Very Computer

I know you are but what am I...

I'm * your glue....

Its my ball....

Hehe this stuff kills me...

The fact of the matter is that Linux, or more generically, the Free
software movement, is all
about freedom. Pundits will decry the fact that Linux is tough to
configure. 'It doesnt play
with my hardware. Why not Windows works fine?' This is a common theme
here. I can get support
for my windows XYZ product, witout having to wait for newsgroups or
other slower forms of
support. For these arguments I have a question, 'Have you ever had to
use support from
Microsoft?'. I don't want to re-live the long on-hold times I have had
with various 'LEGIT'
support organizations. I will freely admit that I have perhaps been
on-hold longer because I
was a repair technician for a local computer store for almost 10 years,
and after that was an
installer of computer POS equipment for 3, and am now a Sysadmin.

Linux exists for one simple reason, People are tired of not having a
choice. It used to be we
had a choice when it came to what OS we were going to use. DOS, OS2,
Xenix, DR-DOS, DOS 7, and
others. you will notice that Windows is missing from that list, because
at that time windows
was not an OS it was a shell over DOS. Now there is only one choice
WINDOWS. How did that
happen?. Given all the different kinds of people out there there should
have been a few other
left from the great convergence in computing that occoured in the early
90's. Some of this is
based on the fact that large organizations embraced a single standard (
its alot easier to
support one configuration than to support many ). People use at home
what they use at work.
Hence if I have windows at work I am likely to try to have it at home.
Alot of it has to do
with what is now officially being called Preditory practices of the
entity that created windows
in the first place. There simply came a time when there was no choice
read that as No Freedom.

ALong comes Linux. With a little pushing and prodding it fits into
places where it can. filling
niches that the only other remaining alternative cannot easily fit. I
runs well enough on last
years hardware. ( You need to upgrade your server inorder to install
this manditory Database
upgrade, because this manditory database upgrade requires the newest
version of Windows NT and
that cannot run well with last years hardware ). Don't laugh this
happens.

Linux is also Free ( as in Freedom ). It has source. When something does
not work people can
fix it. You cannot say the same about windows or its applications.
Because windows is not open
and free ( as in Freedom ). Microsoft has acces to things windows can do
that no-one else has.
This helped them make thair apps run better in it than other companies,
further pushing their
* in the market. Then when they we * they could dictate
their desires to the
masses. You will but a license of windows for all your computers you
sell, even the ones that
arn't going to run windows because the end users will want windows
anyway. This cost is pushed
onto us the consumer. We simply have no choice but to run the thing and
why not we paid for it.
My Laptop that I am writing this on came with windows 98. Getting it
without was not an option.
I am running RH6.1 on it because I chose to, I however will not be able
to get back my 48$ tax
( the windows TAX ). Sure I am free to choose what OS I run, but I still
had to buy the one I
am not running.  That close to Taxation without Representation, which is
why the US exists in
the first place.

I read about people saying that I am Free to go to Comp USA and buy
whatever game or
application I have the desire to, Take that app or game home, Install
that app or game on my
machine and have it work out of the box. There are equating that with
Freedom. The further
state that they are Free to take that app back if it does not work. (
however they cite that
they dont have the need because they always work ). As if this freedom
they have is macically
bestowed upon them by the virtue of their OS. In reality this is a
derived benefit of a mature
market. Folks can I remind you of the days of Windows 386. Nothing
worked.

This is not Freedom folks its simply a matter of the fact that there is
nothing else. Now let
me paint you a different picture.

I install an Office Suite. ( you know who's because there really is no
choice ). It seems to
work just fine on the machine except we find that the system no-longer
Faxes out the fax modem
like its supposed to. A little investigation reveals that this same
companies FAX package that
was working fine before the install does not work after because they
decided to break
something. What is broken, who knows, we can never tell because we can't
look at the source for
the offending package. We only know of the incompatability by reading it
in an onscure file in
the sites web support pages ( I gave up on their phone support after 2
hrs )

I install a new PCI network adapter. I have windows and Linux on my
machine. If I boot up from
powerdown into Linux everything works fine. If I am in windows first
then re-boot into linux,
the network adapter is not visable. Why is that. Because the cards
drivers in windows leave the
card in a messed up state when they are done with its detection. This
was specifically asked by
microsoft because it makes their task easier and Hey they or the only
player right. Can it be
fixed, sure... Oh we dont have the source. Oh well I have to cold boot
befor going into Linux.

Now I have done some hacking before but beleive me I am no hacker. (
those folks are GODS ) I
am a pleebe. I dont delve into my kernal and fix things that are broken.
I however have a warme
and fuzzy feeling knowing that If I were to get my brain buzzed with the
likes of Alan Cox's
vast smarts I could fix my kernel. I have gotten things to compile on my
systems before. I have
made tweaks to some things I have been using. This is a feeling of
empowerment. I will freely
admit its not for everybody. The fact is I have a choice and that is
Freedom.

Incidently I can go into CompUSA and Buy RH6.1 and Suse, and Code
Warrior, and Corel WP and
Linux, so maybe Comp is getting freeing up. Whats that I smell.... egads
its Fresh Air...

Lonnie Allen Watson
MCO System Administrator
Harbor Healthcare Management, LLC.
www.hhmri.org

Whew... fix your line-wrapping! 80 at max, 72 is widely used.  Your post is
nigh-unreadable!

:
: Lonnie Allen Watson
: MCO System Administrator
: Harbor Healthcare Management, LLC.
: www.hhmri.org
:
:

--
.:[ radiant matrix ]:............................
. Company policy requires me to withold my name .
. from all non-company-related public messages  .
. originating from our network.                 .
.................................................

: I love reading the message threads in this group for one simple reason (
: Comic Value ). All the
: posts here fall into basically two camps ( Viemently PRO LINUX and
: Viemently ANTI LINUX ).
: With few exceptions they all read like childish discourse overheard
: after school...

I'm the Linux type. In real life, I often use Linux and UNIX as synonyms,
calling Linux "Linux UNIX", or just "the freeware UNIX". Unless the person
is a Linux fan, I'll tell the computer geek I use UNIX at home!

To me, I like the GNU idea of freedom from copyright bullshit, albeit with
the minor limitation of having to provide the sourcecode for the next
person. I have made a few crude programmes myself, and they are GNU. They
are the body fat calculator and a mortgage calculator, both crude as *,
and likely a good laugh for a "real" C programmer. But I don't care.

I like the idea of having the sourcecode for a given piece of software, in
case I need to modify it and I can read it. PGP comes to mind in this
case. I pick PGP as the example, as I'm familiar with the compile for it.
I use the international version, but before the compile, I consider it
standard practice to edit pgp.c and edit out the "i" before the compile. I
did this with 2.6.2 and 2.6.3, both the international version where I
"Americanised" it by the source edit. It doesn't take a C guru to do it
either. I'm about one of the worst around at programming in C and I can do
this, as seen on Dejanews with either fat.c or mortgage.c which are the
filenames of my homebrew C source. Imagine a BASIC programmer trying to
programme in C, and you get the idea of how crude my C knowledge is.

Linux is great for those who like playing with computers, who don't mind
learning some programming. It works out great for me as a result. But the
Windows fans want to use the computer for some application, like finance.
Most Windows fans can care less about programming. They see the computer
as an appliance, not a cool thing to play with for it's own sake.

As far as techie types, I don't know. I would prefer having to work with
servers using UNIX or Linux than have to mess with NT Server. But that's
becuse I'm already familiar with UNIX and Linux. Had I learned about
networking in an NT shop instead of playing on the UNIX-heavy Internet, I
would likely have preferred NT over UNIX in the case of working with a
server of any kind. Note that I'm not a techie, but a hobbyist. In fact,
it was UNIX shell accounts that turned me on to Linux and UNIX. So, if I
were to design a LAN, the result would be one with a heavy "Internet
accent".

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