Thanks to everyone who wrote (and to anyone who actually read the whole thing! :)
My article yesterday was a pastiche. My motivation initially had been to talk about how Linux is helpful with online privacy issues - but once I started, I discovered that I had to talk about how good Libranet had been, and how good Debian is, and how it's incrementally satisfying to be running a GNU/Linux shop - how every day seems to bring a pleasant new surprise. (Today it was mouse hot-swapping. Try THAT with Windows(tm)!) All that belonged in my pastiche. What I did not adequately emphasize is the importance of friends in the community. To Ben Scott and Alex Hewitt, who helped me get over what seemed an impenetrable barrier with kernel recompiles; to Jon and Tal at Libranet, for help and encouragement when I seemed unable to notice that XFree86 V4.1.0 was ALREADY INSTALLED by their Libranet kit; to Jon "maddog" Hall, whose standard of enthusiasm for Linux kept me from giving up; to the amazingly generous folks who created and packaged drivers for miserable winmodems; and to many, many more. I was desperate more than once; my friends (you!) bailed me out. Sometimes I wasn't even desperate yet, but someone's posting provided a magic key for a problem I was yet to encounter. Mentioning only a few names is not to minimize my gratitude to everyone - those whom I can remember, perhaps more so those whom I cannot. I confessed that converting a shop to Linux isn't easy yet. It is possible, however. The generosity of others who love GNU and Linux in sharing their time and expertise was for me, as it will be for others, crucial. Thanks, gals and guys. My turn now, to help the next pioneer. -Bill --------------- Other specific benefits from the community: the pointer to Galeon 1.2 (thanks, Tal); fluxbox (very lean and cool); sylpheed-claws (solved the get-free-of-Netscape problem); wvdial (accurate design center, indispensable in stabilizing the winmodems); synaptic (that's how I knew there are exactly 1,566 packages installed on the workstations); OpenOffice (I'd heard about it, but a list posting was what motivated giving it a try); CUPS (clean, usable network printer management). In every case someone gave me the initial tip. Final note: it is largely the complement of usable, functional applications which makes a conversion practicable. We appear to have arrived. This stuff is GOOD. Retraining has been surprisingly easy and rewarding. And not least, all of our ongoing applications (except for win4lin) are now Free Software! There will be no looking back. ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
