Recently, there was an article on this list, I believe, that talked about "Linux on the Desktop". Here is an interesting rebuttal to that article. Enjoy! Stephen Dawes B.A. B.Sc. Web Business Office, The City of Calgary PHONE: (403) 268-5527. FAX: (403) 268-6423 E-MAIL ADDRESS: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca Internet: http://www.gov.calgary.ab.ca -----Original Message----- From: OpenSource@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:OpenSource at bdcimail.com] Sent: 2001 June 27 10:07 AM To: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca Subject: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, June 27, 2001 ======================================================== NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" InfoWorld.com ======================================================== Wednesday, June 27, 2001 Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thawte FREE Apache SSL Guide from Thawte Are you worried about your web server security? Click here to get a FREE Thawte Apache SSL Guide and find the answers to all your Apache SSL security needs. http://www.thawte.com/ucgi/gothawte.cgi?a=n366707480022000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - WHY THE LINUX DESKTOP? Posted at June 22, 2001 01:01 PM PST Pacific LAST WEEK I noted that the battle for open-source advocates is not one for the desktop (see The Open Source, June 18). Be that as it may, Microsoft is obviously threatened by Linux on the desktop, as evidenced by the rash of articles in various Web and trade publications on this very topic, most of which proclaim that Linux will never make it in this category. Allow me to punch a few holes in the conventional wisdom. Item No. 1: You shouldn't choose Linux just because you hate Microsoft. Despite what the Microsoft toadies may say, hating Microsoft is an excellent reason to choose Linux. It wouldn't be if there weren't so many good reasons to hate Microsoft. But there are. Let's start with how the company's lust for control over the market takes precedence over the well-being and security of its customers. For example, Microsoft is hard at work devising ways to lock you into a system where you pay on a continual basis to use a Microsoft application. Microsoft is not doing this because it is the best solution for its customers. Microsoft is simply running out of ways to entice you to pay for upgrades to its cash-cow applications. If that doesn't elicit a feeling of righteous indignation when you get your next blue screen of death or lose data to an e-mail Trojan horse, I don't know what will. Better yet, look at Microsoft's despicable, standard modus operandi. Microsoft makes it standard practice to say whatever it must to gain the confidence of its prospective customers. But what Microsoft says is not what Microsoft does. For example, Microsoft pretends to promote standards such as Kerberos to convince its customers that Windows will interoperate well with other platforms. But Microsoft actually manipulates the Kerberos standard with proprietary extensions to retain control over the customers it captures. The operative word here is confidence, which is where the expression con man comes from. Con men can only succeed if they gain the undeserved confidence of their prey. If that's the kind of company you want to defend and patronize, be my guest. But who then is the fool -- the Microsoft customer who continues to pay through the nose for crappy software or the satisfied Linux customer who chose Linux because he or she hates Microsoft? Item No. 2: Linux is too complicated. Bzzt. KDE 2.1 is amazingly simple and yet is powerful and flexible. Granted, it is sometimes more difficult to administer a Linux box than a Windows box, but users shouldn't have to administer any box. And Linux makes that easier to enforce than do most versions of Windows. One reason Windows is difficult to administer is because users can easily screw it up. With Linux, I set up a box, create an account, and hand the box to the user. The user doesn't have to deal with the administration programs and doesn't even have enough privileges to use (or abuse) them. Shall I go on? Let me know. Nick is the founding editor of VarLinux.org (www.varlinux.org). Reach him at nicholas @petreley.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD: * Red Hat jumps into open-source database market - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/06/25/010625hnlinuxdb.xml?0626tu li * The resourceful CTO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/06/25/010625opconnection.xml?062 6tuli * Red Hat to announce open-source database app - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/06/21/010621hnreddb.xml?0626tuli - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Too often, technology is used as a crutch when planning the security and risk-management phases of an online business venture." --Enterprise Strategies columnist James R. Borck advocates a common sense approach to online security. http://iwsun4.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/06/25/010625opborck.xml?0627w eli - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SUBSCRIBE To subscribe to any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, tell your friends and colleagues to go to: http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/ To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, go to http://www.iwsubscribe.com UNSUBSCRIBE If you want to unsubscribe from InfoWorld's Newsletters, go to http://iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/unsubscribe/ CHANGE E-MAIL If you want to change the e-mail address where you are receiving InfoWorld newsletters, go to http://iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/adchange/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your High-Bandwidth Connection to Telecom News Admit it: you simply don't have the bandwidth to keep up with everything you should keep up with. And chances are, telecom is one of the topics you have a tough time tracking. Because it's so big, ranging from technology to law to - well, did you know sunspots can have a major effect on your enterprise communications? But you don't need your own telescope to track telecom. Simply subscribe to InfoWorld's free weekly Telecom Report newsletter, at http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters/ Advertising Sponsor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thawte FREE Apache SSL Guide from Thawte Are you worried about your web server security? Click here to get a FREE Thawte Apache SSL Guide and find the answers to all your Apache SSL security needs. http://www.thawte.com/ucgi/gothawte.cgi?a=n366707480022000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Copyright 2001 InfoWorld Media Group Inc. This message was sent to: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca
