Xiaofan wrote regarding 'Re: [OT] Top-posting, is it really that bad?' on Fri, Nov 25 at 18:00:
> Serverwise, Redhat/Suse/Ubuntu(not yet) offer good alternatives. I am talking
> about Desktop. It is cheaper to buy a Windows desktop. If one decides not
> to use office, Open Office is available on Windows as well as Linux.
> Lot of free/open software are available for Windows as well.

Since Linux on the desktop costs $0, they cost the same - just buy a
Windows machine and install any of the free Linux variants.  Want
Redhat?  The Fedora project is the free destop-oriented variant.  Want
SuSE?  OpenSuse is the free version.  Want desktop support?  Well,
that's probably cheaper if you need to call a business, but I'd argue
that the Linux community (particularly Ubuntu and Gentoo) is more
helpful than any phone rep whose suggestions are "reboot, and if that
doesn't work, reinstall from the factory recovery CD because we don't
support your non-standard WinZip install". :)

I beg to differ with Ubuntu not being ready as a server, though.
Ubuntu's target audience is the desktop environment, but it's Debian
underneath.  Debian has for a long time been an extremely good server
Linux, largely due to their strenuous stability testing and long
release cycles.  Ubuntu builds on that and provides an extended
support period for all official releases (something like three
versions back will always be supported) with a slightly accelerated
but still conservative release schedule.  Servers aren't Ubuntu's
advertised primary market, but Ubuntu makes a very nice server
platform.  Their "server" install is one of the leanest base systems
you'll find, and has all the benefits of the apt packaging system with
a real commercial company backing them up.  Most of the servers in my
home now run Ubuntu, I believe in it that much.  I'm hoping to build
up an Ubuntu test cluster at work as well, so we can get some of the
developers playing with that system.  That may well happen before
year's end.

> Do you frequent GNUPIC list? I am active there as well. I like Linux but I
> like them to be used together. Linux/Windows is better than only Linux or
> only Windows. I am using a WinXp/Ubuntu dual-boot machine.

I've got VMWare running on my desktop right now, running a couple of
Linux distros and a Win2K install because some things just work better
with Windows.  It's easier to do that than to work around. :)  I need
to spend more time with the GnuPIC list, though, as I do almost
nothing there now...

> People should be encouraged to try out Linux. However it is just not ready
> yet for the corporate setup.

I agree only in that Linux is not ready to 100% replace Windows.  It
never will be, largely because Windows is so ubiquitous.  However,
lots of places are using Linux on the desktop already.  Any reader of
Linux Journal, among others, can find some business sucess story
nearly every month.  I've set up totally non-technical users who have
not been brainwashed by Windows (these are usually elderly people who
don't think they can use computers at all), and they pick up Gnome or
KDE as quickly or more quickly compared to my observations with
Windows.

As I keep saying, though, Windows definitely has a place.  One of
those places is where it does an adequate job and users are
comfortable with it already.  In those locations, it often makes no
sense to remove Windows just for the sake of change.  Use the right
tool for the job, though. :)

--Danny
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