Posts by eldergeek

Use Debian? Want Intel's latest CPU patch? Small print sparks big problem

Seems a bit SNL...

All that scary stuff and then "never mind" at the end. You're a credit to Gilda Radner. :)

Another chance to win a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive

That is NOT a feature!

How Microsoft shattered Gnome's unity with Windows 95

These sorts of articles are annoying.

I've been a full-time Linux desktop user since 2006. I'm not an IT guy, didn't go to college (electronics trade school in fact but had no use for computers at the time) and didn't get online until early 1999, at which time I had a 256 MHz, P2 which consumed virtually all of my expendable income in purchasing maintenance, internet service, extra RAM, faster dial-up modems, spiffier sound cards, etc., ad nauseum. In 1990, my first (used) Windows machine (which never went online at all) cost me over 800 U.S. dollars and, even then, wasn't a particularly impressive machine.

At the moment, I'm typing in Firefox on an HP, Compaq 6710b laptop running Kubuntu 12.04. I bought it used for a little over 200 U.S. dollars and it's faster, with Kubuntu, than the much newer Windows Vista and 7 machines which I'm often called on to repair for my neighbors and friends. It's very annoying to read an article every few days which authoritatively informs me exactly how and why Linux is "never" going to make it on the desktop. I'm beginning to wonder if these sorts of articles haven't been written "to order", as it were, and paid for under-the-table by Microsoft as a component of their ongoing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) campaign against the Open Source world at large.

I realize that leading edge computing is in a state of rapid transition but anyone who believes that Linux isn't going to be "all up in the middle" of it is kidding themselves. I'll remind you that Android, which is but another form of Linux, virtually owns the smart phone market. Meanwhile, there are a lot of folks like me who aren't affluent enough to invest in leading edge computing systems while there are plenty of used P4 systems out there which are priced within virtually anyone's budget and will run Linux very nicely. In many large cities there are organizations which will provide underpriveleged families with a Linux system and pre-paid, high-speed internet service for free. I myself have given away about four dozen Linux systems (though folks had to buy their own internet service) since 2006. I've also spent less on computer hardware & software since 2006 than I spent per annum in the preceding decade and that includes the cost of the systems I gave away.

While you, and the apparent army of literate, like-thinkers continue to write authoritative articles telling me how Linux isn't ever going to make it on the desktop, every few days, I'm just going to keep on using, and very much enjoying, Linux.

Ask me how much I've spent on security (firewall, anti-virus & anti-malware) software since 2006. Zip, nada, nothing amigo (that's no dollars and no cents) and I've yet to have a virus or malware infect my computer system. It's the same amount I've spent on my desktop Operating System during the same time period and numerous folks who liked the idea of having their old computer become a boon to a student or a senior citizen have given me entire systems.

I think my $.02 is worth considerably more than your opinion. Nuff said.