-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi Bryan,
On Wednesday, November 12, 2003, at 4:28:08 AM PST, you wrote: > It would possibly provide more certainty but you would be robbing > yourself of a prime learning opportunity. The question is, do you > want to remain dependent upon others or gain the knowledge for > yourself. Doing is the quickest way to learning. Thanks Bryan, for all your comments. I'm a bit short on time at the moment, so I'll only comment on the above for now... I can go along with "Doing is the quickest way to learning", and in fact would take it further and say that it can, very often anyway, be a more "in depth and complete" path to learning...though in some cases, not necessarily quicker. This, of course, can depend on what it is one really has the desire to learn. When it comes to computers and my use of them, I often feel like I'm "caught between a wimpy and a geeky place". :-) To some degree, I really do enjoy mucking about with the inner workings of my OS (currently, of course, Windows) and the certain programs I use for this or that *when necessary*, but there's also an entirely practical reason for me to appreciate whatever I find to be "practical and expedient". I don't do any "work" on a computer (meaning that I don't use a computer for my job...never have, and hopefully never will, being a musician who plays on 300 year old wooden instruments), nor do I "work with" computers themselves *as any sort of a job* (though, when dealing with helping my mother with hers, it can sometimes feel that way!). By choice, I have a busy life, and while my computer is a wonderful tool for me for communications, research, a bit of chess playing/learning, and for my daily journal writing, my other interests demand much more of my time and energies. In the philosophical/political sense, I certainly favor the "Linux way" over the "Windows way"...no question about that. On the practical side, however, I guess I can be a bit more, well, practical and expedient when it comes to my personal computer usage and the time I spend on this or that aspect of it. My interest in Linux is not in any way related to an overwhelming urge to "get down and geeky" with it. In addition to my philosophical/political leanings, which I admit I can be persuaded to compromise when it comes to favoring one OS over another, I'm interested to see *what a Linux distro and its associated programs can do for me* in terms of my needs for this type of tool. That said, and I'm sure this will seem like heresy to some here, I'm currently very pleased with how WinXP, and the programs I use on it (mostly non-MS software) is/are working for me. Just as a small example... I deal with a lot of email, and I'm quite particular about the type of "power" I expect in terms of both email management and composition. After trying and using just about every email client available for Windows (including those that have Linux based counterparts), I've found my current Windows email client (The Bat!) to be my "dream come true" email handler, and anything in Linux that might replace it would have to be *very impressive indeed* for me to consider a complete switch to a Linux-only client. For instance, I've seen many Linux users using Mozilla/Thunderbird, and though I don't know if there are some essential differences with how these work on Linux as opposed to the Windows versions, I'm frankly not impressed when I compare them to The Bat!. I also have the Windows version of Sylpheed on here, and again, I'm not impressed. Perhaps there is an email client on Linux that will impress me. I hope so. I will make a promise though... Once I get Mandrake up and running, I'll look for an email client that works decently for me there, and even if I still prefer The Bat! in Windows for my daily heavy email usage, I'll use Mandrake, and the Linux email client I decide upon for reading/posting to this list! :-) I leave open all possibilities, up to and including dropping Windows entirely and making a complete switch to Linux (which, if it happens, would quite please me), but it all depends on if I can find specific Linux based programs that do at least as much or more for me in the areas that are important to me. I may well even discover very useful applications in Linux that I never even considered during my use of Windows, and that would please me as well. I may end up switching back and forth between both OSs...each for its unique strengths with regards to my needs and preferences. In any event, I feel comfortable that I can take my time learning about Linux/Mandrake via trial and error or any other means, because I won't lose any essential functionality I currently have with Windows during this learning period. I do look forward to this new adventure. PS: As you may have noticed by now, I can be fairly sound-byte challenged, and wander off on meandering digressions. Please feel free to tell me to shut up and stick to the basics. I promise I'll try! :-) - -- Melissa PGP public keys: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]&Body=Please%20send%20keys -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iD8DBQE/sqkOjVbXUvsE8ukRAr9fAJ45713Ta1+nnubzgHNNkgnt0L79pQCfcwlc bNZFRrXIsRmbmGDoehA6tsg= =tYK+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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