What !!!???

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What !!!???
by Bob on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @08:21

What the heck is a dying Windows Platform? Is it my XP which is the only OS that performs as it should and is stable. Linux is intrinsically unstable and Vista appeared slow to me (so I've dumped it). I do use Linux whenever I want to waste some time - it is not entirely good and not entirely bad, but it simply won't beat XP because XP just runs and Linux might run if tweaked sufficiently. Before you guys are getting a heart attck - I am talking about laptops here. Except for Lenovos and a few other models you won't be able to deny that Linux is having a hard time to cope with my favorite travel companions.

Now to KDE: I have mainly used KDE, Gnome and XFCE - and there is no obvious reason why I should prefer either of them. Same applies to Windows - if you slow down my XP I could even live with Vista.

As a result: no, I do not think that KDE can save a dying Windows platform (whatever this might be). If those guys joined forces and created something like a KnomeFCE (combined advantages of course), you could try to ask me again.

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Re: What !!!???
by starbase218 on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @10:35

I've often wondered what it would be like if we had one Linux DE instead of at least three. But apart from the technical differences between KDE/Qt and GNOME/XFCE/Gtk, I think that people in the community do what they do because no-one forces them in such a direction. It's mostly a spontaneous development, led by peoples' individual choices. And that's both a strength and a weakness. About five years ago, I thought that eventually one DE would come out on top. Today I tend to think it doesn't work that way, and I don't think there will be a standard free desktop environment on Linux for at least the next five years.

BTW: Am I entering a danger zone here? Let's post entirely on-topic:

Don't get me wrong, I am pro-free software, pro-Linux and pro-KDE. But I do realize that in the end, it's not about the tools, it's about getting things done. I don't know if KDE on Windows is a good or a bad thing. But well, if it makes developers happy, I'm all for it. Happy developers are more creative, and I and many others get to enjoy the fruits of that :).

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Re: What !!!???
by Paul Eggleton on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @11:57

> intrinsically unstable

No, it isn't.

> I am talking about laptops here

FWIW, I just spent a week running Linux with KDE 3 (Kubuntu 7.10) on my laptop with no trouble, including many, many suspend/resume cycles, wifi usage, etc. For the record, my laptop is a Toshiba. Just because you have had issues doesn't mean the majority of others do as well.

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Re: What !!!???
by Bob on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @15:22

Good for you if K7.10 is working on your hardware. Unfortunately, most forums prove that you belong to an exclusive minority. I know that there are some Toshibas which work but others don't. I had the chance to check out certain models from Sony, Acer, HP, FSC and Compaq. All of them had (Linux) issues: mostly suspend/resume, sometimes wireless. I vaguely remember warnings about a certain HP desktop series which would not allow Linux to be installed. HP customer service reportedly had no clue.

But we all know or heard about these problems already, just some of us won't admit that too easily ;-)

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Re: What !!!???
by Paul Eggleton on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @16:18

I never said there weren't problems. I do however object to broad generalisations such as the ones you made since I do not believe them to be generally correct.

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Re: What !!!???
by John C. on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @15:30

In my experience, you don't really appreciate how good Windows really is and how hard it is to make a global consumer OS until you try one of these so called "easy" desktop-oriented Linux distributions.

Linux is an OK system for servers. On desktops, it plain sucks. Yes, it is unstable, it's slower than Windows, it lacks quality apps, and hardware support is a pain.

But I guess Windows is a dying platform... in an alternate reality.

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Re: What !!!???
by Paul Eggleton on Monday 04/Feb/2008, @16:22

The statement that Windows is a "dying platform" is pretty absurd, I agree.

Other than that, would you care to provide some basis for your assertions?

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Re: What !!!???
by John C. on Tuesday 05/Feb/2008, @00:15

I don't think I have to provide hard proof about lack of hardware and ISV's support. Also, the few third party drivers and applications that exist, are ridicuously hard to install. As for the rest, as I said, that is just my experience with both systems. Since XP was out, I've never experienced a Windows crash and Vista is equally rock-solid. On the other hand, I've had quite a few with Linux. As for the desktop experience, I've never seen a Linux desktop quite as responsive as Windows is (and Vista on good hardware is no exception, by the way).

Linux has the upper hand when it comes to desktop features though: window management and built-in virtual desktops are far better in KDE. But that's about it.

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Re: What !!!???
by Amara Emerson on Wednesday 06/Feb/2008, @03:01

I would disagree with that. I use Linux and Windows daily. I prefer Linux but to do my work in development I have to use XP Pro on my laptop. No matter what I do, after a few hours of uptime on my laptop the process "System" begins to use 100% CPU, heats the laptop to death and causes it to almost lock up.

On the other hand, running large BT downloads can be done on Linux for days, even weeks at a time with no need for a reboot. The system is just as fast and responsive after all that time. It just seems for me, that with the poor memory management of Windows in comparison with Linux (why windows needs to use 250mb of swap when theres over 200mb RAM free I don't know) the desktop is generally more responsive than Windows.

I can't dump Windows yet, and I will admit that on my hardware battery life is better with XP, but if I had a choice I would work soley in Linux.

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Re: What !!!???
by Richard on Tuesday 05/Feb/2008, @17:01

I personally found the article arrogant. Windows platform dieing, ah, no it's not. So now we don't just have kde users bashing gnome, they now want to bash windows. Boring and retard author of the article needs to get his facts straight before he day drams and shows the lack of his intelligence.

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Re: What !!!???
by Max on Wednesday 06/Feb/2008, @10:59

Did you read the whole article?

-He wasn't bashing on Windows. The headline was just an attention grabber.

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Re: What !!!???
by Anonymous Coward on Saturday 09/Feb/2008, @20:31

> Linux is intrinsically unstable
May be you are referring to the bugs in the desktop environments or bugs introduced unwittingly by your distribution. Mind you, Linux (Linux kernel) is far more stable than windows (Windows kernel). If it appears unstable to you, then you must realize that it's because of applications which you believe to be part of Linux.

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