Re: [Plug] Philly Inquirer

[elek <elek@sonn.com>]

On Fri, 30 Jul 1999, Andrew Bradley wrote:

> An article about PLUG and Linux was in the Philadelphia Inquirer's 
> tech.life@inquirer section on Thursday, July 29, 1999.   It is quite the 
> article.  Kudos

I thought the article itself was excellent.  However, I was not too crazy
about at least one paragraph and one quote (which I felt gave the wrong
impression of Linux based on only one person's limited experiences).  It
sort of "taints" the article. I know he specifically says these were the
Linux destop systems that HE has used...but I can't possibly fathom why a
quote based on such obviously limited desktop experience was included in
this article.  It just kind of stands out:

The Linux desktop systems I've used have not been terribly stable," Reddi
said. "Microsoft is going to retain its hold on the desktop for the
foreseeable future. Their products work, and they're easy to use."

I also didn't like the standard fud paragraph thrown in:

Linux is also held back by a dearth of software packages people have come
to expect on a desktop PC. There are a few games available for Linux, and
Corel has put its Wordperfect Suite on it, but you can't get Microsoft
Word or Office on it, or many other standard PC programs.

First of all, it's not QUITE true and secondly -- you would think that
people would find a new way to say this.  I swear most of the articles
that contain the passage use nearly the same wording :P

I also hate when people use the phrase "standard PC programs"...
What the heck are standard PC programs?  Microsoft programs?  Buggy
programs?  Programs companies charge a ton of money for?  All of the
above?  What makes a program "standard?"  Is he referring to the "packages
people have come to expect on a desktop PC?"  Which people?

Linux has flaws - sure - but I wish people would spend some more time
researching and writing about real flaws rather than printing fud and
quotes that came out of ignorance.

The rest of the article was great.

-elek



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