[hendersj]

On Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:46:02 +0000, ahmedelsayed wrote:

> Hi all,
> this is my first post in openSUSE forums and I'm kinda new to openSUSE.

Welcome to the forums. :-)

> #1- Windows is easier to control and use, so why do I need to learn a
> new OS, which is not as easy?

If Windows is easier for you to use, then you should consider using
Windows. I'm not being snarky here, honestly. Learning a new OS isn't
easy. Learning Windows when you come from a UNIX background isn't easy.
Life isn't guaranteed to be easy.

> #2- Colors on windows are better, fonts too.

Colours are the same on Linux as on Windows - the monitor outputs RGB
values the same way regardless of the OS. So does the video card. Those
pieces of hardware don't know/don't care what the OS is on the system,
they do what they're told to do by the drivers.

As for fonts, I have no problems with the fonts - there are some tweaks
you can put in place (for example if you use LCD displays, which I do) to
enable subpixel sampling and better antialiasing.

> #3- Touchpads sucks on
> linux, I have to tap at least twice. I really don't know if this is a
> common issue or it's just me, or maybe the touchpad's driver needs
> updating. Anyway, I believe it's not a problem with my touchpad itself
> as it works perfectly on windows.

I use a very old ALPS Glidepoint touchpad on my main system and the
integrated touchpad on my Dell laptop (provided by work) as well as on a
Thinkpad (also provided by work). On the Dell I do have some problems
with tuning (circular scrolling, for example, is awful, but when I have
tried to turn it off, gsynaptics dies - I know it was fixed in 11.1 but I
need 11.0 for a few pieces of software.)

> #4- Linux is crashy, windows is not,
> or at least not as crashy as linux

I have to really work to crash a Linux box. I've got a bunch of them
right here. My main server (running Novell Open Enterprise Server 2,
based on SLES10) had an uptime of nearly 200 days before I accidentally
unplugged it while cleaning my home office space this evening.

I find the systems I use to be completely stable. Windows, OTOH, when I
used to use it, was chronically unstable in normal usage. I had to
rebuild the OS installs about every 6 months from the ground up - it just
became a regular thing to do because the system would get so horked up.

> #5- Every 6-8 months you'd set everything from scratch if you wanted to
> try the new release, which would seem to be more stable than the
> previous one, but unfortunately you find more bugs and more problems and
> eventually decide to stay with the older release till they fix all
> theses problems in the next one

If you want to upgrade, then the cleanest way to do it (regardless of OS)
is a fresh install. I've talked to people who work in Microsoft's IT
department, and because they had to go through every alpha, beta, and
product release on production systems they said they would never, ever,
EVER do an in-place OS upgrade if they had a choice. And that's
*Microsoft* talking.

In-place upgrades in general leave a bunch of cruft around that doesn't
need to be there. Doesn't matter if it's Linux, Windows, NetWare,
Solaris, whatever. A clean install should always be the first choice and
an in-place upgrade should be done only if there is no other option.

> #6- Linux is loaded with lots of apps that do the same thing. so you'll
> have to check each one to know which one is better. I wonder why don't
> developers integrate these similar apps into one powerful app which is
> able to do the job perfectly, like having 1 media player instead of 4
> for audio and 3 for video playback

Just like on Windows there's one media player, one word processor, one
math application, etc?

"The job" varies depending on who you are and what you want. No one app
could *ever* do "the job" that everyone expects it to do perfectly. Lack
of choice is anathema to OSS in general, and it seems odd to me that
anyone coming from having to deal with "the monopoly" in desktop
computing would be promoting a monopolistic way of doing things on a
completely open platform.

Anyways, that's my $0.02. Don't let answers like this scare you off the
community - everyone doesn't have to agree on everything (or with
everything you, I, or anyone else says) - I'm trying to point out that
the mindset is very different from what you've known coming from a
Windows platform, and it takes some getting used to. Stay around, read a
little, learn a little, and have some fun.

Jim