Author Topic: Can the update download speed be improved?  (Read 16354 times)

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Offline zilog

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Re: Can the update download speed be improved?
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2009, 10:21:46 AM »

Quote

In the same way that Windows is all about DOS.

Nope, there's big difference. DOS was running in inferior real-mode (or vm86 mode), with limited addressing sizes etc, and DOS application has nothing to do with Win32 API. Linux's commandline apps use the very same interface to the kernel (~ int 0x80) as any other application. GUI widgets/frameworks are changingf year by year, still far from efficinecy/perfection/usability, but commandline is here 40 years with minor changes only - and I pretty understand why :>.

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pc, the commandline advocate :>
May's Law: Software efficiency halves every 18 months, compensating Moore's Law. (David May, INMOS)

Offline FreewheelinFrank

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Re: Can the update download speed be improved?
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2009, 10:51:53 AM »

Quote

In the same way that Windows is all about DOS.

Nope, there's big difference. DOS was running in inferior real-mode (or vm86 mode), with limited addressing sizes etc, and DOS application has nothing to do with Win32 API. Linux's commandline apps use the very same interface to the kernel (~ int 0x80) as any other application. GUI widgets/frameworks are changingf year by year, still far from efficinecy/perfection/usability, but commandline is here 40 years with minor changes only - and I pretty understand why :>.

regards,
pc, the commandline advocate :>

Back in the day you could hear the same thing -command line advocacy- from Windows people. (Talking about the late 80's/early 90's here obviously.)

Obviously I'm not making a direct comparison here, but a general point. The new generation of Linux users are as much interested in using the command line as today's Windows users are in going back to the days of DOS.

Even people of my age who used to use DOS aren't interested in going back to using the same commands in Linux- we want a GUI!!

Maybe there's no market for an AV for Linux home users. I don't know anything about other markets, but home users represent a useful testing bed for the Linux product. At the moment slow updates are a huge disincentive to using it. Even having to do a manual install is a disincentive.

By contrast, Bitdefender for Linux has a repository- making installation a doddle- and fast incremental updates.

If you want Ubuntu/Linux users to try out avast! for Linux, that's the way to go. If you're not bothered, that's your prerogative.
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