Think outside of the box (Gawd, I hate that term)

[Lucas Holt]

I think some individuals lose site of the reality of computing.  There 
will never be one operating system that everyone uses.  People demand 
choice.  Isn't that what the gnu preaches?

If you want a media appliance pc, buy a Mac or Windows box.  If you 
want a fast, command based os choose one of the many options including 
UNIX systems, linux, or even PC-DOS.

No platform is better than any other.  In reality, each operating 
system is good at a specific task for which it was intended.  A smart 
person will use the right OS for the right task.  Trying to go to the 
lowest common denominator gets you Windows or Linux.  Sure many people 
like WIndows and Linux, but most people on these lists have more 
specific needs than that.  The Linux community is full of windows users 
who "converted" only to use Wine anyway.

Personally, I try to use an OS I feel is adequate for whatever task I 
wish to accomplish.  I have a Windows XP box and a Mac OS X machine at 
home.  My server runs BSD as I don't need a "polished" media based 
system to run apache, mysql and dns.  I used to run OS/2 Warp, Windows 
95 and Linux.. point is chose an OS because it suits your needs not 
because of marketing hype, or because you want to fit in.

I recently got accepted to WMU.  I just found out the CS department is 
widely adopting Mac OS X because its hyped now instead of Linux.  Is 
that a good reason to use an Operating system?

There will always be competition in the computer industry.  there is a 
cycle we follow time and time again.  Again, platforms are being 
chosen.. CEOs read in a stupid magazine what to buy.  Who's hyped this 
week?  How many times have you heard a boss say "I want cisco" or "I 
want office"  Why?  My wife works at a helpdesk for a large evil 
company (lets just say they make a "large" drug), an employee asked her 
why their email wasn't migrated from one exchange server to another 
yet.. the employee said "Don't we have cisco?  just do it"

What does this say about the state of things?

Do cisco powered networks run exchange email and do all the 
administration for you?  I think not.  (It is funny though!)



Lucas Holt
Luke at FoolishGames.com
________________________________________________________
FoolishGames.com  (Jewel Fan Site)
JustJournal.com (Free blogging)

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and 
I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)