Monday 25 May 2009

Drivers! Drivers! Drivers!

Why the hell do "journalists" always pick on Linux for needing drivers to run a piece of hardware? Even when the driver exists they make a big song and dance about Linux needing a "third party" driver to run the WiFi or the graphics.

Guess what people. Windows uses drivers too. Of course the Microsoft-centric tech press that is a cancer on the web likes to pretend all that stuff is produced by Microsoft. WOW do these people have short memories. Remember the Vista fiasco where neither ATI nor NVIDIA amongst others had their drivers ready in time for the Vista release?

As for netbooks. Those that come with Linux come with a version of Linux tailored to that specific hardware set. Just like Mac OS X is tailored to Mac hardware. If Apple can do it why can't everybody? Why isn't Mac OS X being slated in the press every week because it doesn't run perfectly on non-Apple hardware? Why does it suddenly become a major minus point when Linux displaces Windows?

So guess what. If you take something like Puppy Linux and use it to replace a customised Linux distro specially put together to run the hardware on your netbook you might have problems. That's a bit of a no brainer. Of course if these so called journalists were reviewing a netbook running Windows they wouldn't even consider testing the hardware with an obscure unfunded fringe "spare time" project version of the OS. Would they? I honestly doubt it.

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen a disturbing trend developing in the so called tech press. As Windows Vista 7 gets ever closer to release all the Microsoft zombies are falling into line and desperately looking for ways to run down Linux. Which is just sad.

Linux as the underdog in the desktop and notebook markets has done well for it's self. It found a niche where it could grow and prosper and give people a real choice in how they use their hardware. It also allowed hardware vendors to slash their prices. Which in turn turned out to be of benefit to the Microsofties as Microsoft responded in kind and slashed the price of XP licences and then gave XP stay of execution time and time again and it's still not dead even though Windows Vista 7 is well and truely almost here and supposedly netbook friendly.

But no. Rather than appreciate what a little genuine competition targeted squarely at Microsofts core markets has done for consumers and businesses alike not to mention all the meaty tech news that has been generated, keeping the zombies in their jobs. These brain donors would rather agree to the Microsoft EULA which has apparently not just cost them their privacy, the right to use their PCs, netbooks and notebooks as they see fit, but also their souls and any kind of decency they might have had.

To all these people I say shut the fuck up and get a life.

2 comments:

  1. Dude i so agree with you, so many bloggers are so fucken short sighted and are just so quick to criticise and bring outdated and untrue arguments against linux. case in point dual monitor support, ok in linux it needs some improvement and to get it to work with my tv panel needed some tweaking but with windows it didnt work at all and try doing anything to fix it, you cant, on linux at least the progress is steady and neverending even if fucked up hardware companies insist on closed specs, you're the man its nice to see some fire in the community

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  2. Hey thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.

    It's sad and true. The tech press is owned by Redmond.

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