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From: keving@primenet.com (Kevin Goldstein)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 16:53:29 MST
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In article <MANOWAR.95Jan17145517@ww.engin.umich.edu> manowar@engin.umich.edu (krisztian  flautner) writes:
>From: manowar@engin.umich.edu (krisztian  flautner)
>Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
>Date: 17 Jan 1995 19:55:16 GMT


>I got my copy of InfoWorld today and I think that there is lot more in the
>column than Linux bashing.

>This is the bit about the underware part :

>"Linux - how shall we describe ir ? It is the Volkswagen Unix for the PC. It's
>the layman's Unix. It's underware. (...) We classify Linux as an underware
>because, technically, we can't call it shareware or freeware, especially
>if we're talking about one of the professionally supported, licensed versions
>of Linux such as our copy of Slackware Linux from Morse Telecommunications
>Inc. So we've arbitrarily ranked it at some nebulous level below commercial
>software, at least as far as how it is developed, maintained, updated, and
>supported."


>Part about comparing Linux users to Amiga users :

>"In fact, Linux users have a dogged enthusiasm for their product unmatched
>even by thepassion of followers of the, well, the "A" word. (Psst ! It's
>a machine once sold by a company with a name that sounds something like
>"commode door" -- wink wink, nudege nudge).


>This is what he says they looked at Linux in the first place :

>"Just between us, our target readership generally doesn't want to risk using
>underware in a mission-critical environment, so we wouldn't normally look
>at an operating system like Linux. But we are just the sort of rabble to
>champion the cause of a piece of really good underware if it's appropriate,
>so we're taking a look at Linux in our product comparisons of Internet
>gateways."


>He then goes on to describe how they screwed up the installation and that they
>thought that the network disk was needed to install the network part of Linux
>but in fact it is only needed when Linux is installed from the network. Also
>the author mentions that there are too many optional pieces at installation,
>they were pleasantly surprised by support for the 3C509 network card, they
>like the color coded output of ls and they had a bit of trouble trying to
>install X support from the CD. Note that almost everything criticised in the
>column is a critique of the installation process but even then the author
>says that "We admit, the installation is going more smoothly than what we'd
>expect from an underware product. Most of the problems aren't anything a
>little extra documentation wouldn't fix."

>So this is it. The column will continue next week. The column was written
>by Nicholas Petreley. Personally, I did not find the column too out of touch,
>nor too insulting. Especially if you consider the reviews that InfoWorld
>gives about other OS's.


>Later, -- Kris


Cool the caffeine, guys (and girls). That review is *positive.*