Re: [edlug] Stallman's talk

[James Eaton-Lee <james@xxx.xxx.xxx>]

It entirely depends upon exactly what you mean by 'easier'.

For me, setting up an apache webserver is far, far easier than IIS;
setting up an SSL-enabled website connected to an SQL database is always
a small nightmare for me with IIS, because things *always* go wrong, and
IIS is so complex and poorly designed that I find it very very hard to
conduct any sort of logical fault-finding exercise; apache, on the other
hand, is open, well documented, and when it comes down to it, if there's
anything I really can't wrap my head around, i can just consult the
source code and see what does what. 

Windows, however, has the benefit of wizards, which are not to be
underrated. I agree, given knowledge and the necessity for complexity,
windows is *not* easier. It's badly designed and huge - the learning
curve is the principal difference. 

Linux is fairly easy to learn in an even manner; you don't suddenly hit
a brickwall of knowledge and require a degree in computer science and a
few Microsoft Certifications to be able to setup a mailserver; a basic
theoretical knowledge of how things work and an IRC client are usually
sufficient. 

Windows, however, does *not* work like this. It's very easy - on the
surface - to use. You stick the disk in, you click the buttons, and you
have an operating system. It works. It does all of the things you're
accustomed to it doing. And then you decide that you want to change
something under the hood - or install something unconventional (for
instance, earlier today I made the mistake of - god forbid - trying to
VPN into another domain using a domain controller (my laptop, running
win2k3 for development purposes; forgive me, it primarily boots gentoo
and/or solaris).) What happened, and happens? Windows said no. And
broke. And cried in a corner. And I had to spend 2 hours going from the
outskirts of Glasgow to the outskirts of Edinburgh to spend 25 seconds
fixing the server at the other end ;)

My (badly put, and overly wordy) point is that for the limited things
which charities need to do (general but varied office work, basically),
windows *is* easier. It doesn't require a dedicated IT Staff member in
an office of 6 to administer, and it works with all of the systems run
by the other agencies charities have to work with (donors, sponsors,
remote volunteers, fundraising agencies, callcenters, data entry
companies, data processing companies, and consultants of varying kinds,
all of which I can tell you for a fact almost exclusively primarily run
windows.). 

Sure, if they were wanting to do the sorts of things which most
medium-to-advanced linux users tinker with on their machines at
home/work every day, windows would break again, and again, and again,
and linux *would* be easier. But since they don't, and since Microsoft
have a (good and well researched) idea of what most companies do with
computers, the wizards make everything easier. 

And since all most companies see is what's on the surface of their IT
systems, the fact that exim is infitely more logical than exchange
doesn't really matter. :)

Sorry, that got really ranty; it wasn't meant to be. I basically think
that while linux works far more intelligently, it's the UI fluff on top
which is what most small companies are concerned with, regardless of how
illogical microsoft's back ends can tend to be ;)

uh.. have a good weekend! :)

kind regards,

 - James.

On Fri, 2004-05-28 at 21:27, Dick Middleton wrote:
> On Friday 28 May 2004 23:08, James Eaton-Lee wrote:
> > there simply
> > isn't the money to train or hire someone competant in *all* of the
> > fields which they require to administer a set of linux machines to
> > handle all of their needs: the average small to medium charity office
> > requires:
> 
> The implication is that somehow it's easier to do these things with doze than 
> linux.  Different I can accept but easier - no.   
> 
> Dick
> -
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