Hi, On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 9:04 PM, Brian Baquiran <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> One of the wonders of Linux today is that it just > works! I'm working from home on an old PC I installed > Ubuntu on, and were it not for my need to code I would > probably never need to open up a terminal session. My > fiancee uses it as well, and she doesn't know a thing > about *nix/Linux. > > I think the technical discussions on PLUG have died > down simply because the problems most people encounter > with Linux no longer require a mentor, deep hacking or > obscure knowledge to solve. When someone does > encounter a problem, the solution is usually just a > quick Google search away. So true. I've been using Linux for more than 8 years now, more than half of it just using Linux more than 95% of the time (although can't really claim to be an expert, just plain user). If I didn't leave the academe, I wouldn't be using Windows again. Anyway, I installed Kubuntu on top of Vista using Virtual Box. Things just work. Five years ago it'd take me a few days to get my Linux PC to "feel right". Now, I'm more annoyed with having to install Norton antivirus and do Windows updates than Kubuntu installation and updates. For things that I still can't have in Kubuntu (or Vista), I use the version in Vista (or Kubuntu). I get the best of both worlds! (But I'm only keeping Vista because it came pre-installed in my PC, sayang din yung Microsoft tax ko, hehehe...) On the advocacy side, Linux is mainstream enough that > practically all the job applicants I interview, even > fresh grads, have at least rudimentary Linux exposure. > Telling investors or partners you're building your > biggest, most critical systems on Linux no longer gets > you raised eyebrows like it did in 1997. > > I'd like to think PLUG has done its part, directly or > indirectly, in getting Linux to this point. Those > people who were Linux newbies during the Golden Age of > PLUG eight to ten years ago are now executives who can > dictate their company software policy. Maybe they've > become teachers and added Linux instruction into their > curriculum. I was personally inspired by what I've read from the posts on PLUG and I promoted open-source in each university I worked in before. I am pretty sure I'm not the only one. So PLUG has definitely played its part in making Linux mainstream. In fact, my current employer hired me partly because of my experience with working on Linux. :-) > The world of Linux has changed, mostly for the better. > And now, perhaps it's time for PLUG to move on. Well, if "to move on" means increasing its activities to reach the more remote parts of the country (where people still know only Microsoft Windows), I agree. Linux is not yet really as mainstream as we would like it to be. Perhaps one benchmark would be the amount of money that the government and, say, small and medium-sized businesses, pay for proprietary software rather than available FOSS alternatives? Cheers, Allister -- Allister Sanchez http://allisterx.blogspot.com
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