[Lvlug] PC Linux OS 2007

[Darryl Gibson]

Chris wrote:
> The area being depressed is an understatment. 

Yes!

> The school's do waste
> money and I wouldn't defend them for a second. I'm not advocating the
> throwing away of good hardware either- just the crap that results from
> people making poor purchasing decisions (not to place blame or
> anything). 

Well, those decisions are made by people who don't know what other
options they have. And that is what I hope to inform them about, you
don't need new hardware, you need new, decent, software. (Linux)

> If you try to explain 10 different possible reasons they are
> having a problem and 10 different ways to fix it- not one of which is
> guaranteed to work and the person may not even be capable of it doesn't
> do anybody any good- except it will scare them away from GNU/Linux.

Yes, they will be afraid of the unknown, but you can also motivate them
with greed, save them some money. (greed isn't a bad thing)
> 
> My point is making things so difficult for people that they can't switch
> to GNU/Linux you are just costing them more money because the longer
> they run one of the dominant operating systems the longer they have to
> make unnecessary upgrades to software and hardware. The more often they
> will need assistance and often costly technical support.

Ok, we agree in principle here, but I don't understand why you think the
linux distros are making things difficult. Every new distro strives to
ease the install pains, and Ubuntu isn't any harder to install then 98se
is, IMO.

> Just to make a point. I purchased a laptop in 2000 with 128MB of ram. I
> then proceeded to upgrade it twice in less than a year, to 256MB and
> finally 512MB. Shortly after upgrading to 512MB I switched to GNU/Linux
> and haven't upgraded in 7 years, yet have gone through three different
> laptops in that time. If I was running Microsoft Windows today I can
> guarantee you that I would have at least 2GB+ of ram. Using a 2005
> edition of some distributions I even have as much as 270MB of free ram
> after booting in KDE.

Ok, I think we are in a circular argument? Sounds like linux has kept
that old laptop on life support? :)

-- 
Darryl Gibson N2DIY
Ubuntu, free software for everybody. (TM)
RLU X 182668/379552

“Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the
distinction of a free man from a slave.”   --  Andrew Fletcher, A
Discourse of Government with relation to Militias (1698)