On 13/02/13 16:31, Ally Biggs wrote:
> Do you guys ever think there will be a day that Linux will be as popular as Windows in the desktop market.
>
> Personally I can't see this happening anytime soon. This isn't a personal attack on Linux just want to get some thoughts and inspiration.
>
> I use both Windows and Linux have a strong interest in both but currently am having a tug of war with my thought patterns career wise. The majority of my thoughts are saying focus on learning Linux starting with Linux+ with the eventual aim of going for the RHCSE. The other half is saying go down the Microsoft route taking a client exam and going for the server 2012 admin certs.
>
> Has anyone been in a similar situation?
> I would say that I enjoy Linux more the whole Open source ethos, I actually feel like I am learning when using the cli as opposed to clicking my way through the GUI in Windows.
>
> Making the transition from Windows to Linux was challenging initially I probably will continue to learn Linux (Redhat, Debian) for server related tasks and use Win 7 for client tasks.
>
> The thing which bothers me though about Linux ok it's free and if you have the skills you can do great things but why isn't it being adopted more for everyday use. Also why don't the developers standardise a distribution for the home user i.e same package manager and packages.
>
> The problem with desktop Linux I think is when the shit hits the fan and something needs to be configured or a driver needs to be added your average user isn't going to want to sit typing commands in a terminal or spending hours finding the solution into a community.
>
> The other problem I found is the community alot of people expect you to be some kind of command line genius who is capable of reciting the whole encyclopaedia of man pages. So when you ask for help or guidance you often get a dismissive response.
>
> Documentation is horrendous aswell especially if you are making the transition from Windows. Pick up a starting to learn Linux book and a couple of pages in you end up with the worlds worst headache.
>
> So how did you guys learn Linux?
> Has anyone else made the transition from Windows? Or what are the key areas to focus on to develop a good foundation. Need some inspiration if I go down the Linux route would I be missing out on much? Please help me resolve the tug of war it is driving me mad :)
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
Yes indeed. I chose hardware specialization, reasoning that all kinds
of software is developed, to run on hardware, which is primary, and
relatively easily replaceable, eg. if your OS of choice, won't wear a
particular graphics card, or the fixed disc is too small .. So a
hardware specialist basically builds & rebuilds, until they find a good
mix, and matches the software to that. It's the hobbyist's approach,
originating in garages and sheds
Linux is growing - but this is not helped -- rather, hindered, on the
one hand, by egotistical showoff-exclusivity, and on the other hand, by
the lack of community-minded publicists, prepared to give their
precious, irreplaceable time & effort to helping Win-addicts kick their
habit, for a far smoother, faster, more device-friendly Linux OS, which
doesn't burn out the hardware.
The community of Linux users need to move beyond cleverness, and
obsession with technicity, back to a humane concern and fellow-feeling
for the as-yet ignorant ..
We were all there once. But dependency is crippling. So we climbed out
of that pit ....
Last week a massive nationwide hacking campaign erupted. The only
platform seriously affected, was the M$ WinDoze one. Linux installs
seem, so far, relatively unaffected.
Whether this is because journalling filesystems are less well-known to
the hacktivistes, is not yet clear. But the message is: the OS of the
millions, is grossly insecure. Routers notwithstanding ! Files
vanished from drives. Enormous clusters of unmoveable files had
appeared, and were detected. An IDS is now essential, if a Win system
is connected to the net. And that will slow everything to a crawl ..
Everyone I know, is in process of being warned to ditch their Win
installs, & repair immediately to Linux. ( Free help is gradually being
provided )
It is unclear whether the corporates have grasped this. Having been
asked, government doesn't seem to know who is responsible.
Investigations are currently under way. The findings may well be kept
under wraps.
SysAdmins have difficult choices facing them. Do they continue
supporting what are effectively, legacy ( inherently-insecure ) OSS,
acquired in cheap deals, or do they advocate more secure systems,
hardening them with encryptions, and all the other paraphernalia of
statutory Paranoia Inc. ?
About a decade ago, CRYPTOME posted details of several of the NSA hacker
holes in the Win registry. None of this ever seemed to affect corporate
policies of slavish adherence to M$ Win. One is tempted to think that
corporates WANT their homebases to be insecure, readily-hackable,
besotted with needless problems ..
None of which makes a SysAdmin's life any easier. Unless they can
persuade dummy management to adopt a move to a disposable outer-envelope
system, running a VM, which protects an inner OS, used to internet away,
for downloads, onto a flash drive. VIRTUALIZATION is a magic solution
for servers - why not on clients too ? For e-mail, there are
CD/DVD-based OSS eg. TAILS, TOR, & TIN HAT, using anonymized services,
eg. RiseUp. But THAT would mean doing the job properly .. And do you
also encrypt outgoing/incoming with a VPN, on the intranet, between your
server & client ? Everything gets progressively more complex, in the
quest for security ..
If corporates were serious about security, they would be allowing their
SysAdmins to adopt procedures such as the above. The poor old SysAdmin
is the only one canny enough to have researched such strategies, and
naive enough to advocate them, to the ignorami constituting management.
But those are in the hands of the money crowd, who stifle all
innovation, unless it is of a share price and market share kind.
People only respond to disaster. And it is being visited on them.
Hackers leave calling-cards, which destroy the integrity of systems,
behind. /Sauve qui peut/ .. It is the canny SysAdmin, who as ever,
lives the example, for the mass of users who want not to have
unnecessary problems, and put themselves to begin to take appropriate
steps. The next step beyond that, is to help one's circle of friends,
out of their pits. And so on .. ad infinitum
There simply aren't enough people helping one another in the Linux
community. This fragments it, into a constellated scattering of null
points .. all redirecting their endeavours to an imaginary ideal state,
which hasn't arrived - and may never manage to do so. Meanwhile, the
needs of persons are overlooked
Pour le reste, there is always trouble, expense, and the inevitable
infection with Trojan Horses, etc., etc., ..
Happy computing ( ironic ! ),
Les
--
" The power of this life, if men will open their hearts to it, will heal
them, will create them anew, physically and spiritually. Here is the
gospel of earth, ringing with hope, like May mornings with bird-song,
fresh and healthy as fields of young grain. But those who would be
healed must absorb it not only into their bodies in daily food and
warmth but into their minds, because its spiritual power is more
intense. It is not reasonable to suppose that an essence so divine and
mysterious as life can be confined to material things; therefore, if our
bodies need to be in touch with it so do our minds. The joy of a spring
day revives a man's spirit, reacting healthily on the bone and the
blood, just as the wholesome juices of plants cleanse the body, reacting
on the mind. Let us join in the abundant sacrament--for our bodies the
crushed gold of harvest and ripe vine-clusters, for our souls the purple
fruit of evening with its innumerable seed of stars ". Vis Medicatrix
Naturae, by Mary Webb, in Spring of Joy: Nature Essays, Constable,
London, 1917 "
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