[Gllug] Linux users - sign petition to say you use BBC web site!

[Jason Clifford]

On Wed, 2007-11-07 at 09:46 +0000, Peter Childs wrote:
> Why then to install practically any app do i have to reboot windows at
> least once (usually twice) but to install it under Linux it just
> works.... 

I've found myself having to deal with some Windows boxes for a client
over the last few weeks and the work involved installing and removing
software from Windows XP and Vista installations.

The only reboots necessary were for some OS upgrades. The application
installs did not require reboots.

While the charge that Windows required reboots for almost any
installation was true prior to XP since it's introduction I've rarely
seen an application install demand a full OS reboot.

> Really this is not an os problem but a application vendor problem a
> thing windows has never excelled at (shared libraries etc). (When
> compared to RPM or DEB) 

So it's an application issue again. 

> It depends on weather you consider the framework for installing apps
> (ie dpkg/rpm) to be part of the os or not?

It isn't really. It's just an application management layer at most and
it's an optional one at that - how many Linux/Unix boxes in use for a
fair amount of time don't have anything installed from source or
tarball?

> I will not saying linux is perfect its not, its just a lot better than
> windows. However Windows has come a long way since the rewrite with
> NT/XP 

I don't disagree however I do feel that it's no longer reasonable to
lambast Windows for the failures in it prior to XP. XP has been the
current version for a very long time - indeed it's not officially
superceded by Vista (for better or worse).

For the record I don't run Windows at all. Everything I do is Linux
based (at least insofar as computing is concerned - I do occasionally do
something else). I've also had a long history promoting Linux over
Windows. I prefer to do so based upon current facts though and to
clearly state what the real hurdles are to further adoption of Linux.

As someone else has already stated the best route to widespread adoption
is to get to a state where PCs are available from places by Dell/PC
World, etc with a friendly Linux installation already in place.

Jason

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