Re: Nice linux software summary

[Robert Eiichi Irie <irie@xxxxxxxxxx>]

No flames, and thanks for the excellent summary for linux. I too have
been trying to decide between linux and the "other" solution, which
in my case is Windows NT 3.51. I eventually decided to use Windows NT,
though I have used linux and love command lines more than GUIs.
The factor that tipped me over to the commercial OS solution is the
availability of good development environments and  volumes of
texts of programming techniques, source code, etc. that is available
now for Win32. There is nothing (yet) in the linux/unix world that
compares to the ease of use and power of Visual C++ (or Borland, or Symantec,
etc.) in terms of project management and source level debugging.
Sound card interfacing has stabilized and the MultiMedia extensions are
standard in Win32. You can access sound cards at the most simplistic
(MCI) level or deal with them at the lowest level.


As an OS, Win NT is fully 32 bit and thus is much more stable than 3.11
or 95, though I have managed to crash it a couple of times. It is not
really multi-user, and certain features are definitely not as clean
or simple as unix, but I am still quite happy with NT. I will be willing
to compile a FAQ for sound programming in NT if there is enough interest.

Robert Irie