Subj : Re: Is (Redhat) Linux just a cheap version of Windows?
To   : comp.os.linux.redhat,comp.os.linux
From : Baruch
Date : Fri Sep 03 2004 06:54 am

Singburi Sam wrote:

> The subject line says it all.  Newspapers and magazines tell
> me that Linux is the alternative for those who can't afford
> the dollars for the superior Microsoft product.  Maybe they're
> right: I notice the federal government is not so thrifty with
> taxpayer dollars as to avoid Microsoft Windows in their space-probes
> and attack submarines.
> 
They're still paying $3,000.00 for toilet seats, too, so that's no
indication of anything.
> 
> If some kind soul answers my message, please don't tell me what, if
> anything, eggcups and magicdev do -- I'm afraid my curiosity has waned
> -- but do clue me in why there's no ``info'' or ``man'' for these

My guess would be that no one has gotten around to writing them.  That's
usually the reason that documentation is missing.  Possibly the programs
are trivial, or possibly no one found them interesting enough to bother
with the documentation.  Or there just may not have been enough volunteers
to do the work.

> programs, though they start up by default.  I'd also be curious to see
> the summary of Redhat's internal debate, where they decided their
> customers needed to run, by default, programs with no apparent purpose
> except to slow down the machine.
> 
> Obviously Redhat would do a much better job of emulating Version 7
> if I stopped running in a windows environment.  I'd probably have
> adopted that solution by now if I was 30 years younger, but with age
> one appreciates comfort.  I *do* recommend that some of today's
> youngsters try Version 7 sometime.  Better yet, please try to explain
> to me why the world is so happy to embrace MS-Windows, the undocumented
> eggcups, and all the rest of this CR*P.
> 
Well, it's most likely a combination of convenience, laziness, and ignorance
(and I don't mean willful ignorance, but simply a lack of information). 
Windows is just there.  Eggcups is just there.  Most of the time it works,
so what's the big deal, why bother, etc...

When something goes awry, however, then people are less happy.  However, for
most people it works well enough, or they can live with the way it
*doesn't* work, or they simply don't know what to do about it.

.