is this really the best people can say about Linux? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
It's kinda nice having access to things at a slightly lower level when you want to. For example, being able to mount an ISO image without extra software, etc. Windows is good, and I still use it often. Linux has its advantages and disadvantages, one of which being that my graphics card is pig slow in it. I think Mac OS is a good compromise. -- Andrew.