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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:4963 comp.os.linux.misc:33727 comp.os.os2.advocacy:75044 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!bin.anu.edu.au!nathanh From: nathanh@bin.anu.edu.au (Nathan Hand) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld! Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy Date: 21 Jan 1995 08:38:34 GMT Organization: Australian National University Lines: 46 Message-ID: <3fqh6a$sl@manuel.anu.edu.au> References: <950116203411@lambada> <1995Jan18.214037.6088@cs.cornell.edu> <3fk4hi$iu8@solaris.cc.vt.edu> <D2pK11.EJx@madge1.demon.co.uk> <3fpk32$80i@unix.sri.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.63.25 X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Nate Williams (nate@sneezy.sri.com) wrote: : In article <D2pK11.EJx@madge1.demon.co.uk>, : Mike Moreton <mmoreton@madge1.demon.co.uk> wrote: : >matthew c. mead (mmead@goof.com) wrote: : >: Can you call Linus and say, "My serial port isn't working : >: right. What do I do?" No. Can you call up Sun, or BSDI and do the same? : >: Yes. : > : >Of course it won't actually do you any good, because first they'll try to : >say it's your fault, then they'll misuderstand the problem, and say that : >it's fixed by a release which fixes some entirely different bug. If you : >finally get them to accept the problem, they'll say that it'll be fixed in : >the next release : Hmm, this sounds like about 75% of the answers folks get to questions posted : about Linux. All of the above happen as much if not more in Linux than : they do in commerical releases, but with commercial releases you have a much : better chance of stability at release time. If you don't count patchlevels : as releases, then Linux is 'released' as often as commercial software. If you : cound patchlevels as releases then Linux has many unusable/buggy releases : which would cause most commercial vendors to go bankrupt. : Free software is great, but there is more room for *supported* software in : the commercial world than for free software. When my paycheck is depending on : a pice of hardware/software, I want to *know* that it works, and commercial : vendors provide me with guaranteed support that NONE of the free software folks : will give me. Are you arguing that *supported* software like MS-Windows *works*? Commercial vendors suffer from the limitation of too little input. They have small teams (perhaps under 100) working 9-5 with only the very basic experience. Contrib- utors to Linux amount to thousands of highly-learned professors, scientists, real-world workers, students and home hobbyists (all of them highly-learned). I dont find the commercial products nearly as stable as the "unsupported" Linux. It was because of massive instability (Windows, 'nuff said), slow performance (Windows, 'nuff said) and massive resource requirements (Windows, 'nuff said) that I switched. I imagine that many Linux users will be the same. Yes you often get the "its your fault" and "rftm" answers on linux groups. Often not without cause: Im amazed how often the same question will be asked, or a complete novice will ask an obviously un-informed question like "how do I run my Windows programs under Linux". Hell, Ive asked some real clunkers too. I dont take the (sometimes rudes) replies to heart though. Just wipe away the tears and start learning.