Linux?

I really love linux, however....the multi-language input support can not compare to windows...there is no way to switch between more then 2 languages at a time. You would have to re-login as another user. In windows you can actively switch between English/Japanese/Chinese/etc. but in Linux only English/Something else...
Of course if someone has a solution I am all ears!
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Also, I can not really recommend any linux distro's but I will say that mandrake is just a rip-off of redhat.{As a side note, it is redhat that I have setup for dual boot atm}

i tried to instal Redhat on a box at work once.... i couldnt even get the mouse to work. so.... yeah.

Mandrake is abetter RedHat ;) Not that it matters, after a bit of use they begin to blur into one another.

I would have guessed that Linux is quite diffrent by now, the beast is always changeing.

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Originally posted by andyrose
I've been messing with Linux a little bit(this crazy guy at work got me to try it out), but I'll be damned if Windows XP Pro isn't the best operating system I've ever used.

I'd really like to hear a good reason why it sucks, if there is one. :)

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Sure, no problem:
01. Product Activation - no matter which why you slice it, this is unnecessary prying. It inconveniences the legal owners of the software and those who bought it. It's very very easy to get a pirated XP without PA enabled. Which means that the people who are turning over information on their PC, who are having to call Microsoft when they upgrade their PC, whatever, are those who have paid money for their OS. What a way to treat your customers! Do you think Apple or Mandrake or Redhat or Sun do this?

02. EULA - Microsoft does crap like changing the WMP EULA, giving them the right to disable other programs on your PC. It gives Microsoft the right to FUCK UP PARTS OF YOUR PC WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!

03. The Registry - Mac OSX doesnt have a registry. Unix doesnt have a registry. Why? Because it blows! The fact that there is one single file in your PC which controls whether it lives or dies is retarded. The fact that the file can be so easily corrupted is even more retarded. Nobody has no idea what the hell ever goes on in the registry because so many things can go on, so many things can go wrong, and so many things often do go wrong. We've gotten used to it because it's been around since Windows 95, but it's still very bad design and it's still junk.

For my job I had to write some code for a program to access the registry and use it for my company's program. I did it, and it was cool learning the Win32 API, but jeez I hated doing it.

04. Filename extensions - This is a hard one to explain, but basically it is that it is just nuts to control whatever program opens a file by some three character string tacked on to the end of a filename. This URL can give you an idea of just why it's so bad, and why other companies have come up with better solutions.

If you don't feel like reading that article, the big thing I can say is that viruses are spread using Outlook or whatever by being "grandma.jpg.vbs" or some other crap. Except most will only see "grandma.jpg" and think it's a picture.

05. Interface weirdness - why do we hit Start to shut down the PC? Yea, people have been talking about that sort of thing for the past seven years. But it's still not fixed!. Just because people got used to it doesn't mean it's good design!

06. Installation - when you install a program it installs all this shit all over your damn PC and you have no idea what the hell is going on. On the Mac all you do is drag a folder to the equivalent of your PROGRAM FILES folder. That folder is self-contained; you can drag it anywhere in the hard drive and all shortcuts, dependencies, etc., all still work just fine.

07. Passport - Holy fuck, I can't believe nobody's filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for this crap yet. Passport is amazingly insecure and full of security holes, yet MS gets away with even using it. I read somewhere that there was a security hole in Hotmail a while back that, as long as you entered the right username, you could select VIEW SOURCE in IE's menus and see, in plain text, the "Hint Question" and answer for passwords. Ahhhh!

Microsoft just got into trouble with the FCC because they claimed Passport was "more secure" than other similar tech, but all they got was a slap in the wrist. But, no doubt, they've been lying about it.

08. Annoyance - When you first installed Windows XP, do you remember Windows Messenger popping up out of nowhere constantly to beg you to sign up for a Passport account? Because I do. It's a little deal I suppose but it's horribly annoying because Microsoft is leveraging their power to pry more information from me.

09. Service Pack 1 - SP1 will let you "hide", but not "delete" IE, Windows Messenger, Outlook, etc. Damn.

10. Outlook/Express - the biggest piece of crap mail program I've ever seen. The amount of security holes in this program is just scary, and they keep coming out like nobody's business. And yea, since it's a Microsoft product on a Microsoft OS, you can't rid of it.

11. Windows Media Player - I suppose that the news about how WMP keeps track of what DVDs you watch and sends it to Microsoft makes Windows XP the best OS you've ever used? Come on. How can people even stand for crap like this? This is to speak nothing of WMP's DRM or EULA (read #2) or who knows what else.

Yea, okay, you say that you've gotten used to, or around, or learned to live with all of these things. For example, I dont use Outlook, I will Mozilla Mail. I dont sign up for Passport. Etc. But you know what? Just because we've had to learn to live with these things doesn't make it okay.

Just because we've learned to live with intrusions of privacy, giving Microsoft all these rights they don't deserve, dealing with going to Windowsupdate.com once a week to download the new security patches, doesn't make Windows XP good. It makes it a big piece of crap that we've all grown accustomed to, and learned to like.

Sort of like how I don't like going to class, I just do it because I've been conditioned to do it. We've just learned to like Windows XP. We like XP more than 95 or 98 or ME because it doesn't crash. But it still sucks. Big time. In fact, thanks to PA and the EULA and Passport and whatever other intrusions of privacy, you can make a case for it sucking more.

DiffX, thanks for the explanation. Just makes me enjoy using Windows a little less... *shifty eyes*

In other words, WinXP smacks Linux around like it's dizitch.

=D

Wow, such immature and ignorant words. They're two very different operating systems. This is not coke vs pepsi here. In some areas Windows is without a doubt the way to go, in other areas it's Linux (or a BSD or Solaris or HP-UX or Mac OSX or whatever...)

Windows does not fit my needs at all, Linux does. Isn't choice a good thing? Mmm yes, I think it is.

andyrose;

01. You send the information about your PC to Microsoft and it gets stored in a database. If you change the PC more than X number of times you have to call up MS and explain to them why you decided to change your PC and they give you permission to continue to use XP. Because, you know, Microsoft doesn't trust you - they think you're trying to install it on another box.

02. They haven't done it yet, but that's not the point. They are giving themselves the power to do it. Thats the point, thats the bad news. I don't want the FBI to ever have the power to just go into my house and search it without a warrant. If they get that power, I've already lost. Even if they never use it. Same sort of deal here.

03. The end product is just "good enough", exactly my point - but there ARE better solutions and it IS crap and the fact that it is "good enough" for most doesn't make it good!

As for your API point, Im not saying that the API is good bad or indifferent (it actually has some glaring architecture problems). All Im saying is that I have dug around it and messed around with it and the registry IS crap.

04. Weeee donnttttttt haave to deeallll wiiiithhhhh these problems! That's my point! We only deal with these problems because we let them. Because we say Microsoft's solutions to the problems are "good enough"!

05. If you say so. It's still crap. Like I said, something doesn't go from good to bad because people get used to it.

06. When you install a program, things get strewn about the registry, Windows folder, etc. Thats my point. You have no idea what is going on, and Custom Installation doesn't change a thing. Lets speak nothing of spyware and shit that gets thrown on your PC without you knowing (and you have to install another program to get rid of THAT).

07. Windows XP is the first consumer OS Microsoft designed to really facilitate .NET and Passport and other crap like that. It's Microsoft's attempt to get you to not care about Passport's security breaches and their EULA violations and all that.

08. Yea, crazy workarounds to Microsoft's builtin features. Why even bother dealing with that? And Im not calling you a liar, but I've installed XP three seperate times and got nagged three seperate times. PC World's review even mentioned the Passport nagging.

09. Not according to CNET.

10. Oh man... yea, Windows automatically goes online and updates and fixes their buggy crap for you. Great. Less control over your PC.... but seriously, just because Outlook hasn't fucked you over because of a security hole doesn't mean it won't! Lots of companies have lost a LOT of money and time and whatever because of Outlook security holes. I choose to act pre-emptively.

You do seem to acknowledge the validity of all the points I brought up, you just listed ways to tolerate it or get around it. Which is the point Im trying to make.

Anyway, the point is not to convince you that Windows sucks on the basis of my post only. You asked for a good reason and I gave 11. I can come up with more (ever try to write Perl CGI Scripts with Windows? It blows because it doesn't recognize the #! notation and because it just acts like a fishoutofwater. Just like Apache for that matter), but that's not the point).

The point is that, well, people just live with this stuff. Outlook has a ton of security problems? Just turn AutoUpdate On and set up a firewall and antivirus. Windows Media Player sends info on DVDs you watch to Microsoft? Oh well, its just Microsoft! There's one single file in the entire Windows operating system which controls whether your PC lives or dies? Oh well, just reinstall if anything goes wrong! Just spend hours fixing a problem that wouldn't be there if somebody at Microsoft did it right the first time. Thats my point, really! Things don't have to be this weird, or this shitty, or this bug-prone, or this insecure, or this anything. It's because we let this happen. There's really no excuse for any of the stuff that is part and parcel of the Windows experience. It just is because people let Microsoft do it.

Knowledge is power, so I urge you to read Slashdot and some pro-Mac sites. They may be on the other side, but you may find out what I did when I started reading them - they make sense. They aren't just talking out their ass. A lot of complaints people have with Microsoft are legitimate and well thought out. When the best most "pro"-MS people can come up with are "Well just run a firewall" or "we just get used to it...".

Yea there are some anti-MS nutcases out there. But that's to be expected because people are very passionate about it. But most aren't. The fact that a lot of anti-MS people are in fact those with an extensive background in computers should mean something (like, they know what they are talking about).

Have you read up on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center? On how restricting the DRMs are? Have you read up on Palladium? Please do. Because after I did I realized I want no part in Microsoft's grand scheme anymore, no matter how "good" XP is on the outside (even though it blows chunks on the inside, for yes, all the reasons I listed above). But if you don't agree... hey, it's your PC. It's all good.

Linux has fewer security holes, i think, because there are FAR fewer people trying to find holes in it. Privacy doesn't exist, but there are very VERY good (although long and roundabout) ways of batering the hatches so to speak. I'll tip you guys off to it tomarrow or so... It's time I get some sleep.

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Originally posted by TracerBullet
Linux has fewer security holes, i think, because there are FAR fewer people trying to find holes in it.

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That's absolutely untrue. Linux has fewer security holes because it's a better designed system. Period. Linux's sourcecode is there for anyone to look at, I've got it on my computer right now. Buffer overflows would immediately be spotted, and any other potential security exploits could also easily be found.

Window's code is locked up, only the priviledged at MS can see it. Yet far more exploits are found. With such an uneven advantage of no source code being available, how can that be so? Just imagine the havoc if Window's source was leaked.

Just compare your typical Unix filesystem to an MS filesystem. The former stops viruses dead in their tracks by smart design. The latter lets them run amuck, do whatever they want. Viruses are a threat in Windows because it's so easy to make them a threat.

Or just compare Apache to IIS. Apache is consistently found to be a very secure webserver, IIS is an embarrasment. Surely you've heard of Nimba and Code Red? That's just the tip of the iceberg for IIS, I'm afraid.

I think Linus Torvalds said it best "Microsoft isn't evil. They just make really crappy operating systems."