Ex-MSFT Employee: Microsoft Should Run Linux

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]descendency[/nom]But Visual Studio isn't the only thing the MSDN people make. It's just the most well known.[/citation]
It's also the only one I use, so I couldn't talk about much else. I did notice the VMware interface a long time ago, but I have no need for it, and sometimes ran it instead of compiling the program by accident. :lol:

 

[descendency]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]If Windows is so simple, why is there such a big 3rd-party tech support market for home PCs?[/citation]
Dude, do you go outside ever? That will answer that. People are stupid. The average user over 40 can barely manage their email let alone do anything else.

If Windows weren't so easy, the people who need a primer to copy and paste a file would be computerless.

 

[Glorian]

This just in! A former BMW employee says that He's been driving a Mercedes for 4 years and says it superior in every way. Employee was stated as saying that Mercedes will take over the market if BMW doesn't use Mercedes frames and engines...blah blah blah.

 

[Euphoria_MK]

It's not just ex-employees, but also current employees that agree with him... When you know someone you'll find out... There is nothing new with this statement. Their source code has been a mess, they've been trying to clean it up since Vista, which was a bad attempt and Win 7 which is a bit better but there is still a sh*t load of stuff to be done...

 

[dmuir]

[citation][nom]rooket[/nom]how can one make this kind of a statement about an o/s that is not user friendly at all. sure linux is powerful and i have used it but you don't see me running it on my computers because it is all command line based and can be very troublesome to install drivers and software in. [/citation]

There are many Linux distros that are much more user friendly than Windows. I'm curious when the last time you used it was, and what distro/desktop environemnt you used.

The "Linux is all commandline" argument is also a very, very outdated and invalid as the same can be said about Windows (i.e. Windows Server). If you're using a desktop Linux distro, then just like a desktop install of Windows, you'll probably never have to touch the command line.

As for drivers/software, it's typically piss easy to install. 99% of the time the drivers are built into the kernel, so you don't have to install anything. It just works. Most distros also come with massive software repositories where you can easily install what you want via a gui installer. The only time it becomes "troublesome" is when you're trying to get Windows software running. But in that regard, Linux is a step up from Windows, as Windows can't run Linux binaries at all, but Linux can run Windows binaries via WINE.

Lastly, saying "I've used Linux and it's so user unfriendly" is also a bogus argument as Linux = the kernel. Last I checked the windows kernel isn't exactly user friendly either. Well, I take that back. They probably are user friendly, but the "users" in this case are the developers building applications that interact with the kernel, and NOT end users like yourself or I. Instead, refer to the distribution itself (Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Android, etc). At least then there's a comparison.

 

[webbwbb]

[citation][nom]dmuir[/nom]But in that regard, Linux is a step up from Windows, as Windows can't run Linux binaries at all, but Linux can run Windows binaries via WINE.[/citation]

http://www.openlina.com/

Linux applications can run in Windows.

 

[tonitelaoag]

hey curtis go ahead: eat, lunch and dine with your linux, not me, i enjoy very much windows base system. for a year got into osx then went back to m/s. windows is much more exciting because most of the devices you plug to your pc works well plain and simple.

 

[thejerk]

Who's the dumbass that gave this guy his 15 minutes?

 

[ossie]

[citation][nom]xccess[/nom]... Last 15 years working as Unix administrator/Engineer. I had try Linux so many time and it fail me each time, just so many simple application like iTune, or game simply don't run under Linux, and the WINE is joke...[/citation]
Interesting enterprise, where you work as a UNIX (what kind, unix services for windblow$?) admin... using game [SIC], and iTunes, yeah?
[citation][nom]buwish[/nom]... Most want simplicity, which is Windows.[/citation]
Just apparently... under the hood it's the most wicked behemoth ever created. m$'s goal was to create an OS which was so heavily dumbed down, that it's instilling every idiot the impression to be an IT expert (obviously achieved). Commercially it's a $uccess, the best fit for the throw away consumer society, technically, an utter failure.
Linux is based on the completely opposite philosophy, KISS. It needs more knowledge, but a knowledgeable person can do almost anything it wishes. Of course, there is a large variety of increasingly dumbed down distros, with GUIs and friendly interfaces, for the technically challenged, but to get everything out of it, you must get to the console.
[citation][nom]descendency[/nom]I'm a programmer. MS has the best software development tools in the industry.[/citation]
It's not the best, it's just the most dumbed down... hiding every detail from the lu$er, but great for those who want to make a quick buck, without almost any knowledge.
Most windblow$ "developers" are just a level above the ubiquitous gamer/drm o$ lu$er, but button pushing is their common denominator. (what a tragedy if they want something, there is no button for...) This common practice just promotes the supreme irresponsible, without a clue about the effects of his button push. A monkey can also be easily trained to push buttons...
[citation][nom]ominous prime[/nom]Disgruntled ex employee, move along, nothing to see here. I'm disappointed with this article Marcus.[/citation]
Yummy boy, that's not the way to get popular with wintarded m$ fankiddies...

 

[anamaniac]

I always just imagined Microsoft for the desktop for ease of use, and hand crafted specialized Unix/Linux for servers.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

[citation][nom]burnley14[/nom]An ex-employee has negative things to say about his former company and how they operate? I'd take his comments with a grain of salt or two.[/citation]

your point is valid but it could be very well that he just saw the whole light of open source from a development viewpoint . when i was in college , we used to sit together , review each other's code and joke on it , improve it etc , then as we learned more we moved on to real projects taken from source forge and we were amazed by the code quality . i am a software enginner by profession . and i have learned so much by reading code , and when u're ready u can write it as well .

 

[Maxor127]

I'd switch to Linux if it could reliably run Windows-based games. Game compatibility is the only reason I run Windows at all.

 

[Guest]

Hey guy$, it'$ really fun to u$e dollar $ign$ everywhere, and it i$ a very $ubtle commentary on micro$oft'$ bu$ine$$ practice$.

For my credential$, I cite my year$ of tracking down and killing replicant$.

 

[Gin Fushicho]

If they get it too still play games I'm in , but its gonna get Virus's just like Windows, because it will still be big.

 

[badger101101]

Linux has a very strong presence in the server arena, and is absolutely dominating the embedded devices. There are several reasons Microsoft fears Linux (and rightly so). One reason is that web-based and open source apps are beginning to remove the need for a particular OS. Another is that other nations and governments are adopting Linux quite rapidly. Even the US government uses Linux for a great deal of things. If you get enough people using the free and open standards, it begins to reflect badly on Microsoft if their operating system doesn't support them. They will be pressured to make Windows compatible, and once they do, the need for Windows slowly disappears.

Anyone who doesn't think Linux is making headway is kidding themselves.

Linux has its problems, but make no mistake... it has gained enormous support and funding from many large companies, and will continue to be invested in heavily. Just look at the contibuters list over the past decade and you will see how much momentum it has gained - 75% of the contibutors are paid employees from large corporations such as Red Hat, Intel, IBM, AMD, Nvidia, and many others.

 

[Guest]

Well Apple did a similar pradign shift with OSX, right? Of course they were underdogs and had to do something radical in order to survive. MS is hardly at that kind of a position.

The biggest problem in Linux world dominance is the lack of usability for an average person, and the fact that even if there has been progress on that side there has not been that much.

For about ten years now I have had some linux distro installed on my lappy besides my primary Windows 98/XP/Vista/7 system. (For about two years now it has been Ubuntu.) During the decade I have seriously tried to migrate completely to Linux variants, last years mostly for ideological reasons, for a couple of year now because of the desktop aesthetics as well. The thing is that after a month or two something always breaks while updating the Linux system and I have had to return to work with Windows in order to ge things done. Its the wireless/graphics(rarely nowadays)/soundcard/suspending/hibenating problems that never appear to be solved and if solved, broken again.

So it is not the core system stability (the weekly blue screens of death originally drove me to try Linux; I have not seen them in Windows for a couple of years now) but rather the instability in all the small things in addition to this that make the computers (especally laptops) to what they are nowadays. For me Linux appears to be a nice hobby, to get things done I still need the bloody Microsoft. Maybe Linux needs them as well?

 

[rockstone1]

And that explains why he was fired.

 

[bachok83]

What about DirectX? What about games?

 

[rhino13]

And in keeping with the "if you can't beat 'em, then join 'em" attitude

Boy, it's a good thing this guy hasn't started advising Linux with this idea.

In all seriousness though, all this guy needs is some pop icon to apear in childish comercials opposite John Kellog and he'd clearly grow market share.

 

[sykozis]

[citation][nom]dmuir[/nom]The only time it becomes "troublesome" is when you're trying to get Windows software running. But in that regard, Linux is a step up from Windows, as Windows can't run Linux binaries at all, but Linux can run Windows binaries via WINE.[/citation]

Where have you been? It takes less effort to run Linux using VMware in Windows, than it does to get Windows software working using WINE. Also, last check, WINE is hit or miss with software....not some magical emulator that can make every Windows compatible app run. My last Linux install took almost an hour, whereas it only takes 25mins to install Win7 from start to finish. I've run OpenSuSE, Mandriva, ChromeOS alpha, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, RedHat, Xandros, Linspire, Freespire and Solaris....none are as user friendly as Windows....

For those that don't know, ChromeOS is nothing but a lightly modified OpenSuSE at this point....the build I have still has ALL of the SuSE icons and logos.

 

[jonpaul37]

I'm at the corner of 1st and 1st! i'm at the nexus of the universe!

 

[Guest]

I wish Linux could give Microsoft a run for their money, but it never will. I've tried numerous distributions and versions, and have found Linux to be ridiculously unintuitive. I have 30 years worth of computer experience, and once owned a successful computer business for several years.

Trying to figure out the simplest things was a chore on Linux. I once spent hours trying to install a modem driver. I never could get it to work.

Linux is only usable by the most experienced computer geeks, and is very limited even then.

As far as the home user is concerned, Linux is just a cute toy, and always will be.

 

[Uncle Meat]

[citation][nom]sykozis[/nom]For those that don't know, ChromeOS is nothing but a lightly modified OpenSuSE at this point....the build I have still has ALL of the SuSE icons and logos.[/citation]

Because the build you have isn't ChromeOS. There is a customized build of OpenSuSE that some idiot has called ChromeOS that is being distributed around the Internet. It is not ChromeOS, and Google have nothing to do with it.

 

[snotling]

[citation][nom]randomizer[/nom]If Windows is so simple, why is there such a big 3rd-party tech support market for home PCs?[/citation]
anyone can make a kid, not everyone is able to feed it, dress it, raise it and teach it all by himself. thats why there is a lot of 3rd party day care, schooling, healthcare, charity and social services.

If having kids was so simple we wouldn't need all that.

 

[Regulas]

I am running Ubuntu 9.10 now and OS X is basically Linux too since it is based of Unix just as Linux is.