I spent 5 years trying to move my clients to Linux for their servers. Mostly I succeded. I haven't had much luck with Linux on the desktop, and have pretty much given up the figt, which is funny because it's about where it needs to be! I think OSX is the best thing going and use it for my graphics stuff. Unfortunately I make my living fixing Windows. It used to upset me but not I just bill them and move on.
Oh well. No good deed goes unpunished! TarynToo wrote: >On Aug 30, 2005, at 8:19 AM, Mike Weaver wrote: > > > >>I totally agree. My only complaint w/ Linux is that after I install a >>Linux/Samba server, I never see the client again! I have servers >>running over 600 days. >>I make my living on (ick!) Windows machines. They blow up all the >>time. >> >> > >ROFL Mike! I've been watching the linux/win debate shaping up here on >the list and trying to stay out of it. After all how many religious >wars can one woman get into at the same time? I use Linux or BSD on >servers, and MacOS X on workstations. I think for non-nerds, MacOS X is >much more approachable than Windows, Linux, or a naked BSD machine. >Apple has open-sourced most of MacOS X as Darwin, keeping only the GUI >and some apps and drivers proprietary ><http://developer.apple.com/darwin/> <http://www.opendarwin.org/> > >I too find myself constantly patching up blasted WinPCs. Personally I >won't use the crap from Redmond, not even Word and Office. (And don't >even get me started on PowerPointless!) Invariably it's the same >question and the same answer: "How can I keep my computer from catching >virii?" "Get a Mac." > > From <http://ornae.com/30/torturing-your-customers-a-business-model> >(If you want references, see the original article, it's full of >links.) > >Torturing your customers, A Business Model > >The recording industry has invested a great deal of time and money in a >variety of schemes purporting to protect the rights of musicians. Of >course they haven’t even slowed down either casual or professional >pirates. > >Mostly, all they’ve done is annoy their customer base by making CDs >that don’t play right. I’m not writing today to blast BMG, Sony, and >the RIAA, they’re getting plenty of heat already. But I want to draw a >parallel between the way the recording industry and Microsoft treat >their customers. > >I just spent a few days rebuilding some WinXP machines for my neighbors >that had succumbed to hardware failures and/or Windows malware , In >each instance, the neighbor asked, ‘Why do these machines fail so >quickly? Why is it so tedious to fix them?’ The first question deserves >a few thousand words, but there have been millions written already and >flame wars are tedious too. > >The most direct answer to the second question is, “Microsoft >intentionally makes it damn near impossible for users to create >bootable backups, or even useful offline backups.” Their licensing and >copy protection schemes include components that prevent disk cloning, >and prevent disk images from booting if they were created by cloning, >that force relicensing when a computer has parts replaced. This of >course doesn’t slow down teenage script kiddies and professional OS >counterfeiters in the least, but it does make life miserable for every >legitimate windows user on the planet. > >In an ideal world, you would use simple commands or GUI tools to create >a mirror image of your installed and customized system on separate >partitions or disks. Other simple tools would allow you choose which >image your system booted from. When that image booted, it would work >right whether it was drive C:, D: or Z:, That image would boot >correctly, even if it was hooked up to a significantly different >computer. > >This is not an imaginary ideal, it is the world of Linux, of BSD UNIX, >of MacOS. Only Windows OSes fall on their swords, on purpose, when >users do perfectly reasonable things like pull a backup drive out of >the safe and try to boot it on a new computer. > >Why is this a reasonable thing? Well the payroll computer caught fire >yesterday, and we need to make payroll today. But Microsoft doesn’t see >it that way, they think their customers are all thieves and are trying >to steal WinXP. Yeah, like we really care! > >So, there’s the parallel. The recording industry exhibits complete >disdain for their customers, (And their suppliers, most musicians are >treated like dogs by recording companies.) Microsoft subscribes to the >same business model, drumming up business by trotting out the next big >thing, which is usually entirely derivative, gouging huge profits, >while treating the buyers like cattle at best, and thieves at worst. > >Bad enough we paid money for this stuff, how much of our precious time >must we spend trying to restore a machine taken to its knees by the >virus of the day. > >I’m sure many of you are going to trot out Ghost, or Partition Magic, >or the latest Whiz-bang Norton tool, or BackupOmatic II, as your >personal favorite fix for this problem. Just like you, I’ve come up >with ways to defeat the intent of Microsoft, so I could get some work >done. > >But the fact still stands: They did this on purpose, and all it really >does is torture their customers. > >Taryn >ornae.com > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): >http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
