[SATLUG] Pokes at Microsoft (off Topic)

[Donguitar]

| You know it seems to me that everyone including myself seems to take shots
| at Microsoft a lot.  But in true defense to the novice computer user like
my
| neighbor daughter, the nice family just up the street and even my wife,
all
| who don't want to learn Linux.

I can't speak with any authority about anything beyond my own experiences
but there's more than enough fodder there for me to harbor some animosity
towards Microsoft.  Two years ago, when I bought the Windows machine I'm
using now I didn't want XP and Win98SE was no longer an option so I settled
for Win2K Pro even though it was double the price of XP.  I bought a Sony
DVDROM/CD/RW drive with it which came with NTI CD Maker Gold.  A few months
later NTI software wouldn't function after I'd visited Microsoft Update.  I
finally got it working by reinstalling the software.  The same problem has
occurred several times since then but after last week's update the NTI
software wouldn't run and reinstalling it didn't fix it.  I was able to
download CDBurnerXP Pro and it works but it has to be handled "just so" or
it fails (has a "beta" sort of feel to it).

My wife hates to visit MS Update because many of her meticulous setting get
whacked and she has to spend a couple of days putting everything back the
way she wants it.

After installing PCLinuxOS, which just worked beautifully, the first time I
hit a "newbie" snag I turned on the IRC client on the desktop, made up a
nickname, typed it in, clicked where it said to click and less than ten
minutes later I had an answer to my question.  That happened at about 3:30
AM.  Try that with Windows, go ahead.

I've installed Debian Sarge (via the net install CD) on several 500 MHz
computers and it has worked beautifully every time.  Yes, I had a tough time
learning to set up the sound and get the monitor resolution I wanted but in
every case I was able to find tutorials and/or helpful people who were
willing to answer my questions and patiently walk me through the process.

A few years back when I was learning to manipulate graphics on my Win98SE
machine it took me over two weeks to learn how to add compression to a jpeg.
It's easy to do, but I couldn't find a tutorial or anyone who'd explain the
process to me.

Six months after going onto the web with a "shiny new" win98 machine (the
first computer I'd ever owned that had a modem) the computer was so full of
malware that it finally wouldn't even boot up.  I had to pay through the
nose to have someone clean it up for me and I lost some files in the
process.

I was online instantly with my first Linux machine, over a year ago, and by
now we have three Linux machines, the youngest of which is at least six
months old.  Our next problem with malware on these machines will be the
first problem we've had.

My wife has observed that our first Windows machines were "Turnkey", set up
and ready to use when we got them.  I built two of our Linux machines myself
(from parts I scrounged and/or bought on eBay) and had to learn how to
install and tweak the operating systems myself.  If we'd bought any of these
three machines in their current state they'd have been a dream come true for
us.

Windows 9x becomes more obsolete with each passing week.  Debian Sarge, and
every other Linux distro I know of, becomes a better operating system each
and every week.  A year ago there was a Sarge update every couple of weeks.
Lately there's one, sometimes two, a week.

Whether or not I say an unkind word about MS, there's no way we can afford
another XP machine, let alone Vista but I know in complete certainty that I
can drop a CD in my Win2K computer (1.8 GHz  w/512 MB of RAM), turn it on
and in less than two hours reboot it as a Linux machine that I can grow into
knowing it will get better all the time.  The only choice I have to make is
which distro and I know enough about Linux distros by now to know what I
want (probably PCLinuxOS but I want to try Freespire, Mandriva and OpenSuse
first).

I had to buy MS fifteen years ago because there was no way I could afford a
Mac; I had no other choice.  Today, I can't afford MS but I have dozens of
alternatives.

This is a good thing.

I can use what I've learned to offer more choices to others and that's an
even better thing.

Don Crowder
http://www.don-guitar.com