01 Oct 99 14:14, Sean Dennis wrote to Coridon Henshaw:

 SD> What I'm saying is this: some of us will go running to the next 
 SD> latest and greatest thing.  If it works for me, I'll stick with it.

That's why I've still got OS/2 installed alongside Linux. It runs like
greased lightening, and does what I want. (read: What Linux can't as of
yet. Namely toss echomail. But that's a problem with either the tosser,
or the user :> ).

 SD> Something I read about Linux: "Linux is free only if your time isn't 
 SD> valuable." I feel that an OS should not have to be hand-assembled to 
 SD> work to get the basics going.

It doesn't need to be. It just doesn't make all your important
descisions for you. Windoze would have to be, IMHO, the worst (PC based)
OS for making descisions, with OS/2 running somewhere in the middle
(atleast I can easily change most things) and Linux is the absolute best
- whereas it can't do a single thing without my say so.

Most current Linux distributions come able to install from a GUI, to a
default GUI interface, with a (nearly)latest browser, word processor
(Office suite), graphics applications, dozens of games, hundreds of
utilities, plus a full suite of Internet servers.

SuSE 6.2, for example, comes in two versions. A one CD version with
everything you'll need to run a set of servers (or even an ISP) on most
any hardware configuration, or a 6 CD set with all the aforementioned
features plus several hundred misc. applications and games.

The people that claim that you have to be a C programmer to run Linux
are merely FUD throwers. I can barely read a line of C code, and I'm
quite happy with Linux. (To the point where I actually ANSWER questions
in the newsgroups, rather than simply ASKING them :> ).

 SD> IMNSHO,

Sorry, in this case, this isn't an opinion.

 SD> Linux is a craze amongst a small number of people.

Linux is run by millions of people worldwide. Businesses mainly, but
there are 100's of 1000's of home users flocking to Linux.

There's a site out there called "Linux Counter" which has at the very
minimum 130,157 people registered (that's my Linux User Number). I
signed up several months ago, so that number has most likely risen. I'm
also not sure how long the site has been up, but I've only ever seen it
mentioned once.

Using the 5% rule (and basing solely on that number), you'd arrive at
2,603,140 home Linux users. (English speaking, because the page doesn't
offer any other languages).

There was another Linux related site that posted figures (which were
rather large to begin with) and arrived at a multiple of 10 million when
applying the 5% rule.

Countless businesses and ISPs (especially) run Linux because they don't
have to hire full-time techs to babysit their machines.

 SD> I don't see all the developers running to Linux for mission-critical
 SD> applications.

What do you consider mission-critical? Games? Well, not a good example,
they exist for Linux also. ;>

Name me an application (and its function) and I'll find you a Linux
equivalent. More than likely with the source code included, so that if
you WANTED to, you could tweak it for your own personnal needs.

 SD> Besides, all of those computers you mentioned are based on old chips. 
 SD> OS/2 is based on the x86 set... as long as there's a x86 system 
 SD> around, it'll run OS/2.

If IBM releases the source code, OS/2 could be independantly ported to
other platforms as the need arose.

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