Posted on 06/24/2006 7:59:26 AM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
Linux isn't a threat to Windows on the desktop and is losing steam on the server as customers separate the operating system from the development model, according to Microsoft's chief platform strategist.
Bill Hilf, general manager of competitive strategy at Microsoft, said pundits have predicted for years that Linux will gain momentum on the desktop, but that won't happen because of the complexity involved in delivering a tightly integrated and tested desktop product.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Too much of anything is bad, and that includes Integration.
^^^^^^^^^^^"Vendors come in and buy piece parts, and they try to assemble a mini Microsoft development model. But who is going to test it? It's the user," Hilf said. "The user tests and reports back bugs on the desktop. The end user doesn't want to be a tester, unless they're a developer. It's extremely hard and complex."^^^^^^^^^
That's pure FUD. He makes it seem like Linux alpha's and beta's and release candidates' don't exist.
^^^^^^^^^^And even though Linux may appear slick on the desktop, it can't compete under the covers^^^^^^^^^
Ah.... heh heh heh.... He's just mad that out of the big three OS's, only one doesn't have a 3d desktop.
^^^^^^^^^"There was a ton of work and engineering put into the Win32 API. Why do people want to clone the Win32 API, like the WINE project?" he added.^^^^^^^^^^^
For someone who claims "I've been a Linux desktop user for a really long time", the lack of giving his own answer makes it obvious this is some sort of ploy.
The easy answer is that people want to run photoshop on what they want to run it on. Not what Adobe wants you to run it on. Same for Quickbooks, various games, and even in rare cases IE.
Not just security woes.
Even with their new face of trying to appear user friendly in customer service, they are light years behind. And seem more than a little clueless about how to catch up.
Horribly degraded phone connections to India with rapid fire English with Indian accents and excruciatingly frustrating tech calls in general will not help them much.
Especially with software still far too excessively kludgy to wrestle with--too often at every turn.
In microsoft's defense, if my family members were ever to have a problem with their desktops, I'd rather my linux using grandma speak to someone in india than to try to wade through messageboards.
I personally prefer the messageboards because I can see and follow the answer. But that's just me.
As far as the kludgy software, MS's bloat in windows, office, and others is ahead of all the competition. It's *TOO* integrated. That's why you need a few gigs of memory in order to get halfway decent performance.
I bought one took it back to the office. It booted Linux 6.2 right up. So, I can likely change the root password or there are some recent distros that run on the Alpha. Now that's "cheap" computing:)
I don't mind having to have lots of memory.
I HATE . . . ABSOLUTELY LOATHE trying to get answers to what should not have been problems to begin with--and have to go through POW level torture to get usually inane solutions that aren't solutions at all.
And message boards . . . haven't been too fortunate with those. Maybe I lack some particular kind of patience for them or something but I just rarely have been answered with anything useful. Maybe my problems and system are too idiosyncratic or something.
Even when I pay MS for tech service, I rarely get anything that helpful.
They have the money and mental horsepower to have most of such problems software automated in terms of searching the problem out and automatically sending the system a fix. This many years into the company . . . it's ridiculous that they do not have such software easily available--at least on their website. No excuse. They have the money and the brains. They seem to lack the customer caring and the will.
They deserve to have Linux eat them alive.
Congrats!
Microsoft is making a tactical mistake downplaying the competition- Linux has made significant advances in the last three years. In less than 5 years some linux versions will be virtually indistinguishable from Windows and cost a fraction of what Microsoft charges (some will be free).
Microsoft is one to talk anyway- they have delayed deploying Vista by about 18 months and will likely miss the holiday sales rush in December (release expected January '07 if there are no further setbacks).
Linux is transforming into a windows like environment because that is what consumers are used to and demand. There are Linux versions that come complete and ready to use out of the box (Ubuntu/ Kubuntu etc.). All you need to do is know how to answer a few simple questions on setup, much like Windows.
I extended the life of an old, old laptop I had by installing MEPIS (which is a pretty friendly little Distro).
But I can't seem to get USB drives to behave properly. OTOH, I haven't had a lot of time to mess with it...
whats thew problem with Mepis and USB drive? I have used a seagate 4GB compact mini hard drive for storage and it works fine.... are you trying to boot or install mepis to the USB? OH, DO NOT download Mepis 6 RC2... it STINKS! Wait for the final release of Mepis 6 or get Mepis 6 Beta 3-4 or RC1
I'd also recommend avoiding Suse 10.1. Ran an upgrade from ISO, and it's been nothing but trouble.
There are a lot of issues that were in the first couple of betas that are appearing in the released version (e.g. no sound/volume issues, internet problems).
If anyone runs Suse, I'd personally recommend to hang on to 9.3 or 10.0--and wait to see what 10.2 brings.
ehhh, i already found out the hard way about SuSE 10.1..... cant remmeber what i hated about it, but something irked me pretty good and it didn't last long on my hdd... what a waste of 5 cd-r's :\
I think he's right for the next two years. Two years is a lifetime in software. In two years I'll take another look at desktop environments and update my opinion.
I've always been convinced that computer gaming is what drives the desktop OS market. Every computer will run a word processor, but they won't all run Doom.
That paradigm may change soon, but not yet. Home entertainment, including computer DVR applications may be what sets the next standard.
I ran across Linus in 1991 and could see he was on to something. I wish I would have kept those old emails from him. He's a smart boy.
I used the DVD iso and ran an upgrade via Yast...
I still don't have a working drive, so, I suppose--there's always SheepShaver...8^)
Anyone here tried Gentoo? www.gentoo.org.
I've been running it for about 2 mos now with no troubles at all.
Not yet. Heard good things about it though.
That's a rock-solid system. Thinking about going back to it once I replace my drive later this summer.
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