On Fri, 2002-12-20 at 10:51, Michael Schwendt wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:53:55 -0600, Ed Wilts wrote: > > > > Also, they knocked linux for having bad fonts when web surfing. But > > > at sourceforge.net there's a way to get microsoft's fonts. Just > > > search for fonts and it should be near the top. > > > > They're absolutely right. Out of the box, Linux sucks for a web > > surfer compared to Windows. The user is forced to go through some > > extra steps just to get fonts that make a web site look decent. > > Should a user who just picked up a copy of Red Hat Linux at the local > > CompUSA have to go to Sourceforge and search for fonts just to display > > his favorite web site properly? I'll argue that they should not. I'll > > also support the argument that it's not completely Red Hat's fault - > > part of the problem lies in the fact that we're dealing with free > > software and nobody wants to pay to license fonts, and (a larger) part > > of the problem is web sites that are designed for IE and nothing else. > > The list of things the user needs to download from web sites is not > limited to TT fonts. Add Real Player, Flash plug-in, ALSA driver, > NVIDIA driver, Java, (NTFS drivers). Worse, installing those > components often involves several manual steps in addition to > locating them on the Internet. Compare that to the Microsoft way of > semi-automatic download and installation via a small EXE and/or > Wizard. >
Part of what is being discussed is apples and oranges in a way. The "ease" of windows comes largely from the computer seller loading it and making sure the drivers for all the hardware he is selling is there. I have not done a bare metal install of xp or win2000 but I can say from very painful experience that win 9x installs can have significant issues too. I imagine that there are issues with the newer versions of the OS as well. Vender support is also a major factor. If I had to guess I would say that MS does not write most of the drivers for the specialized hardware. The vendor does and MS includes it. Be interesting to know what it takes to get your driver in the os. MS has done a good job of including all sorts of bells and whistles and eye candy that the typical user apprently thinks is "cool". and since they have the overwhelming majority of the desktops that is what becomes the defacto standard. With patent issues around mpg formats and who nows what else, vendors like redhat are in a difficult situation. I imagine that the licensing is per machine that uses the software and not per unit of software sold. Since redhat has no way to know how many machines are actually running the software, The lawyers must be doing backflips over lots of issues. Of course I hope it will come back and bite the IP holders in the ass as systems migrate to open source solutions for things like audio file formats and the patent sits in a drawer unused. MS has done this sort of thing a lot and they get paid for all there stuff. Wasn't the MS develpoment of all those now ubiqutious ttf fonts we are moaning about as a result of being unable to come to terms with Adobe on thiers? The economic model is changing significantly and it is going to be very interesting to see what folks do to to adapt or die. Bret -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
