[Gllug] Whinge

[Jon Masters]

On 30 Aug 2001 14:45:02 +0100, Dan Kolb wrote:

> Maybe I don't quite know what you're talking about, but what Windows
> dependencies are you talking about?

A lot of Microsoft Windows utilites require the "latest VB runtime" or
whatever - so putty doesn't but others *do*. Microsoft Windows is no
stranger to "dependencies" it's just that it tends to have a lot of
bloat in the box.

> > Something substantial, not written by Microsoft.
> 
> Like......?

MapInfo, <insert GIS software here> and various others. Then you have
the little problem of fixing registry/file permissions after installing
Microsoft Windows 9x software on W2K because the installer isn't cleaver
enough to have figured this one out (remember this software often uses
Install Shield, which is cache on your local disk and only the most
recent version is used - we have the latest at work and yet they haven't
put any "intelligence" in to it).

> > I have installed Office 2000 twice in the last couple of weeks on W2K
> > hosts - it took a reboot in both cases.
> 
> Possibly. I was installing Office 97. The service patch wanted a reboot,
> though.

Well there we have it.

> We've got VShield here at work. Updating it doesn't need a reboot.
> Installing it wanted one reboot.

Updating the definitions does not (but that does not count as
"installing" software) however upgrading from one version to the next
jolly well does.

> If they're in the common menu, why do you need to copy them to the
> per-user menus?

I don't use common menus, I give each user a completely custom menu and
put programs in to different file ownership groups if possible so I can
control precisely who sees/uses programs and avoid unwanted clutter.

> > So what? I don't care if nobody ever "converts" again, it's not about
> > getting the most users you possibly can - that's what M$ try to do.
> 
> So why do we have installfests?

There are people who *want* to convert.

> And you say yourself that you've been trying to convert people

Yes but at the end of the day it matters not whether they do. If people
want to be foolish then they will be foolish without any extra help.

> What's the point of having the best OS if no-one uses it?

OK so I'm not the biggest Apple fan but for a long time many people
perceived theirs as being the number 2 on the desktop - why did "nobody"
use that then?

> The more people are using it, the better the OS will be

...until you get all the AOL lusers "converted". Then it's downhill all
the way from that point on. Many people have made the point about what
will happen when everyone uses GNU/Linux.

Basically, I advocate and would really like everyone to use GNU/Linux
but at the end of the day people will do what they want whether I like
it or not - that's the point I'm making there.

--jcm



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