Tue 31 Aug 2004
Stephen O’Grady ‘97 has switched to a Linux desktop. Let’s make sure that WSO briefs all the new first years about this.
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Tue 31 Aug 2004
Stephen O’Grady ‘97 has switched to a Linux desktop. Let’s make sure that WSO briefs all the new first years about this.
September 1st, 2004 at 11:56 am
Indeed a Linux desktop is a lovely thing. I’ve run with dual-boot XP/Linux for some time. It’s fairly easy to configure a system to run both desktops, and allow a choice when you boot the machine. File storage can also be shared. For example, a 100 gigabyte hard drive might be partitioned as 20 gig Linux/20 gig XP/ 60 gig shared file storage.
Of course, I’m sure many of our technically sophisticated Ephs have tried the dual-boot option, but I can testify it’s quite effective. Gives you more flexibility, if you want to indulge an occasional craving for XP-only statistical analysis package (none of us would play games, I’m sure ;)
Personally, I remember the good old days when Mac OS was recommended at Williams, and I bought a Mac IIci on a 4-year payment plan. Would you believe, I sold the thing for $2k as a senior — computers actually had resale value back in 1992!
Lee Altman, Williams ‘93
September 1st, 2004 at 12:09 pm
I have run Linux since 1996 in various forms and generally speaking as a desktop I personally think it sucks.
Don’t get me wrong, I use it for distributed systems and it is great. And clearly it has its place in the server world (although I personally prefer FreeBSD for a variety of reasons).
Linux is also fantastic if you want a workstation for a programming environment - great stuff.
But when I think “desktop” I think of “mass usage” meaning that people install it and do their regular work on it. Day in and day out, they just want it to work.
I know Linux has come a long long way from back when I first started using it - but the only people I can see not being turned off by it are people totally new to computers (so they know nothing else to compare it to), or the people that are sufficiently nerdy (in a good way) to appreciate what it does.
Everyone else though just want eye candy and ease of use. I think even myself included these days.
I personally prefer Mac OS X - still get the Unix in the background, but it has that lickable screen too.
I generally hate Windows universally, but have to use it in business workplaces due to its far reaching spread and grip.
But in the end, it is all opinion and much like saying someone else’s favorite team/religion/band sucks, saying something even remotely perceived as negative about an OS on the net is a risky endeavor - so I suppose I should put my flame retardant underwear on now.
And maybe some pants.
September 1st, 2004 at 12:41 pm
I think your analysis is spot-on, Eric. Personally, I find myself using Windows XP for most daily tasks, and occasionally switching to Linux for development purposes.
With that said, I think some of the newer Linux desktop packages are nice. I’ve found SUSE Linux to be an elegant package, with fast and easy installation. I could picture a casual user enjoying SUSE Linux, if they stick to word processing/web browsing/e-mail/music listening…
Then again, that same casual user would find a much prettier desktop with Mac OS X, with better software choices, and they would have a similar level of security.