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> And whatever you may think about Windows, these users have got their bits > and pieces running under that operating system even though there may be a > few warts with it. To transfer to GNU Linux is a major operation which > requires that you change from being a competent computer user to being a > computer technician, a bit of hardware savvy, a bit of software savvy and a > damned lot of patience. > > By this time I am only continuing out of bloody mindedness and I join the > DLUG. And what do I read there? I must only use Open Source and be flogged > as a sinner if I use some of the not quite Kosher drivers. So I look at > what Mepis says about GNU Linux. They seem to think that it is an > overwhelming burden that Open Source insists on having the source code with > every distribution. And my other goer, PCLinuxOS, doesn't even acknowledge > the existence of Open Source. > > > So what would the Windows man, the man on the Clapham Omnibus, have done > by > now? Forked out in advance for his copy of Vista I suspect. The battle for > the server is going very nicely thankyou but I suspect that the desktop user > is back about where we were with Windows 3. > > > George My advice to the user who doesn't have the time or savvy to make the switch, get a mac. There you spend more, but in return there is none of the 'complexities' unless you want them (access to a UNIX prompt). Of course, there are pay-for linux distrobutions (Is Linspire still around?) that try to scale down the scope of complexity. OSS has a double-edged sword to it. On on one side you have a large portion of hardware where the software drivers are locked away. The only way to do away with that is to convince hardware vendors *more* than MS or whomever that enough people use OSS to make it worth their while to release the source. In the meantime, linux has reverse-engineered near-fixes for many software drivers. It is good enough for some, but to the crowd referenced above, definitely not! On the other side there is the issue with cost and configurability. With linux, for no cost, there are no limitations in what it can be used for, license agreements permitting. The sheer amount of configurability allows for such customisation that to 'support' such an expansive list of potential setups is a huge feat. I think you will find that anyone building an application from source will be hard-pressed to find support for their configuration, especially with a custom kernel. These things are all much more restrictive with Windows and as such, there is a smaller set of ambiguities for things to run afoul (but it still happens). Regards, Kevin -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html