Fun thread.

[S. Lawton]

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 18:12:22 -0500
Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com> wrote about Re: Fun
thread.:

> wow, good thread.
>   I could sum it up in one word......"Control". I am lucky
>   enough to be 
> in a position to always come across comparing Linux to
> windows. I also see many, many , many people disgusted
> with there windows boxes getting bugged up and eventually
> useless.
>   So, your question is, what would keep a person in Linux
>   like apps keep 
> a person in windows? I think it goes way beyond apps.
> Control and virus protection are paramount in my view to
> keep anyone in Linux. If a person, for familiarity or
> whatever reason, wishes to stay with windows, then they
> should. The apps will come in time and as far as I can
> see, are no longer a reason not to go with Linux. The way
> we setup people with Fedora Core 3 and VMware running
> windows as a guest OS, windows itself has been reduced to
> an app, which, IMHO is where it belongs.
> 
>

Exactly - in Windows there are some ini files, but by and
large, all the settings are stored in the registry.
Most "wizards" are gui registry editors, because the keys
are scattered all over.
The reboot is because that's the only time the registry is
read, there's no way to "refesh" its values.
You make your changes, then some persistant app changes them
back the next chance it gets. 
QuickTime and REAL player are constantly trying to steal my
file associations from WinAmp and IrfanView.
If you don't have about 3 good registry maintenance apps to
get rid of duplicates, cross links, and orphans, 
after awhile you're left with such a mess, the only option
is "Window Washing" - wipe and re-install. 

In Linux everything is in a nice compact rc file somewhere,
and once you know what it's called, where it is, and it's
proper syntax, you're golden. It can even be done remotely,
without a reboot. 

-- 
S. Lawton
Sylpheed 0.9.3
DamnSmallLinux 0.9.1 Live
Linux 2.4.26