John, The comments were serious. He "seriously" doesn't help his sister because she uses Windows. That's ridiculous.
> MS Windows is great too, especially if you like > sharing your computer resources with others on the > Internet. ;) I use XPSP2 and its personal firewall. I create Limited user accounts for people to use their computer with. I educate users to buy the latest version of Outlook (2003) which blocks all executable attachments. I educate users not to go to gambling websites and stick with trusted sites (msn, yahoo, google). Linux users that run as root all of the time would have the same problems as a Windows user who runs with administrative privileges. > I've supported many family members who use Microsoft > Windows and wished a number of times that their first > computer experience would have been with Xandros or > some other desktop-friendly distro. It would have > reduced the number of times I had to fix worm-ridden > Windows machines. If the family member wants to install, let's say, a card game to play on his Xandros, how is that done? Do they know how to apt-get? What if they wanted to stop at Wal-Mart and pick up one of the Hoyle Solitaire's for $5. Would that run on Linux? Let's say they wanted to install MythTV. Would they know how to recompile a kernel for bttv/ivtv support and to disable preemption? Would they know how to make sure their /etc/modules.autoload.d/2.6 stayed up to date? There are no install CD's for device drivers for Linux. There is no widespread cheap software library for Linux. There is no "standard" version of Linux. It will forever be limited to us geeks. The sooner we realize that, the better. If you want to give something to your family members, suggest they purchase OS X on a mac. > The way I look at it, it is kinda like getting someone > you love to quit smoking. You know it's bad for them, > but convincing them to quit can cause problems. Hardly. Andrew Baudouin Applications Programmer AWC, Incorporated [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: John Hebert [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 11:24 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [brlug-general] [Paul Ferris: RANT_MODE=1] This Christmas, gi ve the gift that doesn't keep on taking ... Andrew, I think you are taking the comments a little too seriously. Not everyone on this list is a "virulent fanatic" of GNU/Linux. I think Linux is great for some things and not so great for others. MS Windows is great too, especially if you like sharing your computer resources with others on the Internet. ;) I've supported many family members who use Microsoft Windows and wished a number of times that their first computer experience would have been with Xandros or some other desktop-friendly distro. It would have reduced the number of times I had to fix worm-ridden Windows machines. The way I look at it, it is kinda like getting someone you love to quit smoking. You know it's bad for them, but convincing them to quit can cause problems. Yule Tidings! John --- "Baudouin, Andrew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > That's just great. That is definitely NOT in the > spirit of Christmas...to > deny support for anyone who uses > Windows...especially a family member. > > This kind of virulent fanaticism is what turns off > people from GNU/Linux. > Frankly, I'm ashamed. > > Andrew Baudouin > Applications Programmer > AWC, Incorporated > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: Scott Harney [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 10:26 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [brlug-general] [Paul Ferris: > RANT_MODE=1] This Christmas, give > the gift that doesn't keep on taking ... > > Richards Jr, Edward C. wrote: > > This is GREAT! > > > > > http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/28240/index.html > > Sounds like what I tell people as well. The people > I do support run Linux. > My > Mom runs Linux. My brother runs Linux. My sister > does not and she doesn't > ask > for or receive help. > > > > > Enjoy and Merry Christmas, > > > > Ed Richards, PE > > > > > > > > > > This email, including any attached files, may > contain confidential and > privileged information. Any review, use, > distribution or disclosure of > included information by unintended recipients is > strictly prohibited. If > you are not a named recipient or authorized to > receive and / or act on > information sent to a named recipient, or have > reason to believe you are not > or should not be one of the named recipients, please > notify sender > accordingly by reply email and delete all copies of > this message prior to > forwarding, copying or otherwise reproducing this > message or attachments > thereto. For information regarding the export > control status of items > discussed in this document, please refer to the > project control list. Thank > you. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > General mailing list > > [email protected] > > > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > > -- > Scott Harney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > "Asking the wrong questions is the leading cause of > wrong answers" > gpg key fingerprint=7125 0BD3 8EC4 08D7 321D CEE9 > F024 7DA6 0BC7 94E5 > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 _______________________________________________ General mailing list [email protected] http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
