Linux and OS/X on the [desk|lap]top [was Re: Database Connectivity]

[Cliff Wells]

On Tue, 2004-10-12 at 09:59 +0200, Alex Martelli wrote:
> Cliff Wells <clifford.wells at comcast.net> wrote: 
> > Reasonable attitude.  Despite being a Linux afficianado, I still
> > recommend Windows for most user's desktops, simply because there isn't
> 
> Mac OS X is actually quite superior, though I found out less than a year
> ago, and "by accident" -- just because I bought an iBook 12", as the
> truly-portable laptop with the best price/performance ratio, intending
> to install Linux on it, then discovered that Darwin/OSX is better.

Yes, but there is still a learning curve for the average Windows user.
It's even more different from Windows than Linux appears to be (to the
end user).  I borrowed an iMac from a friend for a few weeks and I had
to read the help to figure out how to shut the thing down (I didn't
realize the Apple logo was a menu, heh).  Overall, I didn't think the
design was bad, and in fact I like the unusual placement of application
menus across the top of the screen as it saves a bit of screen clutter
(and the GUI is gorgeous).   Nevertheless, the experience was admittedly
something less than the plethora of intuitiveness I'd always heard
about.  Clearly much of my confusion was the direct result of having to
unlearn previous expectations, but unless someone has never used a PC
before, they are going to be stuck with preconceptions based on prior
desktops.  This isn't a criticism of Mac so much as an observation about
all desktops.  They are as intuitive insomuch as they are familiar with
what you already know.  As an example, my ex-girlfriend's first PC was a
Linux laptop that I installed for her.  She quickly came up to speed on
it and now struggles with Windows ;)  Is it because GNOME is so much
more intuitive than Windows?  Well, I like to think so <wink>, but the
reality is more likely simply learned behavior. 

I use Linux as my primary desktop (on both a PC and a laptop) and find
it to be superior to Windows for most things and equivalent on most
others.  The biggest shortcoming has always been lack of easy
installation of third-party apps (and of course this can be blamed on
the third-party vendors not supporting Linux as much as on Linux
itself).  

In short, if someone is a Windows user, I'm probably going to recommend
Windows (at least for the near term).  Why?  Because computing for the
average user is simply about getting their job done or passing their
time in the most comfortable way, not about pushing my favorite
technology down people's throats (and I've learned the hard way that I
simply don't have time to support all my friends and families while they
learn the non-Windows world).  If someone is new to computers (and this
is getting rarer, although not as rare as one might expect), or is
simply fed up with Windows, then I'd certainly recommend OS/X, followed
by Linux (or the reverse, depending on their budget).

> These days, for most users' desktops, I recommend a Mac (there are of
> course some exceptions, e.g. if they absolutely need a specific
> application that just doesn't run there) -- though Linux on the desktop
> is generally quite usable these days (_laptops_ are another story... Mac
> is really the only way to go;-).

I don't know, my Sony Vaio, while not *quite* as sleek as a Mac, isn't
too bad ;)  Then again, it spends most of its life in my bedroom playing
music, so perhaps I'm not experiencing the mobile life enough to see the
difference.

> > enough payoff to justify the learning curve for most people were they to
> > switch.  Linux has major advantages over Windows in many areas, but the
> > desktop currently isn't one of them.
> 
> It's getting there (though laptops are farther behind).

Actually Linux now has one single feature that makes using a laptop with
it far more pleasurable (from my experience) than any other laptop I've
tried: it's possible to setup the Synaptics touchpad (and Alps too,
although it's more difficult) to have vertical and horizontal scroll
areas (much like a scroll-wheel on a mouse, but in both directions).  I
know this sounds like a fairly nondescript feature, but once you've
become accustomed to it (and it takes all of 5 minutes to become
accustomed to), it's difficult to live without (much like moving from my
three-button scroll-wheel mouse to a single button Mac mouse drives me
batty).  I've always found laptops to be somewhat obnoxious due to the
small keyboards (and odd key placement) and lack of a decent pointing
device, but this one feature actually goes a long way towards addressing
the second issue.  It was enough to prompt me to remove my USB mouse
from my laptop for good.

Regards,
Cliff

-- 
Cliff Wells <clifford.wells at comcast.net>