Linux ease of use 68 plus 1

In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Kier wrote on Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:05:01 +0100

Ah, but it's *not*. I'll admit I'm not sure precisely how to do this comparison at all but Microsoft has a ticklish problem:

1 Improve Winows. 2 Maximize compatibility with previous versions of Windows.

That it accomplishes both as well as it does is no mean feat. WinXP is a far cry from Win3.1, but both still support some variant of GDI -- I can't say how well at this point.

However, Linux is simpler (at least, as far as libc is concerned); the kernel thunks don't have to worry about oddities such as the AARD code and such, and the API is generally simpler anyway.

fork() versus CreateProcess(...).

Or force the manufacturer to support how many device driver framework rewrites?

Yuck.

I'll give Microsoft credit for getting out of DRIVER.SYS mode but that's about it. It's not their prettiest area of compatibility changes.

Linux hasn't had to worry about that, though some of the older modules probably have some slightly odd #ifdefs in there. However, the module issue pales in comparison to the openpty() code ? deep within xterm; that's ugly with a capital ugh -- mostly because it has to support so many operating systems. Compared to that, Linux is very clean...

It's a ticklish problem either way. Either manufacturers are saddled with the responsibility of supporting old hardware as the OS vendor upgrades, or the user is saddled with the responsibility of buying new hardware as the OS vendor upgrades. You can probably guess which one the hardware vendor would prefer. :-)

However, with Linux one has a third option -- since Linux is a very stable driver platform and comes complete with source, reverse-engineering of the device is also possible, especially if the manufacturer is willing to give up the specs for what is now for them an obsolete device ("here, have fun, don't bother me").

And many people will cheerfully hack a driver up, with or without specifications. (And not all of them wear black hats. :-)

Was it designed for XP, or just Windows Me? Regardless, it's an odd blip for it to be sunsetted so soon.

I'd doubt that 30x figure anyway.

-- It's still legal to go .sigless.