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Story: Longhorn and the Linux long-game

Posted by: M Poppe (Friday 11 March 2005, 7:07 AM)

John B.
Well put arguments there buddy however, a short retort is in order. Certainly there are many Tech's that are in fact snobbish. This comes from having to reiterate over and over again simplistic things such as "make sure your antivirus software is up to date and working properly" to users. Seeing as I'm a tech myself you're probably rolling your eyes at this. However, people are not allowed to drive a vehicle without knowing at least some basics such as putting gas in the car or you'll be stuck on the side of the road. In fact you need to know how to navigate on the roads before you're even allowed to drive. The same should apply with computers. I mean why have a piece of equipment if you're unwilling to learn anything about it. There is tons of support out there for Linux distros, both in the areas of information and hardware. All anyone needs todo is look around the web. Now, I'm not sure what flavor of Linux you're using, but you could try any version of Knoppix Linux. If you boot with the ICEWM window manager you will see a great similarity to Windows. Furthermore, there are modems which work great with Knoppix, and there is a simple method for a "GUI" install. FYI the reason why most Linux distros don't support many modems is a security one. Linux distros are designed to connect to the Web through a network card. This is so you can connect to a firewall/DHCP server to give you better protection while connected. Also setting up a hardware firewall, router, or DHCP server is simple and cheap. Just take an old computer and run Coyote Linux or similar distro on it (Coyote turns a computer into a firewall/router). Lastly, if you don't like to pay for updates then I highly recommend Knoppix. Klaus Knopper is continually creating newer versions all of which run great on old and new machines alike.
I do sympathize with you in that there are many who need to stop whining... Some thoughts from someone who knows what their talking about.