Stop comparing! You're doing it all wrong.

[Derek Djons]

It would be a nice idea to make a sticky out of this or an other well appreciated post already existing. I want to address something which, not only being considered useless by me, but also by many other community members.


In a world of commercial software there is always competition and winning. That's one of the reasons why companies such as Microsoft and Apple try to overrule each other in commercials and conferences. We are all used to that. We frankly don't even care. It's a tight market and both companies are what seems to be very capable.


Let's forget the companies. We don't own them nothing in the first place. Why should we take part of this race? With each year, with each new product, with each new feature and more, one or other company claims itself being innovating and up to date.
Well... but none of them is perfect.


I don't understand why most people adopt the A vs. B attitude. There is no such thing as the best Operating System because of quite some factors. There is no such thing as the best software application for the same reason. Not everybody has the same desires and criteria for their needs.


But even then a lot of people start to make the wrong comparisons. The most common are of course made about (Ubuntu) Linux vs. Windows, The Gimp vs. Photoshop and OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Office.


It is well known to almost all members in almost every community that the differences between applications or Operating system (as described above) are and can be very large. When it comes to the amount of features, commercial applications as good as always win. But does that matter? A lot of people hardly use 80% of all Microsoft Office features. There are quite some people who think they need Photoshop but a simple photo edit tool is suffice. Some people spend hundreds of dollars buying an Operating System and additional software while a Linux variant would made their life's much easier. Also not everybody finds an extensive amount of eye-candy the reason to call a application or Operating System better!


In a world where application / OS choice is personal due to the desires and criteria of people there can't be one better. Even not with Windows Vista coming up. This Operating System is being followed by many people. Yet again multiple Ubuntu vs. Vista threads appear. The funny part is that people express the concerns about Linux having to deal with this. Well for these Linux vs. Vista, Office vs. OpenOffice and Photoshop vs. The Gimp people I've got to say only one thing: “Don't you worry at all, not everybody is playing follow the herd.”


For the people who want to compare two applications in order to pick what's best for them, please use A. compared to B. Look, now you are comparing!

[aysiu]

Bug #1... (https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/1)
Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace. This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.

Microsoft has a majority market share | Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting access to IT to a small part of the world's population and limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
Steps to repeat:
1. Visit a local PC store.
What happens:
2. Observe that a majority of PC's for sale have non-free software pre-installed
3. Observe very few PC's with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed
What should happen:
1. A majority of the PC's for sale should include only free software like Ubuntu
2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and benefits would be apparent and known by all.
3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes. Nevertheless, even if it weren't a competition, people would just want to argue about stuff and make comparisons, because that's what people do!

I'm a big comic book fan, and you know what comic book fans argue about? Can the Hulk beat Wolverine? Who the f cares? Well, people just like to argue about that sort of thing.

You mentioned some frequent comparisons between commercial and open source software. Well, even with open source we get the SuSE v. Ubuntu and the KDE v. Gnome and the Firefox v. Epiphany debates.

People just like to compare and argue. That's what they do.

[maruchan]

Thank you for that post. If I understood you correctly your point is, people have such unique needs that there's no way to say one piece of software is better than another.

I like that way of expressing the issue and I tend to agree with it. I tend to think that we are all "digital contortionists" who will someday be embarrassed at the lengths we had to go to in order to make an interface work for us. Kind of like the way we laugh at people in the "old days" who had to constantly feed punched cards into a computer to make it work (my mother had such a job).

Anyway, everyone is unique, and to the extent that the internet and other computer-based services are an extension of our lifestyles, it's no wonder we all have such differing tastes. Even "emotional" factors like bonding with community are somehow woven into the equation and end up guiding our operating system choice, for example, as we've seen with the recent Resexcellence blowup.

This is all good news for the people who work in human-computer interaction, I guess, but to me it is silly, dangerous, and intriguing at the same time.

BTW your homepage wasn't responding last I checked. :)

[Derek Djons]

Thank you for that post. If I understood you correctly your point is, people have such unique needs that there's no way to say one piece of software is better than another.
Yes, exactly :)


BTW your homepage wasn't responding last I checked. :) Unfortunately something went wrong. But the host, a friend of my is at Istanbul at the moment enjoying his vacation. So I'll have to wait for 2 weeks untill his is back and the server gets rebooted. :( Being awfully bored I started my blog :P

[Derek Djons]

People just like to compare and argue. That's what they do.

Unfortunatelly you're right!

[win_zik]

I agree with most of what you wrote, but just to nitpick:


It is well known to almost all members in almost every community that the differences between applications or Operating system (as described above) are and can be very large. When it comes to the amount of features, commercial applications as good as always win. But does that matter?
1. You don't explicitly say it, but seem to imply that open source software can't be commercial. This of course isn't true and I'm sure you are aware of this but as this comes up very often I thought I'd point this out.

2. I doubt closed source apps almost always win on features.

/nitpick

[djsroknrol]

Derek,

You're right..there is no comparing..it's like comparing apples to oranges...bottom line here is to each his own..you will only convert someone who wants to be converted..MS has the jump on everything for the most part, and when someone wants to change they will..no amount of ramming something down someone's throat will do it. In fact, it might scare them off being that a good majority of MS users are of the novice to intermediate use catagory, and it just "works" for them...why change or look anywhere else?

my .02 worth...

[Yossarian]

I disagree completely. Alot of software's qualities can be measured and compared objectively, while the final experience is a mix of the objective and the subjective.

I think the problem here is people feel too self-conscious about using Ubuntu. In objective comparisons, against windows in particular, Ubuntu losses in several areas. Who cares? I use Ubuntu because I like it, not because I think its better than anything. Maybe that's not 100% rational, but I'm not Mr. Spock here. It's my decision, and I'll pick what I want, even if some geek somewhere will tell me that windows renders fonts 50% spiffier. Or whatever.

[Brunellus]

Comparison is part of what we do as humans; If there were no way of comparing, then we would be utterly paralyzed--somewhat like Buridan's *** (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buridan%27s_***) (can't give the donkey his proper name because of the auto-asterisking.)

BTW, aysiu: the Hulk totally pwns Wolverine. No matter how bad Wolverine hurts the Hulk, the Hulk only gets madder, and thus stronger, creating an infinite feedback loop of smash.

[aysiu]

Anything you can switch between invites comparison. I don't compare my cat to the high school I attended, because I don't switch between the two. They do not compete in the same arena.

I do, however, compare foods with each other, as I can switch between those (yes, even apples and oranges). I compare different car models, and even cars to motorcycles--as they're both modes of transportation. I compare cell phones to writing letters, as they're both methods of communication. I compare my current job to my old job, because they're both ways of making a living (even though what I actually did at both jobs was very different).

People will compare Ubuntu to Windows not because the two are similar but because they perform a similar function--help you email, web browse, type documents, manipulate pictures, listen to music, etc.

... and Wolverine has an adamantium skeleton and a healing factor. I don't know...

[xtacocorex]

Can the Hulk beat Wolverine? Who the f cares?
I put this in my sig, hope you don't mind, but I find it utterly hilarious for some reason.


“Don't you worry at all, not everybody is playing follow the herd.”
Or are they... http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html

Back on topic.
Competition is natural. My familiy is ultra competitive over simple things like croquet. We always play croquet and even convened a croquet congress to discuss rules in-mid game. My wife was amazed and shocked (we weren't married then, but it became abundantly clear to her how the men in my family are).

If it wasn't for competition, we would have so many similar cars from 5 different manufacturers. Look at how many text editors there are for Linux. The number is staggering, hence I'm not researching it because there are that many.

Competition also brings out the best and worst in things, but there are more positives to be had.

[RAV TUX]

I was just comparing this thread to the thread I just read:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224602

I like that you have spelled your title correctly and not made up a poll that doesn't have all the appropiate choices.

Now comparing the subject matter, even though they are different I find them both about the same.