Great article but perhaps tags would work better were they correctly spelled. Ubuntu, not Unbuntu. Cybe R. Wizard Linux User # 126326 Ubuntu User # 2136 »

Sorry for the delay in replying. No, I haven't made any changes and, yes, the gravatar shows now. Caching must have been the problem. Thanks for your reply. Cybe »

Hmm, I have a gravatar account, the email is the same although my nickname isn't and the gravatar doesn't appear on this site. Is there some troubleshooting I can do? »

This may be a little old but it is still relevent: This was originally posted on another group by Kelsey Bjarnason Let me give you a few quotes to ponder. "Up and running, not up and coming" "Not Today" "Wait for us, we're the leaders" Do you know where those came from? From the OS/2 camp. When IBM had released its latest version of OS/2, and Microsoft's competitive offering was facing delays, slipping schedules and much public ridicule. Windows is not "always in the here and now", it is frequently in the "maybe tomorrow" category. In fact, that's where it is *right now*. The version of Windows which is supposed to magically cure all those security problems, render viruses harmless, make a perfect cup of coffee and tie your shoelaces is going to be released - *maybe* - in 2006... but, according to MS, with a crippled feature set. And it'll *still* only run on an x86. Meanwhile, Linux is running everything from palmtops to supercomputers and doesn't have the virus problem. What it does have is a rich set of applications and tools, and a license that lets *you* decide what to do with *your* computer. Let's see what Windows offers now that Linux doesn't, shall we? Windows, of course, has a journalling file system, NTFS. Mind you, as I understand it, NTFS only does metadata journalling... unlike, say, ext3. Windows, of course, supports multiple virtual desktops. Oops, no, it doesn't. Yet virtually all the WMs and DMs for Linux do. Windows, of course, supports multiple GUIs, from lightweight ones good for remote access to serious heavyweights with all the bells and whistles. Ooops, no, it doesn't. Linux does. Windows, of course, supports sensible package management for installation and removal of programs, even when those programs aren't from Microft, right? Ooops, no, it doesn't. It doesn't even have this for its own applications. But wait... Windows *does* have "Windows update", a nice little tool for determining, downloading and deploying the latest bugfixes and the like... except it only works for Windows. It doesn't even do this for Microsoft's own applications, such as Visual Studio or Office. Funny, my Linux system has just such an update feature... but it works for all the packages it knows about - several thousand of them from hundreds of vendors. Well, okay... but Windows comes bundled with all the things you need to get up and running, right? Development tools for the code monkeys, database servers for the DB geeks, web servers, mail servers and the like for web developers, irc clients, IM clients, streaming media tools, intrusion detection, firewalling, spreadsheets, word processors, spell checkers, dictionaries, browsers supporting ad-blocking, popup blocking, tabbed browsing and the like... Windows does include all this, right? Sorry, was that a no? Oh, well, Linux does. How about hardware support? I have some old 486 boxes here which are perfectly usable... I *can* run current Windows versions on them, right? No? Hmm; I can run current Linux versions on them just fine. Well, okay, how about configuration options? Let's try something simple: I have a server which has no monitor attached - I do all the maintenance via an ssh connection. So I don't need - or want - a GUI on the box. Just wastes resources which could be better used for what the box actually does, nameley, serving. I *can* remove the GUI in Windows, right? Hmm. I can in Linux. Well, okay, that brings up another item - administration. Windows does, in fact, make it simple to adminster the machine via the command line, right? That is, I can perform every administrative task, from starting and stopping services to user and group administration to group policy editing to audit tracking and more, all from the command line, right? Even so far as doing software isntallation, removal and upgrades? Whoops, no, not quite. The tools to do such things in Windows are at best primitive, and sometimes don't exist at all. Odd, though, that I can do all that in Linux. Hmm. This is getting more limiting by the minute. Okay, here's an easy one. I want to perform a series of operations on a half-dozen machines at the same time. Why? Well, I'm upgrading the accountants' machines, and the simplest way is just to ssh into each of them, then issue a couple of commands to start the update. So, as I said, I just ssh into them, set the terminal to echo the input across all the sessions, then go. Windows can do this, right? Whoops... Windows doesn't even come with ssh, does it? Well, okay, so we'll use telnet. I *can* fire up 6 telnet sessions and, by typing in one, have the information automatically transmitted to all of them, right? Guess not. Well, at least, finally, XP brought in multiple user logins. So now, the wife can use her machine and I can log into it, do some word processing or whatever, and she can keep right on using the machine, right? Oops... nope, that's Linux again. Wait a sec... Windows, as it ships, *cannot* do, or *does not* include: Office tools Development tools Server tools Database tools Multiple virtual desktop support A range of GUIs The ability to completely disable the GUI Tabbed browsing Pop-up blocking Ad blocking ssh cross-terminal-session input broadcasting IRC clients IM clients Streaming media Command-line administration that works Package management Software updating that works Intrusion detection File-alteration monitoring Flexible firewalling Multi-user logons Decent graphics editing Decent video editing Okay, now wait a sec. All of this is available, right now, in Linux. Most of the popular distros - Debian, DeadRat, Mandrake, Gentoo, SuSe, etc have all of these and more. Several of them are also available for a variety of hardware platforms. This is all here now, and Windows doesn't have a bit of it. This, in your mind, makes "Linux in the future, and Windows in the here and now"? Oh, wait. I get it. You're saying "Windows is now" because there are more people willing to *pay* to get such limitations than there are people willing to be freed of such limitations for a lower price, or even no price at all. Well... yes, that does seem to be the case, doesn't it? Doesn't make much sense, but there it is. BTW, for the record, I do, in fact, still run Windows on occasion. It makes for a good gaming station. On the other hand, if faced with paying $200 for a new version of Windows, or a similar amount for a game console... well... let's just say my trusty old Win2K setup will remain just that - Win2K. »