[Tfug] Linux is NOT Windows

Rich Smit rfs_lists at mac.com
Wed Dec 20 13:02:31 MST 2006


Angus Scott-Fleming wrote:
> Interesting take on this ... paragraphs are from near the end of the article:

I agree mostly with the part you posted and other areas, but it could 
use some editing:

1. The Firefox/IE analogy is incorrect: Firefox achieved its current 
market share initially by its association with the "Netscape" word, and 
later on by not being the people of Troy saying "A horse! Awesome!"

3. "They don't owe you anything" is just another way of saying "I'd 
demand a refund if I were you". They both mean "Go away".
3b. Saying "Everybody knows this" is just another way of saying 
"Everybody ought to know this", only *more* elitist!

5b. He talks about MS Word being inefficient whilst ignoring Open Office 
Writer.

6. In denying that X copied Microsoft, he implies Microsoft copied X to 
produce Windows. And people who don't know about evolution shouldn't 
talk about evolution -- "sharks evolved from fish", excuse me?! The 
whole "convergent evolution" analogy is complete junk, because of 
*course* there's been design influence on both sides.

Aside from that, the whole article is too wordy and doesn't offer any 
help other than a few soothing words marked "solutions".

I suspect most readers fall into three groups:
a) people who know nothing about OSs and call them "programs" and have 
been referred here by c)
b) people who're thinking about switching to Linux
c) people who were asked for help from b) or a)

And on reading this article, a) and b) are probably only going to learn 
one thing: that they can only ask c) for support! Not what c) wants...

Maybe with help from a few tfuggers and a wiki, we could come up with a 
stronger, more concise piece. The solutions could be replaced with real 
solutions, like exercises to testdrive the portable Firefox and see how 
it's different from IE; and links to some beginners' help forums.

R.




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