MS had a bad week, we had a good one maybe. 13357

Op Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:19:10 -0500, schreef Erik Funkenbusch:

OK, my company (one-man, admittedly) has been on Linux for seven years now. The best word to describe my experience is uneventful, after several quite eventful years of working with, and translating, Windows and Windows applications. In the beginning, I ran into some minor hardware support issues, but for the past three or four years, Linux (the OS) simply works flawlessly. Period. And most Linux applications also work flawlessly.

Because of my translation and documentation work, I upgrade to a new desktop version about once a year - which takes something between half an hour and an hour, after which I can work on as if nothing happened. Security updates are automated and never broke any functionality. The only event was a severe HD crash, which was fully overcome in a few hours, thanks to good back-ups and an effortless reinstall of both the system and the home directories' contents - as opposed to sometimes days of struggling those poor Windows users have to go through to get everything back the way it was. In the line of duty, I also install and test several other distributions on separate systems each year. And in the past few years, these also are invariably uneventful experiences.

My Linux servers are now well into their fifth year, with only the occasional security update and manually performed rootkit check. No events here either.

For all the rest, I never experienced unstability or security problems; using my computers is completely carefree, and I don't have to watch out for what I click, download or receive by e-mail. Which is good, because I'm a very lazy person by nature.

It's what the others have said already: once things simply work, you'll hear no more about it. It reminds me of the days that I was partly responsible (as a volunteer) for laying out and servicing the cable TV network on the university campus nearby: there's no praise or comment if you do your job well - all's silent. But if there's just the tiniest bit of interference in one of the (by then) 20 or so channels, angry people will be calling you instantly - sometimes even at midnight. It's a rather unthankful occupation, come to think of it ... But then again: stuff should simply work, and keep working. And that's what Linux has to offer.

Richard Rasker -- Linetec Translation and Technology Services