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Riffer
August 2nd, 2008, 07:34 PM
Had one of those "doh" moments, where I finally just got it. I realized, really realized, that probably the biggest difference between MS, Apple, and Linux is the size of the OS's footprint and their users attitude toward that footprint.

What I mean is with both MS and Apple they put out resource hungry OS's and their users reaction is to go out and upgrade or replace their hardware and feel good about it. Its like a testosterone thing (I have 8 gigs of RAM, 500 gig HD, or some sort of cpu), kinda like guys and their trucks.

In contrast what I noticed (at least on these forums) is people doing the complete opposite. People are bragging on how little resources they use or how old of a comp they can use.

This attitude can also be found in the choice of apps and programs we all use. Window and Mac users insist that they need the latest and greatest app. "Oh I NEED Photoshop." Where a lot of Linux users really think about their needs, perhaps choosing Abiword over OpenOffice, because they don't need a full suite.

I like this attitude, it suits me. I also believe its one of the real benefits of Linux, getting off the upgrade train. I believe its one of the main reasons that hardware vendors are coming to Linux, they can save money on R&D and not having to retool every year or so.

Your thoughts?

Joeb454
August 2nd, 2008, 07:37 PM
I'm running on a fairly modern laptop, so I can't comment.

I do run a server on an old P3 (1Ghz) with 512Mb RAM though, I did have Xubuntu on it, but figured it would better serve as a server

cardinals_fan
August 2nd, 2008, 07:39 PM
I count my processes.

Yes, I am crazy :)

RiceMonster
August 2nd, 2008, 07:39 PM
Yeah, Linux users do seem really caught up in using less system resources. I get into it too. I don't like it when resources are being used for something I never use; it just bugs me. That's why I shut off blue tooth in my bios, and that's part of the reason I use Arch.

I have 2GB ram, and it still bothers me if a program uses a lot of it, even though my computer can clearly handle it.

Mateo
August 2nd, 2008, 07:52 PM
Dude, you just blew my mind.

Riffer
August 2nd, 2008, 08:04 PM
Dude, you just blew my mind.

LMAO, that esoteric?

keiichidono
August 2nd, 2008, 08:21 PM
Yeah, Linux users do seem really caught up in using less system resources. I get into it too. I don't like it when resources are being used for something I never use; it just bugs me.
Same for me, it bugged me that Vista was always using 1GB plus while Linux would use a quarter of that amount for even faster speed.

gsmanners
August 2nd, 2008, 08:27 PM
My system (not counting /home) uses over 10 GB of HD space and I like it. :)

kevin11951
August 2nd, 2008, 08:33 PM
My system (not counting /home) uses over 10 GB of HD space and I like it. :)

in the immortal words of your avatar, O RLY?

Riffer
August 2nd, 2008, 08:34 PM
Having a bunch of apps and programs is great, I'm really bad at installing and trying out different things, (I had 15 gigs of deleted packages in my root trash folder that I didn't know about). I think a lot of us do the same. :)

Daveski
August 2nd, 2008, 10:37 PM
In contrast what I noticed (at least on these forums) is people doing the complete opposite. People are bragging on how little resources they use or how old of a comp they can use.

With the growing trend towards being green, it make sense to use Linux to breath life into 'old' kit rather than dumping it in a landfill. As there is no vendor tie-in, it makes perfect sense for Linux to be adopted for Government and charity work.


This attitude can also be found in the choice of apps and programs we all use. Window and Mac users insist that they need the latest and greatest app. "Oh I NEED Photoshop." Where a lot of Linux users really think about their needs, perhaps choosing Abiword over OpenOffice, because they don't need a full suite.

Yeah, I have people at work asking me if I can install Photoshop on their PC. When I ask what they need it for it is usually somthing like 'Oh, well I often need to resize image files.'
<sigh>
I now put the Windows version of GIMP on ALL our computers at work.

tamoneya
August 2nd, 2008, 10:41 PM
while I have a fairly nice laptop (T61 2.0 GHz dual core) I watch the CPU speed in conky. Intel speed step usually underclocks my processor to 800 MHz and I hate seeing it ever go up to its full 2.0GHz. It hurts me inside when it does.

spupy
August 2nd, 2008, 11:04 PM
See, it's easy to just upgrade to a beast machine when you need it to run all the good and bad stuff on Windows/OSX/Linux (and you have money). But it requires a bit of tinkering to make your old PC do the same work with no fancy graphics and DirectX 25 or whatever. Maybe people are ok with giving money and don't care for what else can be changed. My laptop is 2 a years old low level toshiba - 1.4GHz, 512MB RAM. But it is still working. I am ready to do some tinkering to make my machine serve me more for the money I gave. And it happens to work better than the dual core 2.8GHz, 3GB RAM Vista machine I use at work.
Upgrading - this is just the way Windows wants customers to play (Apple not so much i think).