On 5/9/05, Shlomi Fish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sunday 08 May 2005 15:40, you wrote: > > Hello, > > > > I tried to convince somebody I know to move to Linux at home and > > at work. I am myself an advocate user of Linux at work and at home. > > > > He works with a XP at work (a hightech company; however , he is > > not a programmer) ,and also XP at home. > > > > When listing the main advantages of Linux , the most important one > > I had thought of was security ; when you access the internet from a Linux > > machine, chances that you get a virus or spyware or someone will intrude > > your machine are smaller ; He answered that , when thinking in the long > > term (2-3 years) , as more people will use linux as a desktop, > > this can be easiy changed; > > Possibly. However, one must understand that Linux is very different from > Windows from the security point of view and from other aspects. Linux > programs don't execute code from network resources by default as is so common > on Windows. Linux ships in distributions which supply security updates to all > installed Applications (not just the Microsoft ones). Linux has less services > open to the network by default. All of these make it more difficult to write > successful Linux malware. There has been no successful Linux virus and I > don't recall any spyware on such scale as in Windows. Worms are a > possibility, but it's certainly could not be worse than Windows.
Most important - Linux (except for one desktop distro I can't remember right now) doesn't force/default the user to run with admin/root/god permissions in order to get work done. I've seen somewhere mention of Longhorn finally doing the switch to imitate Linux in that regard and a prediction that this is going to break lots of stuff when it happens. > > Other Linux benefits that I thought of is that since Linux is open source, > > all applications he will probably need are handy for download; in winodws > > you cannot download office .... > > > > You can download OpenOffice and a lot of other open-source software or > freeware for Windows as well. The advantages for that in Linux are: > > 1. Software comes in packages, with dependencies. No DLL Hell, and easy > removal and maintenance. As far as I can tell, DLL hell is over now with Windows XP/2003. I haven't noticed it when I used Windows as a programming desktop station for the last 6 years. > > The security solution of XP (the XP firewall) and > > the free antispyware sw are enough for him; And he isn't convinced > > that it is worth to inverst time in migating to Linux. > > > > I wouldn't trust these things if I were him. If you are writing this to help the original author convince a user to do the switch then this is yet another argument that's simply not going to cut this. Remember that most people just look at a computer as a means to an end, as another tool like their TV or DVD. Stating "I wouldn't trust these" isn't going to convince a reasonable person, not without a logical argument behind it. How would you continue this sentence when he asks "why"? > > > Are there other Linux benefits which I can pose for moving to Linux ? > > (except the idea of moving to open and free source). > > > > Here are some more: > > 1. Open Source - You can always customize an application yourself (add > feature, fix bugs, know where to report them, etc.) or hire someone to do > that for you. His "target audience" is a non-programmer. He can't do it himself. As for paying for stuff - I think twice and thrice before I shell out money to buy any piece of hardware, and you expect his audience to pay someone to do some tweaks on software? If a piece of software doesn't do what he really wants he'll just look for another solution (admittedly, I'll do the same if I were him). > > 2. Price - no need to pay for anything including upgrades. All software can be > installed from the base system. How is BSA doing these days in Israel? Not a big point for OSS (yet?). > > 3. Community - the Linux and Open Source Community is very fun, supportive. > There are many resources available for getting help or for learning more. Again - do "this Magimix Mixer has a community of 20,000 active users in Israel" sound like a convincing argument from a sales druid in the Shekem? That's more or less the attitude you should address. As for "fun" - just look at the abuse someone received for sending a little-awkwardly worded job ad over here. (BTW - a linux-jobs mailing list is long overdue, IMHO). > > 4. Powerful Command Line and Scripting. See above. It might appeal to the kind of people who have to take apart any piece of hardware the comes through their door, and spend their weekends tweaking their car's engine, but how many such people do you know? I only heard about such a person in the media once over the last month. > > 5. Integrability - everything can be made to work together. As far as people are concerned - Windows does a better job of this right now. A couple of days ago a fellow programmer told me "On Windows you just double-click and it works". Face it - "double click and it just works" is our "competition". There are distros which come close to this (Ubuntu? Suse?). When this becomes the rule then you can start talking again. > > 6. Eye Candy/Themes/Skins/etc. Most users (I'm thinking of my mother right now) don't care about this. They can use a computer for ten years and when you'll look at their desktop you'll see the same default green-hill and window decorations as if the computer was installed yesterday (which might as well be true :), and tons of files they never bothered to clean off their desktop... > > 7. Virtual Workspaces. (The MSVDM solution for Windows sucks ass). I always have them on. I find myself hardly switching between them. They are going to be a major source of confusion for people who don't know what they mean. OS-X like "Expose" is the right way to go :) > > These are just the things of the top of my head. I'll let you know if I think > of more. Right now I have to go to the Hamakor Assembly. > > Regards, > > Shlomi Fish Cheers, --Amos ================================================================To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
