Thread: Unix Popularity
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Old 6th July 2008
DrJ DrJ is offline
ISO Quartermaster
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Gold Country, CA
Posts: 507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oko View Post
I was wondering if you could explain to me one thing. It seems to me, based on your posts, that you are an avid and very, very competent Windows user.
Well, I'm a Unix head. I have used BSD for over 25 years, and it is wired into my fingers. So I use it where I can, but there are many places where I cannot.
Quote:
What do you try to achieve by hanging on a forum for Unix enthusiasts (OK there are few professionals around here but most of us a hobbyist like me).
Windows needs no popularization.
Simply because I use FreeBSD for about 80% of the things I do. Many everyday tasks are done quite nicely on *nix.
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If you are unhappy that mail server at your
University runs Linux you should take that issue with your IT department.
I *am* the IT department. As well as the president and stock-room clerk. My servers run FreeBSD, FWIW.
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If you are unhappy that some of you colleagues do not use word for publishing (I am mathematician so 100% of us do NOT use MS Word) that issue should be taken to editors of the journals.
I use groff for most things, and latex for submission to journals. I don't care much for Word, though I can do simple things with it. I have to, since I collaborate with people in the outside world, and that is all that most of them know.

You probably know that journals are extremely inflexible. You submit in the formats they accept, or your article will be rejected. A few will take PDFs, but most want source in either Word or latex. That's workable enough for me.
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I just love Unix like most people on this forum and you can not question man's heart.
I'm with you on that.

Simply, many people get taken with the idea of OSS, and think it should be placed on every desktop and server, and should be used for everything. That is more common in the Linux community, but it is pretty common here too. That just is not going to happen any time soon. There are many parts of the world that most people who post here simply are not aware of. Taken together, these are large and important areas.

I admit that I get irritated when people look down their noses at Windows (or whatever OS you choose). For me they are tools to accomplish certain tasks, and not the end in and of themselves. If an application runs only on Windows, well, OK. If they can run on BSD I'd prefer it, but beyond serving and simple desktop stuff there really isn't much. That's OK too.
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