Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> Eero Ahonen <aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid> wrote:
> > To exactly how many pieces of hardware have you lost the support on
> > Linux while upgrading to a newer version of Linux? The difference
> > between Linux and Vista here is that if your device worked with Zoot
> > (RedHat 6.2) and 2.2 -series kernel, it most probably still works with
> > newest SuSE and 2.6 -series kernel - at least if you're still able to
> > physically plug the device in.
>
>   I think one advantage of Linux over Windows is that Linux has absolutely
> no need to try to "sell" new versions of itself. This allows for a much
> more gradual development of the entire system, and there's no need to
> artificially make a "new version of linux" (if we even can rationally talk
> about one) look&feel different from earlier versions. On the contrary, one
> of the strengths of Linux is precisely that it doesn't need to try to be
> different with each new version, so it can not only keep backwards
> compatibility at software level, but also at the user interface level.
> Any changes in usage are caused by necessity, not by an attempt to be
> different for the sake of being different.
>
>   Not so with Windows. Microsoft *must* sell a completely brand new version
> of Windows each n years. Of course people wouldn't buy the new version if
> it was basically identical to the old version, with just internal invisible
> improvements, and perhaps a few new programs (which would work in the old
> version anyways). Thus MS has to make new versions of Windows look&feel
> different from earlier versions. MS has to create the illusion that the
> new version is much better than the old version, and that people should
> definitely upgrade. That sells.
>   The sad thing that changing the look&feel often means artificial changes
> which are not for the better. It also sometimes means breaking backwards
> compatibility with older software and even hardware.
>   Another way of selling the new version is to include something which
> does not work in the older version (DirectX10 anyone?)
>
>   The sad thing is that people are ready to conform.
>
> --
>                                                           - Warp

I wouldn't say it any better.

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