It's not. I hate Windows and I hold my nose every time I have to use it. Even so, Windows is a more appropriate platform than Linux for most day traders, because that's what most trading software is written for. BTW, I agree that there's no need whatsoever for a trader specific Linux distribution. Martin
At this moment, Linux or XP for trading depends on the user. Knowledgeble individuals clearly choose for Linux. No doubt about ths reading your posts. Why is this so? Enough has been posted about this. I'm not going to add much technical stuff today. Special distro? Nuts! Which distro? Depends on the individual. I worked a lot with Debian then Gentoo. Practical reasons brought me now to Suse Pro 9.3 being, for me, the best in covering a wide range of hardware trouble-free. I run six machines right now all on the same distro. I mainly had trouble with laptop apci and a bit wifi. I may switch again. if I need to. This is the beauty of Linux. Where can you go with xp? NOWHERE but to BG's M$ barn, he got you attached as a cash-cow. What about non-technical users. Xp may be a bit more comfy right now. If you have some sense, it's time to open your eyes a bit. Things can change pretty fast in this business. Where was M$ NT 10 years ago: NOWHERE. Lots of guys still running around with IBM, SUN or DEC engraved on their eyeballs in those days. Believing in the 'PERMANENCE' of the extravagant M$ monopoly? Among the many, the Chinese don't! I don't either. True, American justice looked the other way in spite of the fact that the USA had never before been confronted with such an all pervasive 'monopoly' as defined under the law. M$ will not be the solution till the end of times. Better get ready, things do change like lightening in computing. Keep your powder dry and learn about something that enables you to escape from being milked like a cash cow and having an M$ tag rivetted onto your right ear. Today, in computing, I'm free going where I feel like: my best way.
It's always really funny to see people thinking linux is more complicated stuff than Windows. It's mostly because people are now used to Windows. Just remember back in 95, when most of them started using a computer and hadn't a clue. How much time did they spend configuring it the first time ? It's all about habits. Personally, what I really hate in Windows is the impossibility to use commands (OK, there is DOS, but what can DOS do...). Moreover, M$ has a childish approach to the user : would you name a physical file you have on your desk 'My Documents' ? No, 'Documents' would be enough, except if you're 5 years old...
Very true! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/bash3/chapter/index.html http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-...Conferences|Other|Weblogs&sp-q=bash&search=Go
Oh come on. Linux is still vastly more complex for the user than Windows. With that complexity comes power, flexibility, etc... but ease of use? No way. Martin
I totally disagree with that. Two points : - Last time I tried, I haven't been able to install windows XP and configure all my hardware and connect it to a network. With time (I switched to Linux back in 98-99), I have completely forgotten how to use windows, and believe me or not, but I find it really complicated. It's almost impossible to find where to configure something without a good book on it. - My mother who was a complete ignorant of computers managed to install SuSE 9.1 quite smoothly. But she has never been able to install WinXP. In my opinion, the flexibility of Linux is nowadays completely hidden to the user who doesn't care about it.
I find this very credible. I recently installed Novell/Suse 9.3 PRO on 6 machines one after another, (3 workstations, 3 laptops) all different. No problem whatsover - all hardware config problems encoutered with previous distros and XP gone! Old Os's recognized and configured in multiboot automatically! Overmore, applications like OpenOffice all install in one and the same operation. On-line update is also working great. On some I run Eric/Qt as Python heavy duty IDE. Amazing, nothing to install as Python 2.4, Qt3.3 and PyQt are already present in the SuSe basic setup. If I recall I only had to elect a Qt development library and Eric. MySQL also 100%. Qt also great with C++ of course. No other framework can match Qt! On top all this would also run on Windows if you have to. Perfect cross platform setup. On topic: http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/2005081901226OPMR
I don't use them, but has someone tried them under wine ? wine is a complete rewriting of the windows API and allows a linux user to run windows applications in a transparent way. http://www.winehq.org
If only a major consumer data feed company were to support it (one that had an API), I'd switch. Easy enough to trade IB on Linux, but custom charts?