[WEB4LIB] browser and OS wars

[Daniel Messer]

dan <dan at riverofdata.com> said:

> Hey Guys, 
> 
> Can't we get beyond this same old "your browser and OS suck, you should use
> the one I do that rules the world and will feed starving children in its
> spare time"? 

dan <dan at riverofdata.com> said:

> Hey Guys, 
> 
> Can't we get beyond this same old "your browser and OS suck, you should use
the one I do that rules the world and will feed starving children in its spare
time"? 

	AMEN! I have no idea why some people want to treat OS options like a black or
white deal. The problem with different OS options applies to most anything
else in the world that you have to use, yet you have different choices. The
typical thing to do is to compare computers to cars, so I'm going to continue
that trend with this analogy.
	You're purchasing something to do something for you and make your life
easier. You have a set of needs in mind. The product needs to do this, this,
and that. So, you need a car. It needs to be able to haul cargo, carry at
least four people, have a powerful engine, and a reliable track record. Great,
you've narrowed the field down to about 20 to 30 cars that will all do just
that. So you pick the one that suits you and fills your needs. Why should
anyone be put down because they happened to choose a Chevy Blazer when someone
else feels that a Cadillac Escalade would have been better. Sure they both do
the same thing, but there's some real material differences between the two.
But the fact remains: *They both do the same thing.*
	The same is true in computing. There are some real advantages to using Apache
over IIS and there's some real disadvantages too. The same is true vice versa.
There's really good reasons to use Linux, and there's some really good reasons
not to. The trick is, YOU have to know which one is best for YOU and YOUR
organization, not what someone else thinks is best for you. Sometimes people
just have a hard time accepting the fact that there's inherent disadvantages
to a particular product (be it OS or browser or otherwise) that they happen to
favour.
	In my opinion, which along with $1.50 gets you overpriced coffee at
Starbucks, the key to all of this, the little trick that will save your bacon
time and time again, is the ability to think outside the box and utilize the
advantages while minimizing the disadvantages. For example, Windows is easy to
set up, use, and get going. That's an advantage. The other side are security
holes. So any good sysadmin works to make Windows easy to use for everyone,
and patches and updates as often as possible to minimize security risks.
	The funny thing is that the uberchampions of Windows or Linux or whatever can
have it both ways. We use both Win2K and Debian Linux here at YVRL and, thanks
to a highly knowledgable sysadmin, they play very nicely together. I myself
use both Windows and Red Hat at home and I'm looking at getting a Macintosh as
well. Why? Well, partly because I'm a geek but mostly because I like all three
and can utilize their advantages while minimizing their weaknesses. There's
absolutly no reason why this can't be done in a library setting and there's no
reason to assume one is inherently better than the other.

Dan



-- 
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer
Assistant Circulation Manager
Yakima Valley Regional Library
dmesser at yvrl.org
509-452-8541 ext 761
102 N 3rd St  Yakima, WA  98901
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                                         -Hunter S. Thompson
Just because nobody complains doesn't mean all parachutes are perfect.
                                         -Benny Hill