Linux
Tue Jan 25 2005 18:49 MST #So the new job comes with a new box, in this case a linux box - redhat enterprise WS-3 to be precise. And while all the core configuration stuff -- my .emacs, .bash_profile came across fine, there has been a lot of configuring to do, and I've been becoming familiar again with modern linux.
Basically my impression is that in the last 2 years little has changed. It's not quite as bad as it used to be but still not good. The gnome windows manager and redhat's bluecurve theme seem to have improved slightly, but it is still no where near as smooth as windows. It should not even be compared with the mac UI. As for management - I've been using debian on my server, and that is brill - but rpm is stuck -- I've installed a redhat port of apt-get to make this thing work. In addition the GUI tools for management are just as painful as ever - the only improvement seems to be that nautilus(the Finder/Windows Explorer equive) works, so at least files can be dragged and dropped. And it's not just management tools - its as far as I can tell the state of GUI apps - broken and not moving.
The high points in the app world are Firefox, Thunderbird, and emacs - all cross platform application that will run on my mac, or a generic windows box.
On the whole not a good show. But at least I can drop down to a unix term :)
To conclude: I WANT A MAC!