Re: The joy of Linux

On 11/4/24 5:13 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 13:19:25 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
 

But one has to ask what in fact a desktop OS is for these days.

 The “desktop” OS originated back in the day when people couldn’t afford
“workstations”. Look at the Unix-based systems of the time (particularly
the RISC-based ones), and you see machines that did interactive “desktop”
stuff, with the added advantage of multitasking, but more than that, they
also offered “server”-style functionality in the same package.
 That, in essence, was a “workstation”. Microsoft killed it off in favour
of a model where the server-style functionality is carefully crippled in
the “desktop” OS, so if you want that, you have to pay extra bucks (a lot
of extra bucks) for a “server” OS.
 Well, Microsoft killed off the “Unix workstation”. But today we have the
“Linux workstation” in its place, doing everything its predecessor could
do back then, and more.

   The "desktop OS" went WAY back - originally to Xerox,
   there was even a C-128 version (which was better than
   Win-1).
   I have a VM running Win-1.x - just AWFUL !!! Oddly, found
   a BYTE magazine with a review of Win-1 ... I'm saving that.
   GUIs are just easier to deal with for a LOT of little
   things, esp things non-experts may need. Yea, yea,
   the purists think editing endless obscure config files
   is all anyone would want and need. NOPE ! Ain't 1960
   anymore folks, no warehouse full of clattering iron.
   Sorry, but 99.9x percent of computer users are NOT
   "experts". They need stuff to be easy, intuitive,
   to WORK without trauma. Granny needs her e-mail
   without setting up a full mail server on her PC
   and writing a POP3 app.
   M$ and Apple made VAST fortunes and influence by
   replacing the 'unix workstation desktop' with
   stuff that's NICE.
   It's up to Linux/Unix to CATCH UP in this respect.
   Joe and Jane User should kinda NEVER have to think
   about the underlying system - just point-n-click
   tweaks in an aesthetic, helpful, GUI.
   Yes, there will always be some of us who find
   an SSH terminal adequate for most tasks - but
   we're the VERY few, we're not really a "market"
   or "following".
   So .. <bitch-slaps> .....
   Just sayin'