Subject: Re: Nice linux software summary From: Robert Eiichi Irie <irie(at)AI.MIT.EDU> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 15:41:00 -0400No 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