Selling Linux to Windows Users

[Mark Haney]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> 2008/12/9 Mark Haney <mhaney at ercbroadband.org>:
>>> Swords work when they are full of sand, they do not need reloading,
>>> they do not need the meticulous cleaning and frequent disassembly of a
>>> firearm, and have many other advantages. They are faster and less
>>> expensive to manufacture, less prone to abuse, and can be used for a
>>> variety of purposes.
>> Full of sand?  I missed that reference.  :) But yeah, I never tire of
>> reloading my katana.
>>
> 
> That's not a reference to anything that you should be familiar with.
> But taking fire in Han Yunis with an M16 that won't cock because it is
> full of sand leaves an impression on one.

No, I'm familiar with it, I just didn't catch the context.  I'm not 
personally familiar, but my Father was in Vietnam, my grandfather and 
Father-in-law were both in WW2 and my father-in-law wa sin Korea as 
well. He was a heavy machine gunner.  Won 2 Silver Stars and 6 Bronze 
Stars and is the most decorated soldier in the county I live in.

> 
>>> But they will not forsake 'easy'. Fortunately, Ubuntu provides that.
>> I've seen plenty of people forsake 'easy' for stability and usability.
>> But, in general that's true.  However, I will say that more people are
>> becoming savvy enough to forsake 'Fisher-Price' easy for something more
>> complex without being overly so.
>>
> 
> I wish that I knew that same people that you do.

I doubt it.  Most of them are slightly insane, like I am. However, this 
area (Western NC) is becoming somewhat of a place to find a good 
computing background.  We take that sort of thing seriously here.

> 
>>> Securely? Who? I do not know them. And consistency does not seem
>>> important to anyone but people who take an active interest in
>>> computers.
>> Yes, securely.  Maybe my experience has been outside the norm, but I've
>> found more 'casual' users taking more of an interest in security over
>> the last couple of years than I ever did before.  Now, it's true they
>> want 'secure' without 'paranoid', but taking an interest in it is a start.
>>
> 
> Here, computing is generally is Click Click Click. And if the codec
> pack is called Joe's Virus Pack but it will play that Simpson bootleg,
> so be it.

I do believe that is true for the majority, but I do believe that that 
mindset is changing. Albeit slowly. I do think my experiences here are 
'not the norm' as much as I want them to be.


> 
>>> Do you take an active interest in kitchen appliances? Has the
>>> inconsistency of the refrigerator lighting and the microwave lighting
>>> ever bothered you? The refrigerator light is only active when the door
>>> is open. The microwave light is only active when the door is shut.
>>> Does that not bother you?
>> I'm not sure where you were headed with this, but this isn't
>> inconsistency as much as it is /supposed/ to function that way.  And it
>> does every time providing the bulb isn't burned out.  And yeah, I do
>> take an interest in them, I do all the cooking at home.  It's how I relax.
>>
>>>> History doesn't teach us about who came first. It's more about the
>>>> victors write the history.
>>> Hehe, it's the victors who usually write the history.
>> In a really poor way, that's what I said.  It sounded better in my head.
>>  If that helps.
>>
> 
> It is a common argument that is pointless. History is important, but
> the accepted version of it is not necessarily what happened, or why.

So very true.  I spend the rest of my free time (what there is anyway) 
studying classical history.  It's very obvious from historians of that age.

> 
>>> Not until they see something new, no. That's why I love to use Compiz
>>> and answer people who ask "is that Vista"?
>>>
>> Well, that may be true in a lot of cases, but everyone finds that when
>> the 'new' wears off, it's not as cool as you originally thought it was.
>>  You know?
>>
> 
> No, I don't. People want shiny. You know?
> 

Shiny is all well and good (and I'm ADD I love shiny things), but more 
people now are looking critically at their computing infrastructure and 
finding that 'shiny' isn't always what you should look for in computing.



-- 
Frustra laborant quotquot se calculationibus fatigant pro inventione 
quadraturae circuli

Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
(828) 350-2415

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support