Ease of Use

Linux is for programmers; with lots of time on their hands. Yes, there is tons of software available for Linux; but it is usually very buggy, poorly documented, and takes lots of expertise and time to make work. The web page by Bruce Perens says:

Linux gives you something that you simply can't get from Microsoft, Apple, SGI, etc.

Well, yes and no. The part about cost and source code is sure true; but the use of UNIX or Linux or any of the many other UNIX spinoffs for software development, I very strongly disagree with. You can develop unlimited complexity applications on a Windows 95 or NT platform using any programming language with practically no knowledge of the operating system. That stuff is provided with the language implementation on these platforms (MFC - Microsoft Foundation Classes), etc. With UNIX or Linux you have to use someone else's buggy code or be smart enough to do it yourself. To use UNIX, you have to be a UNIX Programmer; to use Windows 95 or NT you can limit yourself to being an applications programmer.

Offered by Ron.
WB5KAN