on 1/7/02 10:22 PM, BK at bk_newtontalk_at_yahoo.com wrote:
> So, here we go again. A well designed system (and not a Unix system in
> this case) on a fairly tiny computer with plenty of constraints on
> hardware beats Windoze and legacy MacOS decisively in terms of
> reliability even in a field (Internet) which is considered a
> nothing-you-can-do-about-it problem child.
I think you have to be careful about using personal experience and anecdote
to justify or explain a phenomenon. Your experiences are different from
others'. My experience with the web on my Newts has been anything but
satisfactory. My wife's web experience on her mac, while not perfect, has
been extremely reliable. By using experience, we can go around in circles
all day.
I would say that unix has it over Mac and windows in two areas.
1. Networking
2. Memory management.
These two areas alone would explain why it seems to crash less. You also add
the little detail that most people using unix are very computer savvy, while
most people using Mac and Windows (with a greater proportion, absurdly
enough, using Windows) are not computer savvy (causing crashes). This little
fact also affects who writes what. The demands of the marketplace will often
force products out the door before they are ready, which adds to the
problems and the perception of greater problems.
One other item I just thought of . Look at a professional mechanic or
carpenter, or, a field in which I hve experience, look at professional video
cameras. There is a vast difference between the tols the pros use and the
garden variety, consumer kind. Unix is the professional tool that demands
reliability and durability. Windows and Macintosh are more the
consumer-oriented tools, where features are in greater demand than
durability. This is another way to look at the industry. Along those lines,
a consumer-oriented tool may last for decades. If it does, it is because its
owner cared for it, and used it _within_ its limits. A lot of our problems
with computers come from our trying to use them outside their limits.
(again, back to the memory and network issues) Your Yugo car may last you 15
years, and go 150,000 miles, but not if you try to drive it down the highway
at 90 mph, or don't change its oil and have it tuned. On the other hand, a
Cadillac, which costs much, much more, can do both handily. :-)
I've said way too much on this OT thread. I just hope that maybe we can see
that perception is often subjective, and even if objective, there are
reasons for the differences between Unix and the other OSs.
-- -Jon Glass Krakow, Poland <mailto:jonglass_at_usa.net> <mailto:glasshaus5_at_aol.com> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin-- This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe
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