Comment 127 for bug 1

Il giorno mer, 07/06/2006 alle 19.52 +0000, DarthMaul38 ha scritto:
> This 'bug' you're talking about is 'by design', if I can say that. I studied IT on 286 computers with DOS on them, then Windows. I tried to switch to Linux many times, but every distribution comes with at least one obvious problem that's very hard to solve by a beginner. Let me give you just a few examples:
> - Mandrake 8, 9 and 10: none of them was able to recognize properly my Lucent Winmodem (the only Winmodem officially supported in Linux) - never fixed even by people with experience in Linux
> - Redhat (cant remember version) failed to work with USB devices 5 years after USB was implemented in Windows 98
> - Ubuntu - cannot use my HP PSC multifunction printer, Midnight commander still shows crap in console mode
> - Freebsd - most user unfriendly OS
>
> These are maybe things that a Linux expert could fix easily, but hey, you want a regular user to love a OS that doesn't help him very much.
> I've seen 8 yrs old kids installing Windows XP themselves, including printer, video, etc. just because it's all very easy to setup. Want them to swithc to a OS that has almost no games and it's a real adventure to configure? I think THIS is Linux's biggest bug - wasn't build for users who want a computer help do their job, but for people who accept to be computer's slaves.

I agree with you that Linux is not easy to fix at the very beginning.

But please note that even a 8yrs old boy can install Linux (say Ubuntu
of Fedora Core, at least), if all the hardware is ok.

Winmodem and Winprinters are a UGLY strategy for hardware companies to
try to spend a very litte few bucks in order to save millions, and
making YOUR CPU making the work that the modem or printer hardware would
have to do.

Winmodem and Winprinter are usually not supported in Linux, as the
softRAID5, because hardware producers do NOT disclose driver sources, as
in the drivers are kept the "secrets" on how they product work. This is
NOT very kind to users. Hardware companies should support Linux!

For what regarding user friendlyness, I agree with you that Windows is
more user-friendly; but Linux is making BIG steps ahead to become more
and more user friendly.

At last, knowing a computer does not mean the user is a "slave" of the
PC. You are SLAVE of Windows, because if you want to make something, you
have to make it as Windows wants. Linux make you free of making what you
want with your PC, but you have to know how the PC works!

Many Windows user have NO idea on how internet works, on what "RAM" or
"HD" is, what is a worm, what is the BIOS or the bootblock, what a
partition is or which differences are between FAT, FAT32 and NTFS,
because they actually do not know what a filing-system is!!!

I think this is NOT a great way to use a computer. I mean... If you want
to drive a car, you have to know the basis on how it works, and you have
to know the laws you have to respect.

Nothing is necessary to use a computer... Why shouldn't it necessary for
users to know how a computer works? Knowledge is NEVER a fault!

Cheers.

Marco