Do you think you can explain the charts axiis?  ???

What are 1-10 across the top?
What are 1-10 down the side?

Which is top reason?  #2?  #3?

Rankings top to bottom make no sense by % or by total.
Rankiins left to right make no sense by % or by total.

This looks like an example from one of my favorite statistics books: "How to Lie With Statistics".  This could have been an example that was presented about confusing them with numbers.
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I don't want to get into a debate about the values/drawbacks of either OS.  And I don't doubt that many are moving toward Linux, but I wonder if there is such a chart among MS staff of their answers to why they chose MS vs. Linux.  It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison

Quote:


I have never seen such a chart that was not presented by MS. But, MS is currently presenting a survey that shows that MS has a lower cost of ownership than Linux. I find this a strange barometer in that depending on decisions made by the consumer, either OS could be free, or astronomically expensive.

I would like to note that the chart above is not "why they chose Linux vs. MS" - it merely illustrates why they chose Linux and is interesting in that it demonstrates a major shift in the perception of Linux away from "security" and towards "end user demand" and "competive edge".

It is specific to "desktop" use, as opposed to "server use", which may be skewing the numbers away from security - which is no where near the same issue on the desktop as it is on a web server.

Linux has not made inroads into desktop use nearly as well as they have into server use. So far the real competition has been between Apache (the web server) and IIS. In their "Get the facts" campaign, MS rarely mentions Linux by name, but rather specifies "Open Source Software" - which may well be referring to Apache as opposed to Linux.

I am planning on looking again at Linux, but this time may really get into it.  It appears that these may be the most common distributors.  I am currently leaning toward OpenSuSe, but wanted to hear from current Linux users to see if you can point me toward any comparison charts.  I could find none. 

Here is the list I am looking at rightnow:
BSD
CentOS
Debian GNU/Linux
Fedora Project
Freespire
Linux Megapack
Mandriva Linux
Slackware
SuSE
Ubuntu/ Kubuntu
Xandros

Any Pro/Con comments for any of these, or others, will be appreciated.
Thanks for your time.

Bob_Hansen wrote on Aug 12^th, 2006 at 4:14pm:


Not really a single table, but tons of info:
http://distrowatch.com/

Thanks for the links Mark.  Not a lot of free time, so I doubt if I will be able to download from many multiple sites.  But nothing is ever easy, will just have to dig in, do some homework, and decide which ones I want to test out.

Suppose I make multiple partitions, one for each Linux OS. 
Can I then install applications on a common drive, or will I need to install the applications on each OS drive?

Thanks again Mark for the extra cautions.   

My thought was to load a couple of Linux OS to test out differences.  Hoping I could load some apps, like Sesame for example, and check out any differences. 

Since all storage devices are treated as files, does that mean there may be a "registry" type of file, but that is user defined vs. Windows?  So, if it is user defined, then all OS systems could use the same "registry"? 

I know Sesame does not use registry files, is that because Linux is more INI oriented vs. registry structures? 

Could different Linux OS on same machine use the same "registry" ?

Over the past year I have worked with several linux flavors, each one had certain problems that was to hard to deal with, but I found three which work really well with Sesame, "Suse 9.1 Personal", "Mandrivia 2006", "Xandros 3.02 Business", little problems would crop up, like once I unplugged a usb flash drive and then could not get Suse to boot, several had problems installing the boot manager, I finally learned to install Mandivia first and then the others that way I never had a problem with the boot manager, I have finally settled on Xandros, it has Xandros networks where I can download most anything I want, and it will allow me to download and install  from oter sites also. Sesame runs flawlessly on it with minor changes to the programming, the only real problem I have had, and it was true with all the different flavors was the print drivers, my older printer has no drivers listed for it and I have to use a generic which after a days work and a lot of thought I have it printing almost as good as windows, the other problem is with the browser working in Sesame in preview mode it, took several e-mails with Ray and alot of reading and then downloading netscape, running Sesame in a terminal but now it works. I'm been in Xandros now for my second full week, I really like this operating system for the desktop, its solid, one thing I have learned is linux has no mercy, commands and syntax has to be error free, you will not get a help windows telling you what you done wrong. Its like working with a super "DOS"but it gets easier each day. I have found that Microsoft Office, and Sesame will work through crossover office which comes with the business version, I prefer Koffice over open office to me its closer to microsoft office then openoffice, right now I using openoffice 2.03  it just came out I'll let you know how I like it, its has a relational database with it now. Ubunta would not run Sesame without finding a library file that does not come with it. Simply mephis now ver 6.** had lots of problems just loading, I found it to be unstable.If I had to pick just two my first choice would be Xandros and then Suse. Sesame slowed down to a snails pace when loading the db file in "Mandrivia 2006" I never was able to find the problem, I really like mandivia also but couldn't handle the 10-20 minute load time on the db, this only showed up in Mandivia 2006, Mandrake linux 10.2 did not have this problem. Hope this  saves you some time.