Just thought of bringing down my posts in different other blogs to this one place. This one was published in the college magazine "SRIJNA" last year.
I'm not a technical writer. I'm not someone who's only used the most well known Operating Systems. And most importantly, I'm not someone who is going to try and convince you that you need to switch to Linux if you're currently using Windows. Let me go one step further... I'm going to tell you why Linux is NOT for you.
I love Linux. I use it on my laptop, it powers my MOTO ROCKR E6, the new SONY BRAVIA HDTV has it, and heck, I even run Linux on my D-Link LAN card, which hooks my network shebang together.
But, Linux isn't for everyone. Seriously. Here are my top five reasons why you shouldn't move to Linux . . .
Reason number one: Linux is too complicated......cause it involves a little common sense !
Even with the KDE and GNOME graphical windowing interfaces, it's possible that you'll need to use a command line now and again, or edit a configuration file.
Compare that with windows---where you are really lucky if you never had to use “HKEY” or edit the windows registry where, as they like to tell you, one wrong move could destroy your system forever.
Linux seems complicated because it is different. Remember that different does not mean the same as difficult. There was a time when my now 50+ year old aunt memorized DOS commands in order to complete her job. The same way my mother who 2 years ago didn't know how to use a computer, doesn't know how to download Yahoo Messenger on Windows. She didn't even know how to get to the blunt of her applications (by "get to" I mean click the start menu and go to programs).
But does that mean it's difficult?
Conclusion: Anything you've never seen before is difficult, no matter how intuitive or how many fail-safes have been protected by sticking logical messages to the user inside the code. Just because we know that Linux has a different method of doing things, doesn't mean it has a difficult one.
Reason number two: Linux is a pain to set up............NO “next-next-next-finish” !
It's true. After all, with modern Linux flavors like Ubuntu, Fedora, Xandros Desktop or SimplyMEPIS, you need to put in a CD or DVD, press the enter button, give your computer a name, and enter a password for the administrator account.
Gosh, that's hard.
On the other hand, with Windows, all you have to do is put in a CD or DVD, do all the above, and then immediately download all the available patches. After all, Symantec has found that an unpatched Windows PC connected to the Internet will last only a few hours before being compromised.
Unpatched Linux systems? Oh, they last months, but what's the fun of that?
Reason number three: Linux doesn't have enough applications
Really now. I mean, most Linux systems only come with secure Web browsers, like Firefox; e-mail clients, like Evolution; IM clients, like Pidgin; office suites, like OpenOffice.org 3.0; Web page editors, like Nvu; Image editors, like GIMP; and on, and on, and...
Microsoft, on the other hand, gives you Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, the most popular Web browser and e-mail client around -- even though they do have a few little, teeny-weeny security problems!
And, Microsoft also has Microsoft Office, which -- oh wait, you don't get that with the operating system, do you? MS Office Home and Student Edition----Rs. 3025 only, unless you resort to the crappy, pirated one !
Still, so long as you want to run Microsoft programs at Microsoft prices, Windows is the operating system for you!
Reason number 4: Linux isn't secure...no such security messages anymore!
If Microsoft says so, it has to be true! So what, if you can scarcely go a week without reading about yet another major Windows security problem ! Who would you rather believe -- Microsoft, or your own eyes?
If security is an issue, then what demands it more than the GOOGLE DATA-CENTRE ? And here too, they use a hardened version of Linux that is optimized for search, sometimes referred to as Google Linux.
Almost 50% of web-servers throughout the world have deployed Linux! Bah, Linux isn't secure !
Reason number 5: Linux is more expensive...even an internet connection costs!
Are you calling Microsoft a liar? Those nasty Linux companies, like Red Hat or Novell/SUSE charge you a fee for support. Others, like Linspire sell you the product. How dare they, when you can download free, fully-functional versions of almost all the Linux distributions.
Your computer, on the other hand, almost certainly came with Windows pre-installed! For free!
Oh wait, it's not free? Windows' actually makes up a large percentage of your PC's price? With that Lenovo laptop that cost you Rs. 40,000 , Microsoft earned atleast Rs. 4000 for the piece of Software you get pre-installed ! And you thought it were free !
Hmmm. Well, still, it's already on there, and it has everything you need.
Right? Of course, right!
Except, of course, you might still want to buy an anti-viral program (Norton Anti-Virus: Rs.1200), anti-spyware software (McAfee Anti-Spyware: Rs. 500); and a full-featured firewall (Zone Alarm Pro: Rs. 1000). But, hey, who needs those when you have a secure operating system like Windows!
And so...
When you really think about it, you can see why there are lots of reasons not to use Linux.
"In a world free of walls and fences, who needs Gates and Windows ?"
LINUX IS NOT FOR EVERYONE !
I'm not a technical writer. I'm not someone who's only used the most well known Operating Systems. And most importantly, I'm not someone who is going to try and convince you that you need to switch to Linux if you're currently using Windows. Let me go one step further... I'm going to tell you why Linux is NOT for you.
I love Linux. I use it on my laptop, it powers my MOTO ROCKR E6, the new SONY BRAVIA HDTV has it, and heck, I even run Linux on my D-Link LAN card, which hooks my network shebang together.
But, Linux isn't for everyone. Seriously. Here are my top five reasons why you shouldn't move to Linux . . .
Reason number one: Linux is too complicated......cause it involves a little common sense !
Even with the KDE and GNOME graphical windowing interfaces, it's possible that you'll need to use a command line now and again, or edit a configuration file.
Compare that with windows---where you are really lucky if you never had to use “HKEY” or edit the windows registry where, as they like to tell you, one wrong move could destroy your system forever.
Linux seems complicated because it is different. Remember that different does not mean the same as difficult. There was a time when my now 50+ year old aunt memorized DOS commands in order to complete her job. The same way my mother who 2 years ago didn't know how to use a computer, doesn't know how to download Yahoo Messenger on Windows. She didn't even know how to get to the blunt of her applications (by "get to" I mean click the start menu and go to programs).
But does that mean it's difficult?
Conclusion: Anything you've never seen before is difficult, no matter how intuitive or how many fail-safes have been protected by sticking logical messages to the user inside the code. Just because we know that Linux has a different method of doing things, doesn't mean it has a difficult one.
Reason number two: Linux is a pain to set up............NO “next-next-next-finish” !
It's true. After all, with modern Linux flavors like Ubuntu, Fedora, Xandros Desktop or SimplyMEPIS, you need to put in a CD or DVD, press the enter button, give your computer a name, and enter a password for the administrator account.
Gosh, that's hard.
On the other hand, with Windows, all you have to do is put in a CD or DVD, do all the above, and then immediately download all the available patches. After all, Symantec has found that an unpatched Windows PC connected to the Internet will last only a few hours before being compromised.
Unpatched Linux systems? Oh, they last months, but what's the fun of that?
Reason number three: Linux doesn't have enough applications
Really now. I mean, most Linux systems only come with secure Web browsers, like Firefox; e-mail clients, like Evolution; IM clients, like Pidgin; office suites, like OpenOffice.org 3.0; Web page editors, like Nvu; Image editors, like GIMP; and on, and on, and...
Microsoft, on the other hand, gives you Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, the most popular Web browser and e-mail client around -- even though they do have a few little, teeny-weeny security problems!
And, Microsoft also has Microsoft Office, which -- oh wait, you don't get that with the operating system, do you? MS Office Home and Student Edition----Rs. 3025 only, unless you resort to the crappy, pirated one !
Still, so long as you want to run Microsoft programs at Microsoft prices, Windows is the operating system for you!
Reason number 4: Linux isn't secure...no such security messages anymore!
If Microsoft says so, it has to be true! So what, if you can scarcely go a week without reading about yet another major Windows security problem ! Who would you rather believe -- Microsoft, or your own eyes?
If security is an issue, then what demands it more than the GOOGLE DATA-CENTRE ? And here too, they use a hardened version of Linux that is optimized for search, sometimes referred to as Google Linux.
Almost 50% of web-servers throughout the world have deployed Linux! Bah, Linux isn't secure !
Reason number 5: Linux is more expensive...even an internet connection costs!
Are you calling Microsoft a liar? Those nasty Linux companies, like Red Hat or Novell/SUSE charge you a fee for support. Others, like Linspire sell you the product. How dare they, when you can download free, fully-functional versions of almost all the Linux distributions.
Your computer, on the other hand, almost certainly came with Windows pre-installed! For free!
Oh wait, it's not free? Windows' actually makes up a large percentage of your PC's price? With that Lenovo laptop that cost you Rs. 40,000 , Microsoft earned atleast Rs. 4000 for the piece of Software you get pre-installed ! And you thought it were free !
Hmmm. Well, still, it's already on there, and it has everything you need.
Right? Of course, right!
Except, of course, you might still want to buy an anti-viral program (Norton Anti-Virus: Rs.1200), anti-spyware software (McAfee Anti-Spyware: Rs. 500); and a full-featured firewall (Zone Alarm Pro: Rs. 1000). But, hey, who needs those when you have a secure operating system like Windows!
And so...
When you really think about it, you can see why there are lots of reasons not to use Linux.
"In a world free of walls and fences, who needs Gates and Windows ?"
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