nightcap965 said:
i fear someone's been sipping from the Microsoft FUD fountain. While it is possible to find proprietary software that runs on Linux, most is open source. There is no more a hodgepodge of Linux software than there is of Windows or MacOS. All support organizations know the mantra, "We don't support that." The supported computer in business is the one running the standard IS build. Anyone calling the HelpDesk to complain that Frobozz Fritzwerks makes his screen flicker will receive The Mantra in response. If he presses the matter, his hard disk will be wiped and the standard build re-installed. The message is clear: if you run non-supported software, you're on your own.
Linux is actually easier to manage because configuration files are simple text documents, not Windows Registry arcana.
-- Bill
Being a daily consumer of Debian Sid/KDE 3.2 BranchCVS how is your rebuttle recanting what the prior poster said regarding Linux is not a viable Desktop Vendor Solution with comparison to Mac OS X?
NeXTSTEP was a viable Desktop Vendor Solution and you can run an entire business on it quite well, in its day--we did at NeXT and believe me most of the Way Cool applications people thought were available on NeXTSTEP weren't half as cool as the ones we had in-house for our consumption; a mistake Steve has remedied with Apple.
I hope OS X gets Fed-Ex not just because it's my favorite platform for its MVC paradigm or because it is now a blend of proprietary and open source code, Quartz and Darwin respectively, but because all the subtle nuiances that make one more productive are most complete with OS X. And hopefully with more of the old Mac paradigms either advanced or removed OS XI will be even better.
Having to support many large scale enterprise customers, prior to leaving Apple Enterprise back in '98 I had three systems on my desktop. One was of course Openstep 4.2--primary system, the second was System 8.x and the third was Rhapsody, now OS X.
What I got more work done in was clearly Openstep and with OS X we get a blend of the best that single user environments offer with the myriad of needs multi-user large corporate networked clients offer.
I still read that People complaining about Column View. Hate to disappoint you folks but when I've got over 6,000 ATT Wireless Systems I used to browse to track down information and all I had to do was CMD-~"username" and it zipped through the hierarchy and redrew the column views showing just where this directory was made life quite enjoyable for me. I then drag n' dropped a symlink to the Workspace Shelf/Dock and built my section of needed resources via Icon. When I didn't like that Workspace instance I opened a new view free of Icons and built a new list of reused resources. I minimized the view as an Icon and still my pretty desktop background was free of Iconic clutter.
If I needed to work via Terminal.app and was to damn lazy to remember the pathway via escape completion I just "cd 'drag-n-drop symlink'"ENTER/RETURN and I was where I need to be to do either shell work or myriad other tasks.
System-wide Openstep made my workload seemless. Whether it was working with Sybase dealing with customer tracking issues then autogenerating RTFD based reports with the aide of EOF or whether it was dealing with Timeline projects via Diagram! or Quantrix or working on NeXTAnswers via custom in-house tools I felt like I always earned my paycheck working at NeXT or Apple Enterprise.
What technologies cannot replace is Social Engineering. Hire socially inflexible managers will bury a group within a corporation or a company every time.
No company I have worked for since leaving Apple comes close to the Vision of both Management and Engineering that extends across every mundane process from Corporate Supplies to SQA Testing to Status Reports to Internal Documentation of all Processes.
Linux has a serious need and call to arms for Focus and self-less Vision beyond that of basic technical functionality before it can even be equal on all fronts with Apple.
Technically, Linux beats Windows and thank the Universe it does. My next purchase will be a G5 not running Linux but OS X, period. After that I'll buy a Linux PC for Web Development and testing--only a myopic-minded person ignores the benefits of Linux and OSS.
OS X and Linux should be the defacto in this Industry.
-Marc J. Driftmeyer
