Anyone care to read this!

[Dawes, Stephen]

Well Janina,

He did not name the sound card that was causing him the problems, but he
did say that indeed that the device that was causing the problem was a
sound card. How can you then say that he did not mention the device. He
went on to say that "paid tech support" was not able to resolve the
problem. 

Almost everyone on this list has had problems getting sound started at
some point in their Linux experience. (That is if they want to be honest
about it.) Mr. Langa also writes that he tried to use the alsa drivers
as a solution to the problem which also didn't work. 

I think that point that he is making, and I think that it is a good one,
if you brag that you are ready for the major-leagues, then you better
perform like a major-league-player.

After all, Mr. Langa writes, 
"Once again, a nine-year-old copy of Windows could do what a brand-new,
commercial distribution of Linux could
not. A Common Problem
If you check the discussion boards for many of the distributions of
Linux, you'll see that sound support is an extremely common problem,
even when the sound
system is listed as supported hardware.

And in fairness, let me state loud and clear that only one of the Linux
distributions I tried specifically claimed compatibility with the sound
system in
question; the others gave the usual vague assertions of broad
compatibility, but didn't specify this exact sound system. I'm not
claiming "false advertising"
or any such thing.

Many Linux fans will jump on that and say something to the effect of
"What do you expect? If you use unlisted hardware, it's not Linux's
fault if it doesn't
work."

But remember, even Windows 95--nine-year old software, reviled in the
Linux community as junk code--handled the exact same sound system
perfectly. So did
Win98, WinMe, Win2000, Win XP Home and Win XP Pro. In this case,
reflexively blaming the hardware is simply a dodge. If Linux is a truly
superior operating
system, shouldn't it be able to do what a nine-year-old copy of Windows
can do? Why is it still struggling with a problem that Microsoft solved
roughly
a decade ago?"

In the full article, the distributions that Mr. Langa test are listed.
Some of which are, in my opinion, hybrid versions of Linux that have
been created for the windows community, you know the group that wants
everything given to them with as little effort as posible. To which Mr.
Langa is saying that Linux is not for them.

Read the full article at
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=1
8901660
before you claim that this is junk.



Steve Dawes
Phone: (403) 268-5527
Email: SDawes at calgary.ca


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