[Sussex] Two operating systems & one camera...

[Paul Tansom]

** Gavin Stevens <starshine at gavmusic.uklinux.net> [2006-07-14 01:38]:
> My stepson asked if I would get the pictures from his digital camera
> onto a computer.
> 
> I installed the necessary software onto Windows 98 on Tracy's machine &
> restarted twice (once for each app).
> 
> Once restarted & back on the desktop I connected the camera to the USB
> port & the camera very nicely went into "USB mode". Less than two
> seconds after this, Windows crashed - heavily.
> 
> Eventually, I resorted to the reset button & it re-booted. I connected
> the camera once more & Windows this time said that it had seen the
> device, but Windows explorer refused to show it. After a while, some
> Epson photo manager/printing software popped up & offered its services.
> Good job it did 'cos nothing much else was happening. Total time: nearly
> 15 minutes.
> 
> Later, intrigued by this wonderful experience, I booted Tracy's PC into
> Debian & connected the camera. A USB icon immediately appeared, followed
> by a cheery box saying that this USB device seemed to have photos on it
> & would I like to copy them onto my hard drive? Total time: less than 10
> seconds.
> 
> From this point on, I will not accept & indeed will argue against the
> view that Windows is easier or more user friendly than Debian. This is
> but the latest in a series of directly comparable events where Debian
> has been quicker, nicer & just got on with it.
** end quote [Gavin Stevens]

By no means wishing to defend Windows on a Linux list, but the
comaprison, I suspect, is not a strictly fair one, and to my mind when
making comparisons with the view of singing the praises of Linux you
need to be whiter than white.

Windows 98 is around 8 years old now in terms of technology, even with
patches and updates (which seem to slow it down and make it less
reliable imho), whereas I suspect you are running the latest version of
Debian, likely even Testing or Unstable. If you compared a version of
Debian that was around at the time Windows 98 was launched or used
Windows XP on the Windows side (still old, but the latest version
Microsoft has to offer) then the comparison would be quite different.

That said, many people are still using Windows 98 and given that it is
increasingly coming to the point where it will have to be replaced due
to lack of AV support, patches, etc.. There is a choice to be made for
upgrading. I'd go Linux every time there - in fact my primary Windows
box has been dead for 6 months now waiting for me to justify the time to
rebuild it by having a need to use it. Debian all the way here, server
and client side :)

-- 
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. | http://www.aptanet.com