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Re: Open Source Supported Graphics Cards



On Mon, Aug 14, 2006 at 07:30:11PM -0700, Paul Johnson wrote:
> On Monday 14 August 2006 11:04, Seth Goodman wrote:
> > On Monday, August 14, 2006 6:20 AM -0500, George Borisov wrote:
> > > Anthony M Simonelli wrote:
> > > > I just get a little upset when people want to mold Debian into
> > > > something like a Windows clone.  If you want that, try a
> > > > Debian-derivative such as Linspire or Xandros.
> > >
> > > Spot on, dude.
> >
> > Does that represent the Debian position?  I'd very much like to know.
> > If so, I'll continue to use it in server applications and stop
> > recommending it to friends who are not computer professionals.  That
> > would certainly make my life easier and Microsoft more profitable.
> 
> Why?  Microsoft Windows is considerably more difficult and takes longer than 
> Debian to install and configure properly.

Because the computer store will install Windows.  Never mind that it 
has to be redone every few months.  (The store will do that, too)  The 
beginner will never get to the point of discovering that Linux doesn't 
need to be reinstalled every few months.

There's a peculiar phenomenon I discovered in the late 70's.  People who 
have trouble with their computers (in the places I dealt with it was 
large mainframe CDC machines) are very reluctant to switch, because they 
see themselves having to go through the whole ordeal again -- at least 
they *know* how they have to twist themselves into weird shapes to get 
along on the old systems.  They just won't believe things could be 
better with another system.  Only when they are forced to switch by 
powerful external forces (in my cases, this was usually to a VAX.  
IN one case even a PDP-11 runing Unix was superior to a CDC 
mainframe) will they realize what a trap they had been in.

-- hendrik



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