On Sun, 22 Dec 2002 18:50:09 -0500 Chuck Haines <chaines@linux-xtreme.net> wrote: CH> I found this article while reading my daily dose of slashdot. It CH> brings some questions to mind. Is linux becoming too much like CH> windows? in some ways, i agree, but i don't think that it is becoming Bad... Win* operating systems seem to suffer from a disease in which the programs are designed (i use the term loosely. very loosely.) to do as much as possible. Compare this with the *nix approach, where most applications do one thing and do it well. The desktop issue is another problem entirely. I believe that the underlying operating system cannot (nor should it) be blamed for the perception of "Difficult to Use". That responsibility lies with the programmer(s) that writes the applications and the desktop interface. For example, The Gimp seems (to me) very much like Photoshop, which Win* users are familiar with. People that like Photoshop shouldn't have too much trouble with Gimp, but that is not something that one can attribute to the OS. The OS allows stability in the environment... If the interface is well designed, the End User should (theoretically) be able to figure things out for themselves. CH> Does it need to in order to compete in the desktop CH> business? One of my friends was commenting that for servers, linux CH> is the best, however it just loses when it comes to the desktop CH> market. What do you guys think about that? I'm not a gamer and CH> primarily do systems administration work as well as php development CH> and I love my redhat 8.0 with gnome2. What do others out there feel? for some reason, many people think that an OS has to have a lot of games to be a viable desktop system. Linux has a lot of games, but the nature of the OS doesn't lend itself very well (i think) to the variety of systems that Gamers have. Games that are graphic intensive (what isn't these days?!?) like to have the Latest-n-Greatest hardware... 8\ There are all sorts of variables that i don't know anything about, but i think that a lot of lessons can be learned from the way Apple does their interface. whether you like it or not, you can't argue the fact that almost anyone can sit down at a Mac and do things. those same people sit down in front of a system running X and they freak out.... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- William Smith wsmith-at-chezsmith-dot-com Fall River, MA http://www.chezsmith.com Random BOFH excuse: We have chosen COBOL as the language of choice. * TAG! v3.1 *