Selling Linux to Windows Users

[Amy Kelly]

> Do you really think that a bad wireless card should be able to take
> down the whole system?!? That should be abstracted and kept out of the
> kernel. Actually, I think that Vista does keep these drivers in
> userland, but I don't know enough to really be sure.

It was a ThinkPad, when they go down they go down HARD. I blame IBM
more than I blame the XP Pro install I had on it, it was dying hard
enough that it would have taken down anything. Known issue, this was
the same computer that would randomly forget that it had USB ports.
Never tested it with Linux, but the R40s were not known for their lack
of flakiness. To get the wireless going again it was either buy a new
mini-PCI card from IBM - thing would not even POST with the Intel card
I bought to replace it - or use a USB gidget, which is what ended up
happening. I haven't had any major issues with the Vista side of the
Toshiba I have now, I had more issues getting the wireless working
before the latest kernel in Linux than I was willing to deal with, so
Vista stayed put. Now that that's fixed, it stays because I have work
software that is Windows only and I'm not willing to futz with
CrossOver Office to get it to work. I'm the Windows power user who
plays with Linux cos it's fun and a bit different to bang at, and it's
interesting to see the differences in how the OSs deal with stuff.
Also, at home it's nice to know that Flash is not going to randomly
barf for whatever reason of the day, and my mp3s play without me
having to futz with getting stuff from the repo. Yes, I paid for
Windows. What is in that cost is legal codics and not having to fight
the install all the time. YMMV.
-- 
Amy Kelly // engagedtone at gmail.com