Microsoft Hatred FAQ 5186

Mike Schilling

Is that really true? I mean, I remember distributions of Linux that you could just stick in the CD, boot from CD, and you were up in minutes. Installing was as simple as pushing the 'install to hard drive' button.

I think one of the biggest reasons Linux has a reputation of being harder to use than Windows is that it *is* harder to use. However, the payoff is that when a Linux machine breaks, you can fix it. When a Windows machine breaks, you pretty much have to reinstall. And Windows machines break in this way more often because it's much harder to limit what a user or program can do.

Linux, for example, would be easier to use if it had no permissions checks and always ran everything as root. However, it doesn't do this the way Windows does (or more accurately, the way Windows users typically do), because that's just not the Linux way.

I'm trying to think of a good analogy to make my point clearer, but I can't.

IMO, a person who doesn't find installing Linux to be easy wouldn't be able to use a Linux desktop (or do much with a Linux server either for that matter). But I could be out of date, I haven't really tried to use the more recent Linux desktop builds as desktops. But, IMO, that was certainly true in the time frame we're talking about.

DS