[OT] Market Share

[Richmond Mathewson]

Interesting Discussion . . .

As a longtime, mainly irrational, fan of Apple computers (to a large extent based on the belief that Microsoft OS's are inferior) I have had the opportunity for the last year or so to work with a number of 'old' PCs running Ubuntu Linux. This Debian variant has allowed me to set up a teaching operation using old Pentium 3s at minimal cost - and has cut maintenance time to almost zero.

I have "gone funny" and am now running Ubuntu 6.06 on the second partition of my early model (PPC) Mac-Mini.

What I really enjoy about Ubuntu Linux (and, even more about XUBUNTU - the Ubuntu variant that sports the XFCE desktop) is:

1. The interface is extremely consistent.[Mac OS X.4 is "all over the place" and Windows XP looks like my Grandmother dressed up in teenage clothes (sorry Granny)].

2. When something crashes (and that is rare) it does not lock up the whole machine and demand 20 minutes while the whole shebang is restarted and its ego is massaged.

As of now, I can honestly say that I am not really anti either Microsoft or Apple - but hope that the developing desktop Linuxes will serve to stimulate both the commercial companies to sort a lot of things out.

And, while I am here and on topic . . .

I know that the good folks at RR treat Linux as 'the third force' (and not very forceful at that); but it does seem a pity that RR for Linux lags behind (with some of its capabilities) RR for the 2 dominant commercial OS families.

sincerely, Richmond Mathewson
 
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"Philosophical problems are confusions arising owing to the fluidity of meanings users attach to words and phrases."
                                       Mathewson, 2006
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