Will Linux fade away like netscape navigator?

[stratusfear]

Well, you guys must be real lucky if windows runs stable for you. I, on the other hand, find myself formatting and reinstalling windows almost every week. The longest I've ever had ME up and running stable is about 2 weeks

Compare linux to windows on stability and... well, there is no comparison. Linux kicks ass when it comes to a stable computing environment. Even on some of the high-end pcs windows begins to get sluggish after a few days without a reboot. Linux, on the other hand, can last for months even years and remain functional without a reboot.

 

[stratusfear]

"Yeah...I bet their turnover is so high with all the feelings of failure and all.... that thy only 2 people left from more than a couple of years ago are bill and steve. "

The only reason MS is at where they are today is because they bought all their competition. They lied, cheated, and stole their way to "success." And even then, they still can't create a decent product.

Bill Gates bought DOS for $50,000.00
Stole the Windows GUI idea from APPLE.
Bought Frontpage from another software company and called it their own.
And who knows how many other products they've bought from other companies and called their own.
I'm glad that there is finally some competition now.. maybe it wil be an incentive for MS to produce a quality product
But as long as Bill Gates is lounging around in his 9 billion dollar home he could probably care less about linux... I would.

 

[Chatterjee]

On microsoft lying and cheating. I hate Microsoft with a passion BUT I think that the general consensus that microsoft lies, cheats, and steals ideas from others is somewhat without merit. You have to admit they are great marketers! They take good ideas and SELL them. Who knows how many excellent pieces of software are out there but just not marketed properly? I mean, it shouldn't be completely be the consumer's responsibility to check each and every corner of the market for the best software.

-S

 

[vegetation]

Let's not forget that it was BOTH Apple & MS that stole the GUI from Xerox. MS just did a better job at selling it in mass numbers; with Apple doing absolutely nothing about it early on since they thought the world owed them a favor.

 

[DAM]

awww come on guys, i was enjoying this thread!





dam()

 

[smp]

I'm with Lucidguy on this 100% of the way. Talking about doing things that come naturally....

Sunner was mentioning going out to pick up girls.. I would believe this should lead to some 'gettin it on' action, which, most people would agree is natural. Now, what isn't natural about that scenario, is that I have to go out to some club or bar and spend all my hard earned money on drinks, wear cologne (for chrissakes), gell (what am I? A backstreet boy?!!) and talk out my ass to impress some dumb bimbo who's out being just as phony, all the while trying to dance to some horrible music??? HOOEY!! I can meet plenty of girls other ways thanks. So far I haven't had a problem in that respect. I agree with Lucidguy when he says that socializing isn't natural human behaviour.. at least, not the way that 'socializing' is practiced nowadays. Socializing is something you do because you respect a person and you want to exchange ideas, or just to shoot the sh!t, because your GENUINELY interested in talking to that person, not because you want a job contact or a lay. And Sunner, no offence, but how many girls can you pick up carrying around a goddamn palm pilot man? Do you wear it on your belt next to your cell phone?

 

[Dengar]

Im sorry but Sex > Math anyday of the week

 

[smp]

Hey I wasn't disagreeing with that. I just disagree with how people go about getting it.

 

[Pauli]

I'm with Dengar, sex over math in almost all situations. Besides, In my world, you can be a math/computer geek and have sex all in the same lifetime with some time left to spare for socializing and beer drinking too! Man, lucidguy, you really need to crawl out of your cave once in a while. If you're a typical Linux user, Linux will certainly never become mainstream. Most computer users like to live life just a little bit instead of having their heads buried in source code all of the time.

 

[smp]

Going out to sh!tty clubs is as much "living in a bubble" as having your head buried in source code.


"When somebody kills themselves, people always wonder why? Why would somebody do such a thing? The question is not why would a person kill themselves, rather, why wouldn't a person kill themselves."

I forget who said this, but this thread was starting to get existential, so I thought I'de drop it. Human life is suffering and misery, no matter how rich you are, or how drunk or sexy you are. And no, I'm not one of those depressed, feeling sorry for myself losers... I love life.

 

[igiveup]

If you think its going to go away then think about this...

The hardest part about linux is learning to use the command line right? You have an entire generation of young kids growing up learning Linux from the start. The command line learning curve is going to not be as much of an issue in the future because you will have a lot of people in the world that will know command line syntax from the start. Even if they aren't going to be sysadmins or network admins they will still work somewhere. Skills like these won't fade. Any idiot can operate a windows 98 machine. Linux takes desire to master. Once you do you will have a skill that you carry with you the rest of your life.

 

[lucidguy]

My comments have been taken out of context.

I would never presume to tell anyone how to order their preferences with regards to how to spend leisure time.

My point was that socializing is a learned behavior just like any other learned behavior, including but not limited to math, programming, playing soccer, and so on.

You need to learn manners, how to make small talk, how to break the ice with people you have just met, how long you can get away with staring at a chick's tits before you get caught, and so on and so forth. None of these skills are naturally inherent in humans. One learns them through various channels.

For some, the cost/benefit ratio of socializing justifies learning this set of skills and practicing constantly in order to keep one's skills in shape. For others, the cost/benefit ratio of socializing does not justify devoting excessive time to it - these people see more benefit in pursuing other skills or hobbies.

One interesting point to note is that socializing contributes positively only to the small circle of people with whom one socializes. It has absolutely no positive effects on any other people. However, pursuing math or programming (especially open source) has positive effects on the entire information technology community, numbering in hundreds of millions of people. It's a postive contribution that advances knowledge, efficiency and accessibility of information.

Suddenly, it seems like socializing is a very egotistical and antisocial way to waste one's time.

 

[Sunner]

smp, I agree, I never mentioned how, but Im not much for disco crap and $hit myself, as you said, there are other, better(IMO anyways) ways

Oh and I know I said my last post was the last on the subject... I lied, so sue me, lying is definately human behaviure

 

[smp]

Hey yeah! We're being social right here aren't we?

 

[Shudder]

BUT, if being social leads to greater happiness, and in your spare time, being happier, maybe you'll kick out better code.

So socializing is pretty cool.

And I think it's scary that you know how big a gorilla's penis is.

 

[cureless]

I read most of the comments, some funny, some not and I decided to participate.

First, the topic:

Linux will not fade away any time soon. It is a strong performer, has a big community behind it and in some situations is better than other OSs. One of them being the "free" part (even though it's not the most important one). As for Linux taking over the desktop community (mainstream), it won't happen yet. However, I can say that it is slowly becomming a competitor. This is because some of the brainy types in Linux/Unix like stuff like programming languages. Eventually these programming languages will provide the tools for "normal" no-so-brainy-but-CS people to program applications (business/desktop/etc). Not yet, but slowly.

Also, remember that Linux is being used in a lot of the Universities/Colleges. If students become familiar with the Unix environment, they'll look for that in their workplace. This is specially true for low level programming. (OS, network, etc). For example, there are not many projects (if any) doing network protocol or filesystem or Virtual Memory testing under MS products.

For me, there is no other option but Linux. I need to be able to modify low level stuff. I use Linux for my desktop OS. Even though it's not the only factor, price does matter. I'm not going to pay for Win2K + Office + Acrobat tools, etc ($2000) to write a report when I can do a equally good report (if not better) with open source tools. Not to mention stuff like compilers, network analyzers, debuggers, documentation, etc.

Then again, if you try the games arena you'll be limited to the published games by Loki. Good thing I don't game too much. Another drawback Linux has is the Multimedia publishing. And yet another, as somebody mentioned, is the lack of standards for driver instalation. I believe these won't bring Linux down right now and will get fixed.

Also, let me disagree with the people that said that the Linux community is not helpfull. I completely disagree. From my experience in mailing lists and LUGs (Linux User Groups) I can say that they are a very helpful community. Check your local LUG. There will be some forums or "elite" IRC channels that might not welcome newbies, that is a fact of any community. The biggest mistake people make is asking questions without reading the FAQs or documentation on-line. For example, the response you'll get if you ask: "How do I complie the kernel?" on the linux-kernel mailing list might not be too friendly (YMMV). However, if you ask "I'm having trouble porting driver XXX, can anyone help?" you'll probable get some good responses.

I've been a Linux user/programmer for a long time.
Am I a Nerd? I don't think so.
Am I a geek? Maybe.
Am I more inteligent than the average person? Yes.
Did Linux make me more inteligent? No.
Am I a better person (than the average)? I don't think so.

I must point out that "Linux" is not the only Open Source OS. The BSDs wont die soon, at most, they'll merge. Then again, knowing Theo's fame this might be very unlikely.

So in short: We (the Linux community) might be better at some things than others. We have our flaws, community and individual wise. We are not "better people". But I can assure you that neither the community or Linux will go away soon.

cl