This weeks notes were more technical in nature. Although I have a bit of experience with all three of the operating systems that we read about, I had never really read about the differences of each. It is interesting to note how each operating system works, not just on a technical level, but on a social level as well.
I have to agree with the Linux manual that it is the least user friendly in its command line form. I've installed a few different versions of Linux (Fedora and Ubuntu). These are a lot more friendly in terms of GUI, they are actually a lot like Windows.
Because I like to tinker with my gadgets, I think that Linux is more suited for my needs. The Linux manual points out that a 'con' facing an open source platform is that there is little in the way of technical support. To me, this is actually one of the biggest 'pros' for Linux. I love that there is such a huge community of users out there that are willing to help one another any time there is a problem. For the other operating systems like Windows or OSX, while it is possible to find help online, it is expected that you call some type of corporate helpline to sort you out. While they may be able to fix your problem quickly, for some people, it is better that they actually learn the steps to a solution themselves so that they can go back and fix it again if something breaks again.
I love the point about the experience of troubleshooting with Linux versus troubleshooting with Microsoft! This is, I think, an increasingly significant way that the open source technologies will gain users who are disillusioned with the experience of being at the mercy of corporate giants. The open source movement embodies the idea of cooperation rather than competition.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I do think there is one thing I would like to add to your overall view of the Linux/Windows/OS X support idea. As you mentioned, if you suffer a problem with the latter two, you often have to hope someone else has the same problem if you wish to see a solution, or you need to turn to the providers to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWhich is where one of my favourite concepts from Linux comes to the fore. Due to the OS being open source, "reporting" a problem does more than just give you a solution; it informs just about every programmer who frequents that board or uses the OS of the issue. Not only will you be given your fix (and a few suggestions on how to program things on your own), but someone is bound to rewrite the code into something a little more user-friendly. How else do you think Ubuntu in all of its forms came to be?
While I use Windows as my primary OS, I still love tossing Kubuntu out there just to tinker with, and if it weren't for the lack of Android-based tablets, I would be using one of those as well. Just thought I'd toss that out there and see where things go,