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Thread ID: 29688	2003-01-29 17:52:00	OT: Back to front?	Pollly (1416)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
117193	2003-01-29 17:52:00	Baldy says: For those who have been using Linux for a wee while now, what does Linux do, that Windows can't. And in what way is one better / worse than the other? Graham L says: There is NO BLOODY POINT in threads about which is best. That is not the purpose of this site. Such threads cause otherwise reasonable people to behave like very badly brought up children. If you want to play such games, look at the "advocacy" news groups. But please don't do it here. JM says : I feel that Graham's comment was a very fair and valid one. I've yet to see a discussion about which is best NOT turn into a flame war. Chilling Silence says : Yes, I understand.. But the thing is that there are some very territorial people around here who might take this thread as a "Lets convert the world to Linux" thread, and wont like it. Im happy to discuss the finer points, but for the time being, Im hoping that it'll stay a low-level discussion that doesnt turn out like the one between Crozier, Lo. and Roofus... Otherwise.. I'll be watching this thread with interest, and hoping that it doesnt turn out to be a flame war! Segfault says: I'm not going to tell you why GNU/Linux is better than Windows because I've seen threads like this one turn into flames quite quickly. But I'll tell you why *I* like GNU/Linux. (These are all IMO so not flames please) Pollly says: Someone appears to be overreacting. Everyone knows that flame wars are not welcome on this forum but healthy discussion and debate is. This time however, the flaming (or fear of it) seems to have won out over a genuine query and what could have been a host of useful tips and info for would-be linux users. (Thank you to those who did provide advice etc.) Recently I have seen the most innocent questions turn into flaming wars by people who have replied and/or added comment. But isn’t it a bit back to front when someone posting a bona fide query get the blame and accused of playing games?	Pollly (1416)
117194	2003-01-29 19:32:00	I've tried three versions of Linux, and I'm now back to Win XP. Linux works OK and does everything that XP does. The biggest problems arise when you can't find drivers for things like printers and scanners and modems etc. If you like playing with your comp and you don't "have" to use it every day have a play with Linux, but overall windows is more reliable and all drivers etc. are readily available. Jack	JJJJJ (528)
117195	2003-01-29 19:52:00	Well if it makes you feel any better, I think Graham's first comment was a bit rough . Easier ways to convey your opinion without getting agro about it . Also, perhaps instead of "Linux Vs Windows" as a header, you could've used "Benefits of Linux" and that would have brought more positive response from the PF1 community . Either way, didn't see a prob with your question . I think some ppl just read the subject and didn't bother reading the content . Lo .	Lohsing (219)
117196	2003-01-29 19:56:00	Pollly, it's just that after you've read so many of those types of threads you get REALLY sick of them. They *always* just end up turning into a flame war. Many forums and the like I know of have these type of threads banned.	-=JM=- (16)
117197	2003-01-29 21:07:00	Eh??????????? BANNED? I asked the original Linux/Windows question, cause I respected the viewpoints of people in this forum. -=JM=- if you are REALLY sick of questions like that one, perhaps its time you took up another hobby, and I would be interested in the names of all these other forums that you would get banned from for posting such a question. If you don't want to post the names of them here, my email address is:Big_Baldy@msn	Baldy (26)
117198	2003-01-29 21:12:00	No baldy, By all means, go right ahead and ask away. I personally didnt wanna see another flame war errupt as has happened, and perhaps GL was a bit fast to get agro (No offense intended), but it is a good genuine question, one which you should feel free to ask. Are you looking into trying it out yourself or just a little curious about differences?	Chilling_Silence (9)
117199	2003-01-29 21:22:00	Hmm.. Polly > Having just re-read your post, I do fully agree. I think that there are a lot of people who may have had a bad experience or two with Linux, or who are afraid of the great (and big) unknown area in computing known as Linux. Personally though, My first install was on a P75 with 92MB RAM and I had a 2 Gig HDD and was dual-booting off a Floppy to get into Linux. Apart from being left with about 100MB Spare on my windows partition (Linux installed itself as a File on my C: Drive, not on its on partition), it took about 5 minutes to boot from the floppy (Still dont know why it took so long), took about 10 hours to install (Musta been the CD-ROM drive not liking the CD's?!) and I had about 1.5 Gigs wasted on my HDD for a command prompt I had no idea what the heck I was supposed to do with?! No games, no nothing, and not a clue! I knew how to do the following: Login: root password: bananamilo then when logged in, all I could remember I could do was: whoami and It would tell me "You are root!"!! Well DUH!! I just logged in as root! I had another 2x bad experiences too before I actually say a GUI on my Laptop with 48MB RAM, and it ran like a DOG! IT WAS SLOW! I think there's a lot of people who've had things like that, who've now gone back to windows and are very critical about it. Personally, Im not one to lash out and say that one OS is the devil.. I use both, quite equally, maybe a little more windows though. Then there's the other side of the fence where there are some Pf1'ers who would like to see the world running on Open-Source software! Anyway, this will be a good "Discussion", not a flame war, if we can all keep out cool and think twice before hitting that post message button.. Use the Preview to give you a chance to read over it... :-) On second thoughts, last I used the preview I couldnt post it and lost my message.. So just re-read it with out previewing ;-) Cheers Chilling_Silence	Chilling_Silence (9)
117200	2003-01-29 22:00:00	A question for chilling_ silence. Why? Why would anyone want to abandon a useable operating system (good or bad) and commit themself to something much more complicated and harder to learn. Sure once it's set up and everything working it's at least as good as windows,but by this time it's time for a new computer and peripherals, and start all over again. Jack	JJJJJ (528)
117201	2003-01-29 22:19:00	> A question for chilling_ silence. Why? Why would > anyone want to abandon a useable operating system Because some people want something that's free.. I had a friend ask me to build them a PC, so I did, and put Lycoris on it.. I saved them about $400 by not having to buy XP or whatever and put it on. Lycoris is perfectly usable for them, they're online (They got another friend to install a modem.. They already had one they wanted to use!), they do Word-Proccessing and printing and what-not. They've saved $400, what a bargain! > (good or bad) and commit themself to something much > more complicated and harder to learn. What about these folks I was just talking about? They've never used windows, and would probably freak out at having to use a \ in filenames etc. Its all just a matter of what you were brought up in! > Sure once it's > set up and everything working it's at least as good > as windows,but by this time it's time for a new > computer and peripherals, and start all over again. Yeah, good point. I did a backup last night, installed XP and restored my files on my AMD Athlon XP (Now dual-booting with 2K rather than .NET). Took about 1 1/4 hours! Why not do it with linux next time? Coz Ive already done it with Linux. A lot of people see a format coming up and think "Hey, Why not give Linux a shot? If I like it, then I'll just have to format it again... but I could save myself some $$$ here by not having to pay for my OS!". I checked on Trademe not too long ago.. Say Windows 98 selling for $180 second hand! Hows that for money saved by going Open-Source? The other great thing is Dual-Booting! Its so simple to do, and Ive done it with so many different combinations of OS, so people also have that option :-) Chilling_Silence	Chilling_Silence (9)
117202	2003-01-29 22:46:00	Not the person being banned. Just that the thread will be locked as soon as a moderator sees it. I know you weren't trying to create a flamewar it's just thats what usually ends up happening after a post. ...... anyway, I think we should get back to answering the original question.	-=JM=- (16)
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