Re: Question about the number of Apple users vs Mac users

["Ernest" <ernestls@home.com>]

"william strutts" <wrstrutts1@nospam.home.com> wrote in message
news:vAwe7.32926$K6.13245085@news2...

> The thing to remember here is that MS has 90% of the OS market
> and hence most worms/virii are designed to attack it since it is the
> dominant OS of the day.  If Linux were to become dominant, I am
> sure hackers would invent some way to attack it too.  Right now
> most of them use a Windows variant and are familiar with that.
> I am sure that a portion of them have Linux installed but what is
> the sense in writing a virus for Linux when the big news would
> be in the Windows realm.

Yes, I understand that, and considering the "glam" factor, WinOS is a nice
target. Many of the exploits that have come out recently are based on holes
that 99% of the user base would never be aware of if it weren't for
script-kiddies writing virus' and things like that. Is that MS' fault, or
the fault of the folks who dig for possible exploits, and then post a
detailed explaination of how it could be used for any hacker to base his
attack on. There is a special place in hell for both the people who write
the virus', and the people who show them how to do it, inspite of their lame
claims that the havoc they wreak is all for the greater good. Give me a
break.

I'm sure that if any other OS was dominante in the market, these same lame
bastards would be attacking them instead, and claiming that the suffering
they cause is for the good of all. What is good about a trojan horse, or a
worm that sends your personal documents to everyone on your contact list?
Sigh. There I go again, off on a tirade.

> Linux is what I call a Not Ready For Prime Time OS. It has a lot
> of growing up to do before it becomes a good OS for the average
> user. Once Plug-n-play is fully functional, a good base of Hardware
> device drivers are available and there is a really good installer and
> standard Linux distributions agree on a standard place to put files,
> Linux will be behind the installation curve.  I know the latest kernel
> now has plug-n-play and USB support which will help in the long
> run but the thorn in the side of Linux is that drivers are not available
> quick enough for new devices.  If you have older hardware it a
> good bet that there is a device driver ready for it.  I tried it out
> recently and I got it to install fairly easily but it didn't recognize
> many of my devices and it didn't recognize my NTFS partition.
> The Caldera installer is pretty good but I don't think that the
> x-windows interface is all that good in either variant of KDE or
> gnome.  I have tried both.  Maybe if Apple were to port their
> variant over to Intel based machines, we could see a real
> revolution at hand. Until then, it will be second fiddle to MS's
> Windows.

This is one of those "is the cup half full, or half empty," areas for me.
Compared to the Linux of even just a few years ago, the newer versions of
say, Redhat or Suse are MUCH more user friendly and robust but are they
ready for prime time? That's a tough question. People have a history of
learning things if they need to. MSdos wasn't exactly easy to learn for a
beginner, nor was Win3.1 but people did learn to use it, by the millions.
Linux can be hard to install and set up for a beginner but if they are given
a fully setup system, and all they have to do is turn it on and use it, I
think that the average computer user would be just fine with it. I still
have very savvy computer users ask me how to do some really simple things on
their Win boxes, and they would be completely lost if they had to install
the OS from scratch -much like new Linux users would be. In that sense, is
Win2k ready for prime time? Obviously it is. I think Linux is to but it's
harder to buy a fully setup system from the local computer shop, or even
from the major dealers like Dell or Compaq. That means that if my Mom wanted
to use Linux, she would have to set it up herself  or find someone to do it
for her, and neither option is easy to do. However, she would be just as
likely to "give up" if she couldn't find a pre-installed Windows box. I tend
to forget that most users don't reload and tweak their computers the way I
do, so a lot of the problems that I complain about with Linux are more a
reflection of how I use it, rather than basic usability of the OS. Mom would
just turn the box on, surf the web, write some emails, and be perfectly
happy with it. Go figure.

I think that Linux is VERY much ready for prime time, if you remember how
millions of typical people use their computers.

E.