The idea is that many others can inspect the code and would cry foul, if foul there was. As apposed to those others not being able to inspect the code, on the their's and the communities behalf. Having some people, not affiliated with the software creators, able to inspect the code, makes for more security for everyone else, if it's all out in the open, it's harder to hide something. That tracks, right? If the code is closed to all but those who created it, then no non-interested parties can check it. Am i missing something? What exactly are you arguing?

Now-now, boys.

No, i get it, i am recently trying a new approach of restraining myself on the Internet. One only regrets saying douchey things, appropriate thought they seem at the time.

Okay, you take that on trust. We'll take access to the source. Really, OSS as more prone?

Yes it was. Is not everywhere, then need be nowhere == absolutist.

Because (you say) we can't have it everywhere, we should have it nowhere?

Ever heard of a package manager?

sudo aptitude install whatever
sudo pacman -S whatever
etc.,

Makes browsing the web, downloading, navigating to your file manager, clicking through install wizard, etc., look perfectly cumbersome.

You are ignorant, and a troll.

You argue fallaciously. He says he has not heard of any such problem, so even if you had, it would not make him a liar. Your response makes you look illogical and abusive. He has a point though, perhaps if you had a hardware problem which was sorted when you changed distro, it was because that distro shipped a different kernel version.

Tell that to my parents, onto whose PC i have recently installed Linux Mint Debian Edition, after their Windows installation got severely sick, and my dad had to cancel his debit card due to fraud, after many of my mum's photos got encrypted by a ransom virus.

They can't believe how fast the (same) system now is, and they appreciate how clean and attractive the interface is. Honestly, they freaking love it, oh yeh, and they can use an up-to-date word processor with a standards compliant interface, the type of which they have become accustomed to.

Your opinions are not representative of the entire populace. Many simply do not realise the alternatives, and how good they are.

Between updates, or after them??? Anyways, why don't you try a rolling release distro?

You are detestable!

You don't have chimp ancestors, we share a common ancestor with chimps. Chimps are as equally evolved as us.

Eye witness testimony is not evidence!

Or, is that a whoosh on my part?

When has a Linux DE not been easy to customise? Especially when compared to OSX - mind you i bailed during the 10.4 days (god, getting the top panel to hide was ridiculously difficult!).

So, these comments have made depressing reading (okay so i only read about 300 hundred or so). Slashdot is a site that is supposed to be News for Nerds, and is famed for having a strong Linux-using (the nerd part) reader base, not to mention heritage. Yet, so many of the comments (and the highly rated ones, at that) have been by clearly very inexperienced, and ignorant PC/Mac users whining about how they couldn't do something they way the were used to, and who, rather than learning how to do it, gave up, and proceed to claim it can't be done in Linux, or is too difficult, or that the mean forum members were so wude to them (i experienced nothing but friendly help, and advice, provided FOR FREE, in the forums, concerning many different distros, when i was a noob). Perhaps if you tried to HELP YOURSELVES first and thus refined your knowledge of the problem, you would get more effective advice. Honestly, you should all go over and swell the ranks of Lifehacker. It's not that i am being elitist, you are just literally wasting everybody's time by spewing inaccuracies and inanities.

Really? Groups on Linux is baked in, and has been since forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!