The idea that I am a Microsoft employee or a "plant" infiltrating this
list gave me the best laugh I've had in a long time. Especially since
I've done nothing else for the past three weeks but try to get a good,
working Linux system in hopes that I will never again have to spend my
not-abundant money on anything from Bill Gates' company. The only
Microsoft software on my computers that I paid for is Windows itself.
There is also no pirated Microsoft software. I have Microsoft Works on
my laptop, but that's because the laptop came with it and it provides a
spell checker used by other applications. I don't like Works and don't
use it. I have no Office, no Word, no FrontPage, no Money, no Publisher.
Oh yes--I do have Encarta. It was free after a rebate, so I figure
Microsoft lost money on that one.
Some of you think I'm negative about and critical of Linux. That's
because you haven't heard my complaints about Microsoft and Windows.<g>
As with just about everything of this nature on the Net, you don't post
messages about stuff that's working well, you post about your problems.
In fact, there is a lot I like about Linux and some things about which
I'm wildly enthusiastic. I intend to stick with it for the duration. I
also agree that it is getting friendlier all the time, and while it has
a ways to go, it's headed in the right direction.
I am also quite amused that anyone thinks I have some profound knowledge
of networking. Just because I can use terms like NetBEUI, TCP/IP, and
NetBIOS does not mean I understand anything about them. NetBEUI and
TCP/IP are networking protocols. TCP/IP is what you use for the Internet
but it can also be used for a LAN. NetBEUI is only for a small LAN; you
can't use it for the Internet. I don't know what NetBIOS is, but I know
it's not supposed to be enabled for a protocol that gets you on the
Internet. For a NetBEUI home network, each workgroup has to have a name
and each computer in the workgroup has to have a name. You have to
enable file and printer sharing for drives and printers you want
available over the network. That is the total of my knowledge of
networking.
I learned the little I know primarily from grc.com, which explains how
to set up your protocols and bindings properly--by default, Windows
makes a mess of this. I didn't use Microsoft's wizards to set up my
two-computer network. Instead, I got good, easy instructions from some
PC magazine's Web site. So the secret is out. I do not have any detailed
knowledge of networking. When I say I don't understand the stuff I read
about Linux networking, I really don't! Not a clue. I do not know how to
make a system safe, but if someone gives me good directions, I can
follow them.
I am totally puzzled by this post of Roman's:
>> I have been following Judith Miner's email posts since 1996 through
the her Wordstar postings on another news group. It appears that she is
not new to the Microsoft Windows OS. This goes back as far as Windows
3.11 and DOS.
I don't know if she is really who she says she is... but she has been
pi**ssing off at lot of people over the years. She is well known through
other newsgroups. <<
I'm well known through other newsgroups??? I don't recall ever posting
anything to newsgroups. In fact, I haven't read Usenet newsgroups in
years. The only newsgroups I've read in the past two years have been on
the Adobe and Corel sites, and I just lurked, I didn't post.
I am an active member of the WordStar users' support e-mail list. If
Roman is a member, I don't recall seeing any messages he has posted. The
only people on that list that I've p*ssed off are two Microsoft
boosters. One of them has actually waited in line outside a store
waiting for the next release of Windows and the other is constantly
lauding the wonders of Microsoft Word--this on a WordStar list. So two
makes "a lot of people"? I have received numerous personal e-mails of
thanks from WordStar List members whose problems I was able to solve,
and have even received e-mails from people who found the answer to their
questions in the List archives. In the spirit of volunteerism, I have
written a book called "WordStar for Windows How-To," which can be
downloaded for no charge from the Web sites of the WordStar group and of
some of our members.
So it comes as news to me that I'm well known through other newsgroups.
Of course I'm not new to the "Microsoft OS." I go back to DOS
3-something in 1987. I identified myself as an experienced and
proficient Windows user when I first posted on this List. Of course,
someone had to come up with a crack that "proficient" Windows users
usually weren't. All I can tell you is that I run a lot of demanding
programs in the areas of writing, page design and layout, and graphics,
as well as general office stuff, I have never had a virus or worm, and
I've never had to reinstall Windows because it got messed up beyond
salvaging. I'm not trying to dump Windows because I have stability or
security problems with it, but because I don't like Microsoft's plans
for our future. I still have to get my work done efficiently, though, so
regardless of how much I want to move out of Windows I can't do it
unless Linux will provide a suitable platform for that--"suitable" also
meaning that the applications I need to use will become available, or I
can run the ones I use now under Wine, VMWare, or something else.
Jefferson wrote:
>> I would give a most outraged reply if I were mistaken with a
Microshaft plant. <<
Oh, I wasn't outraged at all. I thought it was a hilarious notion.<g> I
do have to do other things than write messages to this list, and
sometimes I don't have time to respond at all.
>> it looks weird to me that she doesn't know how to get the cedille <<
In Windows, you get a "c" with a cedilla in *every application* by doing
Alt+0231. It never occurred to me that you'd have to set up a US
International keyboard to get a cedilla. And the little hook under the
"c" does not appear on a keyboard. I guess you use a comma for that
(though I don't actually know). Is that supposed to be obvious?
The tennis match I have on TV as I write this is almost over, so any
other replies will have to wait for later.
Oh--one more thing. Someone suggested reading a book. Let's see--I have
printed out the Linux-Mandrake User Guide--210 pages; the Linux-Mandrake
Reference Manual--182 pages; the complete Font How-To--31 pages; the
entire section on "Setting up Printers, Fax Machines and Fonts under
Unix" from the StarOffice installation guide--17 pages; and a few more.
I've read all of the User Guide, Font How-To, and section from
StarOffice, and have gone through part of the Reference Manual.
Apparently not enough.
--Judy Miner
