@KenW said:
Windows requires better hardware and more RAM than Linux because it's designed to be used by more, less computer literate people than Linux is, plain and simple. Linux would be really great if everyone on the planet was comfortable working at the just-slightly-better-than-a-DOS-prompt-but-with-higher-security level. Unfortunately, the average Mom & Pop at the local deli, or the average school teacher, building maintenance man, or middle school student don't fit into that category.
With the added ease of use comes greater complexity, and with greater complexity comes more overhead.
Linux is fine for people who are tech geeks. For the average user (including the majority of business users), Linux will never be an option. It's much too hard to get anything done.
And yes, I have worked with Linux. However, as I said, the majority of business users (and therefore businesses) are Windows-based, and since I code for a living I work with the platform that the customers are working on.
And with regards to MS being evil, how can an inanimate corporate entity be evil? MS is a business, and it's run like a business. There's no good or evil involved. Sure, the strategic choices made sometimes aren't what I'd consider to be right, but it's just that: a strategic choice. It's not a struggle between good and evil that good is losing. It's business.
The whole idea that usable programs naturally require more resources than non-usable programs is plain wrong. Sanely configured Compiz is more usable and configurable than Vista Aero, yet it doesn't use more resources. Totem is dead simple to use, yet it doesn't need 160 MB to play an MP3 like Windows Media Player sometimes does (due to mfpmp.exe hogging). Opera is comparable in usability in Firefox (some say it's better, but I haven't tried it, and I like my extensions), yet it uses less memory and CPU. Adobe Reader 5.0 in most cases does the same job as Adobe Reader 8.0, yet the latter is more intensive. This is not an objectively true correlation, it is a correlation true in MS software.
Also, with added ease of use comes LESS complexity, isn't that what "ease of use" means? <stupid analogy warning>Refrigerator is easier to use than a computer, yet the refrigerator is less complex.</stupid analogy warning>
I also challenge the opinion that having a package manager is redundant because most Linux apps are crap (this is the essence of what was said earlier). I'll say: OpenOffice.org, Inkscape, GIMP, Evolution, Thunderbird, Firefox, Compiz, I think there is more than one application that can hardly be considered crap, so the package manager is usable.
'There are new distros being created because the others don't work' - huh? You could as well say that new versions of Adobe Photoshop are created because the previous ones don't work.
clively: I don't have a comp sci degree, and yet I managed to install Ubuntu on the aforementioned tablet with most Tablet PC functionality working. This is not exactly about having a knowledge of the system, but willing to expend some energy to search the forums for help. Installing it on a regular desktop system is even easier. When it comes to dead open source projects, you have forgot that not all commercial software is successful, or has its bugs fixed (let's take IE as a shameful example). It's just not that visible, because there are no publicly accessible bug trackers for commercial software...
Linux is not perfect, but it's not garbage either. Even MS is not stupid enough to deny that - see bribery, committee stuffing and brain-dead talking in the OOXML standardization push, bribery to replace Mandriva on Classmate PCs for Nigeria with Windows, purposeful Office ODF lock-out, anti-Linux patent FUD campaigns without specific claims... MS is regarding open source a threat. If it was useless, they wouldn't expend energy doing that.
I suspect you may be just seeking a confirmation that what you do is the Right Thing, and that your platform of choice is the best for everyone but a limited number of people you are not interested in catering to anyway. I have an impression that this is a common affliction, and not limited to Windows people.