Linux Dealt a rest BLOW by Apple !!!!!!! 2452

says...

This is an important point, one which the Linux advocates are blind to. Usenet is full of penguin-head advocates who do nothing more than berate someone who comes online looking for help, or offers any kind of criticism of the OS. Those who would see Linux gain a share of the desktop market need to show themselves more eager to help and less eager to take offense.

What Microsoft offers is an OS for the braindead. Windows is so simple anyone can use it, and so easy to fix that a reboot takes care of most problems. Linux is not either of those.

But, that raises a problem which is not Linux's fault. One of the best, most useful, most productive tips I can give you is to remember that Linux is not Windows. Do not expect it to look like Windows, act like Windows, or work like Windows.

A simple example from my own experience: I was trying to zip a set of personal files for backup. If I use pkzip, I can specify a set of files HERE (in $PWD) and ask pkzip to create an archive over THERE:

pkzip -a -r C:-My Documents-*.* D:-MyBackup-Home.zip

Linux can't do that. To back up those same files using zip in Linux, you have to be in D:-MyBackup, and tell zip to create a set of files overe THERE and put the archive HERE.

MyBackup:# zip -ar Home.ziphome-Me

See the difference? (Syntax may not be exactly right on one or both of these commands but that doesn't vitiate the point, I hope ..)

Simple thing, but took me *months* to figure out that Linux doesn't handle paths the way Windows does. The fault was not with Linux, but with my expectation of what I thought Linux was or should be ..

I would agree if you're talking about documentation bundled with the OS, but there is a wealth of information online, available for anyone patient enough to look for it. Problem is, most people want quick and easy answers, so they run to an online forum or a mailing list or a chatroom to ask about their problem. But, the documentation is there. And, some distros like Ubuntu include other documentation besides man pages. Most of Ubuntu's wiki is bundled with the OS, and is geared toward newbies.

Trust me, you don't go into a newsgroup with advocacy in the breastle, expecting help. The SuSE newsgroup is very good and very active. Even if you're not running that distro, it's a good place to go for help