solaris

[White Hat]

--- backyard <backyard1454-bsd at yahoo.com> wrote:
[...]
> I think the important thing to remember in all this
> is
> every system using one version of UNIX over another
> is
> one more machine not running NT. And since NT is
> single handedly stealing code, and destroying
> internationally set standards I think the more UNIX
> the merrier. Even if you're running a Mac... I find
> the most important thing is trying to get people to
> realize a computer isn't ment to tell you what you
> can
> or cannot do, an Administrator should be able to
> kill
> any running process on a system, you should be able
> to
> choose what software is installed on your computer,
> your web browser or PNP system shouldn't allow
> Viruses
> or software in general to be installed on your
> machine
> without your knowledge or consent, and most
> importantly you should be able to take your hard
> drive
> out of your machine and put it in another one and
> keep
> on going.

IMHO, you are way over simplifying this. An OS should
accomplish easily what an end users deems necessary. A
very large majority of users simply want to use their
PCs for email, occasional word processing and possible
game playing. Perhaps even playing a video or music.
Most of these can be far more easily done on a WinXP
machine then anything now available in the *nix
family.  I have spent hours and still can not get
flash to work correctly on my PC. Getting a printer to
work can be a chore. There was ever a post just the
other day regarding the simple use of a CD Drive. I
have seen questions asked about using a floppy drive.
The list goes on and on. Most seven year olds would be
lost on a  on FreeBSD machine. FreeBSD is an excellent
tool, but it does not serve every purpose excellently.
I use it as a server both for mail, and web use. I
leave the printing and word processing/spreadsheet
stuff on Windows where it works quite nicely. I have
tried Open Office. No matter what anyone says, it is
just not as full featured as Word 2003. It is not even
close.

I agree that a large portion of the problems relate to
the fact that vendors are not inclined to produce
drivers for their products, which in many cases lends
these devices either useless or crippled in a FreeBSD
environment. However, you cannot hold a gun to their
head and expect them to expend the resources required
to satisfy every OS available if the monetary returns
do not justify it. That is simple economics 101.

By the way, you can shut down processes, etc. on a
WinXP platform; you just have to know where to look.
That is similar to any other OS. You are missing the
concept behind Windows. It is designed to be a drop in
 and run system. Dozens of user polls have shown that
the average user just wants to use his PC. He/she does
not want to read tons of manuals and spend hours in a
frustrating attempt to get it to run. The average user
does not care about configuring firewall, AV or
Spyware, etc. Just drop in a copy of ZA with perhaps
Sunbelt's Counter Spy and they are on their way. They
want a new printer - no problem. Drop in the CD, it
configures the PC for the printer and the jobs done.
Please, don't tell me about the friend who did that
and it did not work. Nothing always works. Usually
though the problem can be attributed to 'PEBKC'.

> Solaris is cool if it will run, FreeBSD will run if
> Solaris won't; lets band together and destroy
> Micrsoft... :)

Please, I just had a friend laid of from Intel. The
last thing I would want to see is MS out of business
and thousands of people out of work because of your
seemingly unqualified hated of a product. If you don't
like it, don't use it. How much simpler can it get? I
seriously doubt that you can submit proof of a single
individual laid off because MS does not embrace your
philosophical beliefs.

-- 
White Hat


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