I was just subjecting you to Pointy Stick 1.0
Well said by the way. I am not some desktop support chimp either. The largest problem I have with Ubuntu is that they do advertise it as a desktop "prime-time" distribution for the "uninformed". Which of course, isn't true. I want to smack everyone in the face who says that Linux is a "good desktop for the general public". It isn't, and probably never will be.
Linux is a specific tool for certain needs. Asking it to do more than that is entering into some interesting territory. You can go there but it is for the developer types and hobby types.
I find it interesting you mention ten years of SQL experience, then you should be well versed in Unix and by measures linux considering most SQL Databases of any size were (and some still are) run on Unix almost exclusively a decade ago. Windows Server didn't support what as needed for heavy lifting until quite recently. Being a database jockey you should know that and I am surprised at the lack of unix or BSD experience in that regard.
Before I entered the IS world I cut my teeth on systems engineering. The real stuff not what it means today (systems engineers today are mostly server farm jockeys). I was designing compact PCI and Passive Backplain industrial computers, writing BIOS's. Compact PCI systems were the grand-daddies of today's Blade systems for those who've never seen one.
I remember the day the Windows Hardware Quality Lab came into existence because we now had one more step to do before our hardware drivers and thusly, new product, could be shipped. Getting that little sticker was important in the days when PCI devices didn't play nice together and we had to do extensive testing and try to manage the reflection wave problem by tuning trace length. We have come a long way since those days.
You say you need something that just works, windows really doesn't meat that specification. Thousands of hours spent trying to make MS SQL Server work correctly, get clustering correct, beating on exchange server because it buggered up again, not to mention what special kind of hell one starts to see when supporting 3-5K desktops running windows 7. It goes from a great OS to a nightmare very quickly as the failure points become glaringly evident.
The point with linux is that is a constantly moving target. It will never be complete. That isn't its real purpose. A good deal of Windows 7 kernel and understanding came through Linux forging the way ahead. It will forever be the "eternal Beta" software. The place where new things are tried and new ideas cut their teeth. It can be used in a limited sense for the low power desktop user (word processing and web browsing). It can be used for art. It can be used as an inexpensive server (but windows server will be better in most business environments). It is the last "thinking mans" OS. The OS equivalent to the Hot-Rod that gets wrenched on every weekend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bruss01
meaty-btz said:
Microsoft Certified Professional since 2003, ten years SQL Server DBA, experience with relational databases going back to dBase III (1987), DOS for crying out loud, and cut my programming teeth on an Apple II which predated any kind of disk storage system (we used audio cassette tapes) in the late '70's. So that answers your question as to what kind of technical professional I am. I'm not some desktop support chimp with a superiority complex or someone who spends all their time fiddling with experimental setups. I'm someone who relies on computers to enable me to get serious work done on a daily basis.
If you like Linux, good for you. People who have spent a lifetime developing solid computer work skills will not go back and totally re-engineer the way they work because someone thinks a new way is "better". This is why Dvorak keyboards don't sell. It's as if you took someone who had been driving for 20 years, and ask them to try out a new car you designed... and get all offended when they look at you like you're crazy... "you want me to use a joystick to steer, or foot pedals, instead of a steering wheel? Oh, and the rear wheels steer instead of the front? And the driver sits in the back seat, watching the road through a periscope? Sorry, I'm gonna pass." Any product that does not leverage an existing base of user skills is not going to flourish in the market.
I would like to switch over to Linux because I think it COULD someday deliver on the promise of a better system. But in my opinion, based on what I have experienced, is that it requires too big of a change in work processes for the average computer user to find it worthwhile. Ubuntu was not as it was hyped to me, that is my experience, and your superior attitude does not change my experience. It simply appears to be not ready yet for the mainstream market.
Now you can get all upset about someone saying the emperor isn't wearing any clothes while you insist they're some mighty cool threads.... or you can acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of user experience issues to be addressed before it will be considered a viable alternative for the workplace by the mainstream who have real jobs and serious work to get done, and who can't afford to spend half the day tinkering to figure out how to get something done on a funky system that plays by it's own rules.
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