Posted on 02/03/2016 11:22:43 AM PST by dennisw
[[I have never crossed a company where Linux is mainstream.]]
actually a lot of businesses in many nations have adopted linux-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_adopters
“we turn to it to avoid the windows spyware crap in windows 10-”
The Linux drumbeat has been for many year before Windows 10 was ever out.
That’s not “a lot”. In fact, most of that on the list is either embedded/dedicated applications or servers.
Sorry, I’ll hold onto my statement that corporations are not jumping over to Linux as a desktop replacement.
not sure what you mean by that? I am simply saying linux meets my online needs- is safer, and doesn’t require me to know hardly anything regarding commands- it’s point and click for hte most part- That’s all i really care about
I tried linux way back when- and it was awful- It required super geeky knowledge to even get running right- and the apps for it really stunk (well ,they still kinda do but have improved quite a bit in some cases- it would be fantastic if windows apps could run on linux easily and with full video card performance, but as it stands now, they don’t- oh well- that is what dual booting is for)
If linux were as complicated and convoluted as it was years ago- I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but the skilled- but where it has gotten so easy to use- I can now tell folks that it’s a safer option online- and it doesn’t spy on you like windows 10 does- and recommend dual booting IF the person is soemwhat computer savvy and can figure out how to do that- If they aren’t I just recommend they stick with windows- and learn how to turn off most of the spyware crap in windows 10- but inform them they can’t turn it all off and likely will have to keep turning the same ones off after windows updates itself without the user having a choice to update or not
I’m not an anti-Windows zealot (although windows 10 has really made me dislike the os a bit), but I am pro linux for online activities only- but only if you don’t need to do productivity work that requires heavy duty windows only apps- if you do, then again I’d next recommend dual booting- and do a majority of online work in linux if possible and keep windows online activity to a minimum if using windows 10
but that’s just my own personal feeling- I’ll gladly embrace windows again IF they stop spying, AND allow users complete control over updates again- I still use windows 7 and love it- I even use windows 10 in a virtual environment with no access to Internet-
I don’t think 5% of the computing public is savvy enough to use Linux.
Thanks, good to know. I migrated my wife to running Linux on her laptop when XP went out of support because she was going to have to learn a new OS anyway, and almost everything she does is internet so Linux is fine. Even got Netflix working in Chrome without too much trouble.
But...she used to run Print Shop quite a bit and needs to do that again. I can't get it to work under Wine, so a couple nights ago I tried VMware, but the Print Shop install seems to hang. I can probably figure out and fix the issue, but maybe just trying Virtual Box instead of VMWare would be easier. I've just worked a lot more with VMware than Virtual Box so I went there first. Do you know if VBox will work with the VMDK format drive image from VMware, or a VHD from Virtual PC, both of which I have, or do I have to start over with their image type? I've used VB on Windows some, but I think I did a bare metal install in the VM if I recall correctly.
The great thing about virtualbox is that it can run both VMWare and VB files- you might be able to just install virtualbox, and import your VMWare windows file right to it
I believe it will run the VMDK- just looked it up- yup- just point to the VDMK file when creating new virtualbox- pretty easy to do-
VHD file same hting- here’s a quick tutorial
http://www.sysprobs.com/how-to-open-run-microsoft-vhd-files-on-virtualbox-pre-installed-vhd-images
OK I’ll try VBox before putting any effort into troubleshooting the install issue under VMWare.
Thank you!
I'd probably say that MS-Windows is great for people whose computers are toys, but the maintenance associated with keeping an MS-Windows system healthy is not really something that the average person can deal with adequately/
Corporations use Windows and Apple for a reason. Linux, not so much. In fact, I have never crossed a company where Linux is mainstream. Not a single one.
Typical corporate shortsightedness. In general, most corps would do better with OSX, but they have a huge legion of MSCEs (Must Consult Someone Experienced) who are pretty much worthless except in their own tiny little world, and even there, they often need to be led along with pushbuttons to do the most simple things.
Linux is more for people who want their computer to work for them rather than the other way around. Personally, I don't give a damn if more than 2% of the folks out there ever use Linux, as long as I have the tools at hand for my work when I need it. The rest of you can spend your time and resources on virus scanners, malware scanners, and other associated resource hogs. I really simply do not care. Just don't as me to waste my life or time on it.
[[but the maintenance associated with keeping an MS-Windows system healthy is not really something that the average person can deal with adequately/]]
True- most average users use their computer for awhile, opening every email sent to them with attachments- jokes etc, browse Internet sites that are sketchy at best, go to sites that redirect and automatically download crap to their computer then ‘something starts going wrong’ and call the geek squad to come and remove all the viruses and crap from their computers to get it back working ‘speedy again’- They just can’t stop opening that ‘new joke’ email (with an attachment) that was forwarded to them automatically by their best friends- thinking they would be rude for not opening it-
Windows was so bad awhile ago that searches for totally innocent stuff like ‘best windows’ or ‘most recommended cabinets’ etc would land you on some stinkin site that was compromised and would redirect you to another site and bam- virus- It got really bad there for awhile- Was constantly having to do a rollback (Thankfully i was using rollback RX- which is basically system restore on steroids- allowing boot system reverts for when computer won’t even start- Anyone running windows it is highly recommended that they run this program, and take system snapshots regularly- it saved my computer many times- without having to reformat- a couple of clicks, and bam- right back to new-)
You are correct, MS is high maintenance- but the average user won’t know how to do it properly- and before long their computer starts ‘acting sluggish’ and/or ‘acting funny’, and they have no clue why- I have to maintain a resident computer for some folks- and it’s like a losing battle trying to get them to understand that no- you really don’t have to open every email that comes along- you don’t have to visit every link they send you- and that no- the Internet is not a friendly benign place- but then again- they aren’t the ones that have to deal with reformatting the computer-
like you- i just got tired of the constant maintenance associated with MS- it was a constant battle- especially when other people use the same computer- I’m just thankful that when i did run it as my only os that i had rollback RX to rescue it all the time-
For the vast majority of people, this is the best piece of advice in the whole article. :)
These threads always frustrate me because of the confusion in most peoples mind between an Operating System ( OS ) and a User Interface ( UI ). Most people conflate the two and get quite upset whenever the user interface they have become accustomed to changes. A UI is not an operating system! I have worked with hundreds of user interfaces and dozens of Operating Systems in my career.
I give you the following link to see what an Operating System is from the perspective if the IEEE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_Computer_Society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX
Please see section five of the above link to see where your favourite Interface falls in the spectrum of POSIX compliance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX#POSIX-oriented_operating_systems
The federal government screwed the entire computer industry in 1988 with the mandated standard of IEEE Std 1003.1-1988.
They did this because the government had gone big time into UNIX in the late 70’s and early 80’s but had problems with software compatibility between the major versions of UNIX. ( ie AT&T, University of California Berkeley, SCO, Interactive etc. )
All user interface development in the UNIX community was put on hold and virtually ceased and compliance with the mandated POSIX standards became the number one priority in the UNIX community. ( IMNSHO this forced the evolution of the Opensource movement and creation of the Open Source Foundation )
In the mean time, Microsoft, which is still not truly POSIX compliant, created the Graphical User Interface called MS Windows and the office productivity tools of MS Office, stole LOTUS 123 and added it to their Office suite and MS Office became the defacto standard office productivity tools. Everyone and their brother learned MS Office if they wanted to keep or get a job.
Then, due to low cost bidding and because MS Office became so well known, the government awarded the desktop computer contract for every government employee to Microsoft because government employees and most other people in the private sector could not and/or out right would not learn anything else.
You couldn’t pay someone to learn different software because everyone new that their next job would have Microsoft products, Period.
Only computer geeks as they are called here would willingly and gleefully pick up something new in its version 1.0 state because we had to if we wanted to keep our jobs.
The vast majority of servers in the World Run a POSIX compliant OS, Linux is making major inroads and MS has some.
The following is screen captures of the UI of the last project I worked on. It has, with some success been ported to WINDOWS. I would not attempt to develop it on WINDOWS!
The software was ported to APPLE’s OSX with some major difficulties by APPLE geeks within the NWS and meteorology community .
The key to success is portability. IE POSIX compliance and OS independence ie C++, JAVA, python, bash etc.
I’ve never screwed with WEB Browser based apps. No desire to play within a browser.
An attachment to a user interface as religion drives me nuts. For development purposes give me SE Linux for the OS ( Redhat or Debian ) and for a user interface give me Gnome or KDE for the User Interface.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE
I have the most experience with the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment.
For just poking around the internet and travel I use a 25 dollar Raspberry PI
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-b/
https://www.amazon.com/SB-Components-Clear-Case-Raspberry/dp/B00MQLB1N6
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