On 2013-02-13 11:31, 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.
Yes, but you may not recognise it.
>
> 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.
Watch the trend to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to work. Smart Phones
are the thin end of the wedge in this respect. This might be more
advanced in the USA than Europe, but it is trending up.
>
> 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.
I did a MS cert for NT4.0 and some mail-messaging-document editing
Windows system a long time ago. At that time, 96-97 I had more than 10
years experience on Unix of various flavours. I started on Unix before
x-windows was released and suffered most of the MS-Dos versions from 3.x
onward and Windows 2.0 onwards. I judged the NT Admin course to be
trivial compared to my experience on Unix. All point and click with no
understanding of what was going on behind the screen. YMMV
It depends on you career intentions. You need RHCSE if your are going
to admin RedHat servers that require certificated administrators. There
is/was someone in the Hants LUG that has his RH cert. You should talk
to him regard this and the need.
I don't have any certs, but it hasn't stopped me from admin many
different servers-desktops or doing development.
>
> 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.
I had Windows on my desktop until XP. Then Fedora->SuSE->Ubuntu->Mint.
I once re-booted an old laptop back into XP to run U3-Uninistall, the
only way to get U3 of a thumbdrive I had bought. I've been back to
Windows except for a short contract with NEC. They required MS-Office
Documents and timesheets on some naff IE only service.
Learn computing and you can change OS's without much grief.
Consider this. The ***only*** thing I have ever learned that I've been
able to use throughout my mis-spent career was touch typing. Most, but
not all of my CLI Unix experience still works and than covers V7-SysIII
c. 1983 Unix. Compare that with Dos3.1.2.3->4.0-6.x +
Win2.0->Win3.0->Win for Workgroups->95->98->2000->XP where I stopped but
you could have been stuck with Vista->win7->win8 not mention all the
server versions. All that point and click doesn't work or carry across
all the MS world, and the same is true for MS's programming
environments. Expect to retrain-upgrade every 2-3 years. It's how MS
makes money.
>
> 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.
Reasonable choice IMOSHO, but you MUST add Win8. It's the latest
greatest. Oh yes, and Surface-RT. Surface is different from the
desktop and RT Office is not Desktop Office.
>
> 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.
Watch Chromebooks. Acer-Samsung and now Lenovo and HP. It a trending
line. Very early days. Look at the S/w. You can get 97% of the
experience and 99% of the s/w as opensource via Chromium, but for
ChromeOS you have to be an OEM and the firmware is tightly integrated
into the Chromebook experience. As an end-user you never see the
package manager or the packages. I'm waiting for a large, Fortune 500,
to trial Chromebooks. Chairs have been, and will continue to be thrown
in Redmond.
Here is a wild, totally off the wall thought. A real problem for
Microsoft, is not that ChromeBooks will take over the desktop - but
rather that the needs of the desktop will morph into something that is
more suited to a ChromeBook (or something running Linux like a
convertible tablet)
>
> 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.
As pointed out elsewhere, this type of problem is particular to Linux.
Personal experience trying to 'fix' my GF's Win7. Problems are more
difficult to fix on MS platforms. It's almost impossible to find the
root of the problem. 'Solutions' are mostly workarounds. YMMV
>
> 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.
I being an encyclopedia of commands bothers you, I would advise against
RH exams.
>
> 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 :)
All the people at ICL left for other jobs and it was me an a another
and two Unix boxes and a pile of manuals and a copy of K&R. By the time
Unix was back in favor at ICL 18 months later, SYS V was available on
Intel, I could program in C, and shell scrips, and understood the basics
of sys admin.
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