Prince, First of all, basing your judgement on Red Hat alone is not a very bright idea. You should try other user friendly distributions like Xandros, Mandrake, Lycoris etc etc, before feeling disappointed about the desktop/multimedia capacities of Linux. I am using Slackware Linux 8.1, after experimenting with RedHat, Mandrake, Suse and Debian, for almost all my desktop needs. The following is a list of windows programs *i* would consider important for a desktop user and their availibility in Linux.
Programs Windows Linux --------------------------------------------------------------- Web Browser IE,Netscape Mozilla,Netscape E-mail, PIM Outlook, OE Evolution, Kmail MP3 Player Winamp XMMS Media Player Windows Media Player mplayer, xine Productivity MS Office Open Office, Star Office. P2P File Sharing Kazaa, Morpheus LimeWire Image Editing Photoshop Gimp Instant Messaging MSN, Yahoo, ICQ GAIM(MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, etc) IRC mIRC X-Chat, KVIRC etc.
[I am not bothering to include editors because, besides the fact that there a plethora of them available for Linux, i have seen that most windows users prefer using word processors like MS Word, even for editing purposes. Also, luggerz, please dont feel bad if ur favorite browser, etc is not included above. This is more or less what i feel that a desktop susbtitute for windows should need.]
*All* the above mentioned substitutes for windows applications available in Linux, IMO, out perform their Windows counterpart in terms of stability and security(where applicable). As you can see, all the commonly reqd windows desktop applications have Linux substitues. The most important factor however, is the ease of use which is where, most people *think* windows is better than Linux. However, beg to defer. IMHO, all the applications listed on the linux side above are as easy to use as their Windows substitute, with the exception of the GIMP. This program, although very powerful, does not present an intuitive interface to the user. mplayer, although command line, has nice GUIs available to make it look/feel like WMP.
Just my two cents, HTH. Bhargav Bhatt, Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University.
"If English was commutative, all of us could speak like Yoda" - Anonymous
----- Original Message ----- From: "Prince" iamprince@eudoramail.com To: "ilug" linuxers@mm.ilug-bom.org.in Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 10:52 AM Subject: [ILUG-BOM] windows vs Linux
Hi there , all experts of Linux
this is Prince asking the most important Questions ?
can anybody send me the complete list of points : 1] " In what way Linux is better [ can be ] for DESKTOP PC , for normal user
? "
i repeat ..... For NORMAL user .
i know it's best for all Networking purposes ,,,,but abt new enthu people
who wants to try Linux as there Day to Day
Default desktop OS ?
2] What abt others who are normal users & wanna try Linux for a Ultimate
experience ?
where we are lacking to put this Linux OS in front of them ? [ we are only
enjoying this thing & sharing between our
selves ]
i got Linux Redhat 8.0 it's ok [ my xmms is without mp3 support ] , no software got MPEG with redhat
windows [ not talking abt KDE & gnome pack ]
waiting for reply , Prince [ Agent 1 ] " Digitalagents "
On Fri, 8 Nov 2002 20:07:00 -0500 (EST) Bhargav Bhatt wrote:
have Linux substitues. The most important factor however, is the ease of use which is where, most people *think* windows is better than Linux. However, beg to defer. IMHO, all the applications listed on the linux side above are as easy to use as their Windows
Very true. There's one aspect of ease-of-use *perception* that sometimes causes trouble. People migrating from Windows initially expect a renamed Windows, as in, the way the filesystem is laid out etc. I consider current Linux distributions as easy as Windows (OEone is a no-brainer!) to learn from the beginning. Migrants need to be explicitly told that this is a _different_ OS and it's just a matter of time to be at-home with Linux too.
substitute, with the exception of the GIMP. This program, although very powerful, does not present an intuitive interface to the user.
I could do the editing equivalent of MS PhotoEditor just by exploring the items in the right-click menu and following tool-tips for all the tools on the main window. There's an excellent manual available for GIMP at www.gimp.org if you want to master the advanced features. It pays to learn GIMP, IMHO :-)
-
Bhargav Bhatt -
Tahir Hashmi