And don't let the door hit you on the way out

[Joe Zeff]

On 07/03/2012 06:10 PM, Robert Myers wrote:
> You can say whatever snarky things you want to about Windows (and no one
> enjoys trashing Microsoft and its straight out of a Pixar movie
> management more than I do),

I'm not being snarky.  There are a number of things that Windows does 
well, or that only work there.  As an example, my sister used Ubuntu on 
her desktop, but she also has a laptop running XP.  One of the reasons 
she needs it is the fact that some of the programs she needs to use for 
her school work are Windows-specific and don't run properly for her 
under Wine.  And, of course, many of the best games don't run well under 
Wine.  When people ask me about Linux, I tell them why I use it.  Then, 
I tell them that if they're comfortable with Windows or if they need 
Windows-specific programs, there's no reason for them to change.

However, there are also a number of (to me, at least) things that 
Windows doesn't handle correctly.  If it had a proper security model 
there's be far less malware out there.  Yes, I understand that one of 
the reasons there's so much is simply the fact that it has the biggest 
user base and many of them either don't have a clue about securing their 
boxes or don't bother.  And, from what I gather (I don't use it at all, 
except at a club I belong to where the computers are all Windows boxes.) 
even if you do take precautions, keeping your computer clean is a 
constant battle.  If Microsoft would do their job properly, you should 
be able to put a newly-installed box on-line and not have to worry about 
it getting infected before you can download and install the anti-virus 
software.  And that's a shame, really, because I find it hard to believe 
that it's impossible to have the installation program lock the system 
down so that this type of thing doesn't work.

Remember, Windows is designed as an OS for the masses, and it's designed 
to be used mostly by people with no real understanding of computers or 
how they work.  Would you really want Linux to follow down that path?