On 05 Feb 2013, at 16:59, Daniel Fussell wrote: > On 02/05/2013 12:11 PM, Sasha Pachev wrote: >>> For that matter, maybe a meeting about how to talk to people about >>> Linux would be in order. >> I do not know Daniel but from what I can tell he has had enough social >> skills to get married. That is quite an accomplishment for a geek. He >> also managed to convert the household to Linux and stay married, so >> that is another accomplishment. Maybe he does know how to talk to >> people after all :-) >> > I don't know that I could recommend the method of persuasion I used; it > fits under the easier-to-ask-forgiveness-than-permission category. My > AthlonXP machine's motherboard appeared to fry one day, forcing a new > machine build (it turned out to be a blown cap on the video card, but > that's another story). At the time 64-bit Core-2's were available for a > reasonable price, and no stable 64-bit version of Windows was > available. Money was tight at the time, and I made the argument that I > wasn't going to waste half the machine's power just so Microsoft can > continue milking everything out of WinXP before moving on to their next > cash cow. Nor was I going to continue wasting money on anti-virus and > anti-spyware systems. And frankly, I didn't have time to deal with the > constant windows and AV updates, and resulting breakage. > > But I also had a backup plan, in case my argument failed to impress. > Late one night, after finishing the new assembly, I did a basic XP > install on a small partition at the back of the hard disk, then > installed Linux and set grub for a short timeout. Since Linux only > restarted after a power outage, and she didn't pay attention to the boot > process anyway, she never knew it was there. Fortunately, the WinXP > install was never needed. She was mad at me for a while, but I'd been > gradually moving to firefox and openoffice to ease the transition. Once > she knew that firefox was still firefox, and openoffice was still > openoffice, and gmail still worked the same way, she was (eventually) ok > with it. KDE was like windows on steroids, though KDE4 was a bit of > adjustment. She even liked GIMP over her previous use of MS Paint > (imagine that). She's still not sold on Cinelerra, and makes me do all > her edits when she wants to make a video. > > Occasionally a drm-style coupon site refuses to run on Linux, and > sometimes there's a broadcast-network-specific player that won't work > (BYUtv, ABC, etc), or some shoddy hardware or child's toy that demands > windows (Microtek scanner, MyPal stuffed dog). At these times, I catch > a little grief, but an occasional xp vm for 5 minutes usually resolves > the issue without complaint. Then again, she has also benefited greatly > by using Linux as she has occasionally been dragged into some > well-meaning community leader's yada yada good cause to handle massive > amounts of previously neglected 'paperwork' by said leader, often > requiring some windows dependent software. The "We don't have Windows, > we run Linux" phrase has generally been enough to avoid such > entanglements. When said leader is persistent enough to suggest a vm, > the somewhat longer "I suppose, if you gave me $300 for the windows > license and $50/year or so for the anti-virus, I could do that", has > decisively settled the issue in her favor. That is a positive > unintended consequence I hadn't anticipated. > > So I kind of forced the issue, spent a little time in the dog house, and > then was eventually placed on a pedestal as a foreword-thinking > visionary. It came down to that I was responsible for household > repairs, computing and technology, and basic grunt work and spider > killing. When it comes to things like how I dress and groom, what I > eat, or what chores I do, I have a small say and that's all. I'm > willing to make that compromise and its probably for the better. >
I cannot recall ever reading a better Linux testimonial. :) /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
