Fwd: [Contributors] Microsoft Windows Is Offically Broken

[Guy Fraser]

On Tue, 2005-27-09 at 06:28 +0200, Fajar Priyanto wrote:
> FYI...
> 
> http://www.smartofficenews.com.au/Computing/Platforms_And_Applications?articl
> e=/Computing/Platforms%20And%20Applications/News/E5T7U6H8&page=1
> 
> Is this a threat to Linux?
> 
As most others have said ; No.

Internal disputes are a far greater threat. I am not aware of any
significant disputes at the kernel level, but at the distribution 
level that is another story.

Hard nosed management and developer decisions not supported by the 
user base may be the downfall. I have been a huge supporter of 
Linux, and Red Hat since around 1995. Every release of RHL was a 
tremendous step forward until 8.0 since then there has been one 
disappointment after another, and I have seen little evidence that
things will get better. Even two years ago I would have never 
entertained the thought of using windows at home. This spring 
after many heated debates with RH developers about GRUB and LILO, 
I was still unable to get a stable SATA/IDE mixed machine to run 
stably. I decided to try XP Pro 2005 this spring and it has been 
working well. My old machine is now dual boot FC3 and XP Pro 
as well, and I am using the FC3 less and less. With all the 
serious problems installing and running FC4, I have not installed 
it but have been reserving hope that FC5 will be a Saving Grace.

Linux distributions need to get back to their roots if they 
want to survive. They will hang on lingering with support 
from only die hard fans, but like me after enough abuse they 
will start loose interest too. It will take innovation and 
listening to what the users expect and want, to re-invigorate 
the user base if Linux distributions are to survive.