On 10/28/05, Shawn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Why did YOU switch to Linux? > > For me it was the cost of running my own web/email server without pirating > proprietary software. I just couldn't afford to buy the necessary MS > software and Licenses, and found that with a little work I didn't need too... > From there, Linux moved to my desktop.
Warning: you probably won't be interested in what follows, but I felt like typing it anyways. The short version is at the end. <start to zone out here> Well, I first switched to F/OSS "permanently" (for services at least,) before I really cared about software piracy. I first installed Linux 6 or so years ago on a PII-350 because I thought, "Hey, Linux sounds neat, maybe I'll finally be able to see what all this fuss about UNIX is about." It didn't last that long, as it was the family computer, and RedHat 5.4 just wasn't the right distro for me (and DLing a distro over dialup is no fun, especially when you don't have a CD-RW drive yet.) I started using FreeBSD 3 years ago on a brand-spanking-used PII-300, and have had it running various things (Apache, web based groupware suites, FTP, SSH, etc.) at various times for a year or so, until I switched it to be an OpenBSD based router, which blew up a few months ago. Since then, I've run FreeBSD on another brand-spanking-used Compaq Quad PIII Xeon, and Gentoo on a PIII IBM PC300-GL. The only real thing keeping me tied to Windows on my desktop was school. It's probably unfortunate that I never tried to use Windows emulators for the things I still needed, but when you're pressed for time to get your homework done, you need to sacrifice something. For those who are wondering, the programs I really needed windows for were: - Zilog Developers Studio - AXIDE I probably could have gotten by with having a different computer dedicated to those two programs, but I didn't have another one that was really up to spec to run them. However, I finally finished school in June, and shortly afterwards installed FreeBSD on my desktop and it's been running ever since (uptime: 4:59PM up 97 days, 18:27, yeah I know... patching... heh.) "What about Linux?" you may be asking. I've been running Gentoo at work on my laptop (A Toshiba A70) since I started in May. I'm the Lone Coder writing software for a Mini-ITX based boiler control system for heating in medium sized (50 Units is our first installation) apartment/condo buildings. (I'm sure there's a million better ways to do it than use a Mini-ITX, but the interface hardware is being developed in-house, and all of the decisions including platform, OS, and programming language were made before I even came into the picture...) <end zone out> After that long rant, I guess I should get back on topic. I chose to switch to Linux (well F/OSS in general) because I wanted to have a better understanding of how things happened in the OS and I wanted to have more control. Things grew from there. I found the stability amazing as my OS often outlasted my hardware (but not my roommate's stupidity unfortunately.) It still amazes me that people run webservers or any other services on Windows, but maybe that's just because I've never tried IIS (chuckle), it always seemed natural to do it on Linux or FreeBSD. On a slightly related note: There is a good article by Neal Stephenson titled "In the Beginning was the Command Line" that has a hilarious section at the start: "MGBs, TANKS, AND BATMOBILES" It goes on to describe a crossroads of four auto dealers (Microsoft, Apple, Linux, and BeOS) and their products, Apple having sleek machines that you have no idea how they work because you can't see on the inside, Microsoft having an ugly station wagon among other things, BeOS being a batmobile, and Linux being more advanced than an M1 tank and was free with the guarantee that "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!" A copy of it can be found here: http://artlung.com/smorgasborg/C_R_Y_P_T_O_N_O_M_I_C_O_N.shtml _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
