<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html style="direction: ltr;">
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=windows-1255"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body style="direction: ltr;" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">Hello,</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">Since this issue is
very related to my blitz lecture on Wednesday, I'll tell you what my
approach is.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">I think that the "you
can do this on Linux but not on Windows" claim (along with its
derivatives) is hopeless. When you compare upfront features and
differences, it's not really clear who wins. We see Linux' features,
but that's because we like Linux.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">The great difference
between the traditional free software and non-free software is that the
maintainers are the software's heavy users, who act for their own good.
(The word "traditional" excludes software that is free technically, but
is driven by good-old-marketing). That's why the software we like to
use stands by us in the long run and under challenging conditions,
while proprietary software tends to play dirty tricks when the going
gets tough. This difference in quality can't be quantified by features
or "you can do this". There will always be a counterexample and a
counter-counterexample.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">I'm going to try
explaining this issue on Wednesday, in terms of the evolution of
software: In free software, the surviving "mutation" (software patch,
if you like) is the one that makes the software run better for its
regular users. In proprietary software, it's the "mutation" that will
make the software appear better to the one who considers buying it.
That's why free software tends to look less impressive, and proprietary
software not to do so well when things get complicated.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">I'm also going to
mention non-traditional free software, such as OpenOffice and Eclipse,
which differ from Microsoft's versions more or less by the fact that
they are free. Unfortunately, when you install Linux today, these are
the things that meet your eye.<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">This, along with the
fact that Linux is growing in desktops, servers and consumer
electronics (read "there will be Linux jobs") is more or less my
message on Wednesday. How students will take this is still to see.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"> Eli<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0pt;">Shahar Dag wrote:</p>
<blockquote
cite="mid:95478E1D33884AE49991D6C73F499115@cs.technion.ac.il"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; ">
<meta content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16825" name="GENERATOR">
<style></style>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">Hello</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">To extent
Elli's question:</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="3">We try to
convince our students that programming on Linux is easier / faster
relative to Windows, so they better learn how to work with Linux.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><o:p><font
face="Arial"> </font></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><font
face="Arial">We claim that using the build in shell commands and pipes
we can compose a solution for complex problem (almost) without
programming.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><o:p><font
face="Arial"> </font></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><font
face="Arial">Can you point us for real life examples that prove our
claims? </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><o:p><font
face="Arial"> </font></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><font
face="Arial">Thanks in advanced</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; text-align: left;"><font
face="Arial" size="2">Shahar Dag<br>
System & Software Development Laboratory (SSDL)<br>
Computer Science Department<br>
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology<br>
Haifa, Israel<br>
Tel. 972-4-829-4880<br>
Fax 972-4-829-4878<br>
</font></p>
</div>
<pre wrap="">
<hr size="4" width="90%">
_______________________________________________
Haifux mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Haifux@haifux.org">Haifux@haifux.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux">http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Web: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.billauer.co.il">http://www.billauer.co.il</a>
</pre>
</body>
</html>