All of us trying hard to convert friends etc to Linux - what are the arguments used?
Mainly curious, but - why should people drop Windows (which they know,
most of their programs often only runns there etc) and swich to Linux?
The biggest benefits imho are -
1) Not very many (if any) viruses for Linux - 'course there are worms, but that's an issue on Windows as well.
2) So far, that I know of, no spyware
Both of those aren't guaranteed for the future - especially with distributions like Lindows that (at least use to) default to root user eliminating filesystem security.
3) This is the big one for me - unified facility for updating not just the vendor installed software packages, but potentially all software, through a single interface.
In Windows, some apps gets updated through Windows Update, some through the application itself, some you have to hunt for updates.
But yum makes it both possible and stupidly trivial for a vendor to create a working update repository they can add to the clients yum configuration, allowing their software to be easily updated when the client updates the rest of the operating system.
It would be nice if yum supported (does it?) authentication at the server, so that private repos could exist (beyond the obvious server IP based authentication which doesn't work for non static IP's) for commercial vendors, but :shrug:
3 is really the big one for me - yum really kicks ascii.
Most people though don't seem to care about that kind of stuff. The fact that so many people with Windows have virus checkers so far out of date indicates most people don't care aboyt 1,2,3 :shrug:
To increase marketshare it needs to get to the OEM's.
There's a reason why MS spent so much effort keeping BeOS etc. out of OEM shops.
-=- I will tell you why I have a Windows partition -
Going to the post office takes me two hours minimum (I don't drive)
Going to a local mail stop to send a package results in a hefty fee for them to stamp it - I kid you not, especially for packages. They surcharge bigtime.
Stamps.com lets me print pre-paid postage label with verified address and USPS tracking, and I only have to give it to my postal carrier when he comes by. Saves me time and money - windows only.
Buying music (I don't pirate) is also a job if I'm not near a music shop in my normal activities. Buying CD's online is fine, if you are buying enough to make the S+H worth it. iTMS on the other hand delivers instantly with no S+H, and I can ignore (and not pay for) tracks I don't want/like.
If solutions for those scenarios came to Linux (and no, I don't like wine) natively - I wouldn't need Windows.
