On Sun, Feb 23, 2003 at 12:35:42AM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote: > On Sat, Feb 22, 2003 at 12:01:58PM -0500, Vikki Roemer wrote: > > Yeah, didn't somebody post a link to it on the mailing list when the > > article first came out around June? I really found it funny because I > > had just started using Linux around that time and I understood it, but > > other people who I had thought had been using Debian and/or Linux in > > general for a while didn't really get it. :) > > Well, what didn't help that parody's case is that there are media > companies with far more reputation than they deserve have historically > written equally atrocious articles about Linux. Those of us who were > still in school when geek profiling became the fad in schools realised > it was a parody and many, myself included, found it to be in extremely > poor taste. Oh, ok. Yeah, I can understand that. I've had my own run-ins with middle-school (would've been high school, too, but my parents pulled me out of public school after 8th grade) guidance counselors who thought that they were psychologists, and tried diagnosing me. *sigh* *shrug* > > Of course, OTOH, I'm a teenager and (at the time) my parents were > > pretty clueless about Windows and Linux. "What's so bad about > > Windows? I've never had problems with it" and "How can you get a > > *full*, *working* operating system for *free*? Everyone else charges > > for theirs. Well, if you really want it, you can get your own > > computer-- but don't come complaining to us when you find out you get > > what you pay for" were common arguments I had to deal with. > > I owned my house's computer, and when I got a new one, I gave my folks > my old one. They ended up putting WinME on it simply because my > sister had to use some Windows-specific CAD software in high school; I > think they're going to switch back to Linux after they get a beefier > box and the debian-installer auto-detects hardware, which is thier > only complaint about Debian. I offered to help, but they want to go > it alone this time. When I reinstalled ME the last time, I partitioned the HD and put Libranet on the other 1/3. Not that anybody ever boots into it, but it's there; my mom would use it if I would sit down and teach her how (time is the problem), but my dad, even though he's taking a Unix/Linux course this semester (he's going back to school to get his programming degree), is scared of my computer and of the Linux install on his computer. Wish I knew how to get him to like (or at least *use*) Linux, but I don't. :( He's getting there, I think, because he's finally seeing just how *bad* Windows is; but he's scared of Linux and needs Windows for his classes anyway. The local community college is known around this house as 'Microsoft Community College' because there are only 2 non-MS-centric courses this semester: Python/OOP (my dad and I are both taking that) and Unix (my dad is taking that-- I asked one of the professors about it and he said that it was just a really basic course; I looked at the microLinux distro I'm building an decided I'd be unbearably bored :). Other than that, it's pure Windows programming (Visual Studio (*gag*)), Windows servicing/support, Windows networking, MS Office, etc., ad nauseam. Most people in the school haven't even *heard* of Linux, much less seen a Linux box. *sigh* Scary. > My mom's one of the folks Nike IT throws beta boxes at, so she's a > little better than the average user, she thinks apt is a whole lot > better than driving to Fred Meyer and chunking down a few dozen bucks > for an upgrade. Heh. Amen to that! :) > My sister's a fairly average user, but a huge > graphics freak, but totally fails to comprehend how people think > Photoshop is better than the GIMP, especially when it comes to > support[1]. Score! *grin* 1 down, 5.9 billion to go... :) > [1] She used to like Photoshop. But then she wanted to buy her own > copy. She came back from Fry's empty-handed and ranted at me with, > "They want me to pay several hundred bucks for Photoshop, and if > something goes wrong, they charge a king's ransom for each phone call! > And I remember you telling me the horror stories about the Adobe guys > from the outsource shop you work at, so it's clearly not going into > training or paying those guys decent..." > I have a similar view towards Windows/Linux (I never liked Windows, though) and, to a lesser extent, RedHat/Debian. I mean, I've used RH-- in fact, I have RH 7.3 installed on the other half of my HD-- and I am totally *un*impressed with it. Installing apt-rpm made it bearable, but I don't know... it reminds too much of Windows. It tries to hide some of the 'complexity' of the system and it tries to make everything 'userfriendly' by holding your hand and treating you like a child-- dammit, that's part of why I ditched Windows, because of stuff like that. Granted, it's more stable than Windows and more secure out-of-the-box (I think...), but RH tries setting up the UI the same way as Windows. Ugh. Granted, for Debian there *is* a somewhat higher learning curve from the start (as opposed to being able to hide behind the GUIs until something Bad happens), but when something bad *does* happen, you have a better idea of what's going on, how your system is set up, and maybe even how to fix it. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I just had to say that. *shrug* BTW, does RH even have any mailing lists, or does everyone just rely on Official Tech Support[tm]? But the price part of RH doesn't bother me-- it's only $50 (as opposed to Win2k's $300), and I know that people have to make a living somehow; besides, they employ a lot of kernel hackers, IIRC, so they're ok there. It's just that I have some qualms about RH from a technical point-of-view. Sorry for ranting, but no one seems to be listening to me out there in RL. :( At least here I tend to get some feedback on whether I'm on the right track or what. *shrug* -- Vikki Roemer Homepage: http://www.2khiway.net/users/vroemer Registered Linux user #2880021 http://counter.li.org/ It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, The hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning, It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. PGP fingerprint: 0A3E 0AE4 CCD9 FF31 B4BB C859 2DE1 B1D8 5CE0 1578 Keyserver: http://pgp.mit.edu/ -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GAT d-(?) s: a--- C++++(++) UL++++ P+ L+++>++++ E W++ N+ o? K- w--() O? M? V?(-) PS+(+++) PE(++) Y+ PGP++ t+@ 5 X-() R*(?) tv-- b+++(++) DI+ D--(?) G e-(*)>+++++ h! r-- x? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
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