On Monday 17 February 2003 22:17, Kevin McLauchlan wrote:
I have worked with PCs since one of my first employers began making early IBM PC 8088 clones, and I've gone through DOS (and its predecessor, CP/M) and most flavors of Windows. I've had trouble with Windows, many times. But, I've had more trouble with Linux in the few years that I've been using it than I've had in all the years of DOS and Windows since 1981.
Actually, the DOS of MS is a derivative of 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products which Billy Gates stole, er....I mean, adapted for his own use. CP/M and DOS share no common heritage beyond the computer OS marketplace and technology of the seventies. By the way.....CP/M lost. Frankly, I'm amazed that someone with that kind of computer history behind themselves has such a terrible time with Linux.....or SuSE specifically. Since SuSE 7.2 I've been running strictly Linux with very few issues. With it I've been burning CD's (audio and data), printing, scanning, syncing with my zaurus (another loathsome linux contraption), playing games, programming a bit, building a website, photo manipulation (for the pics on the website), watching dvds with xine or ogle, listening to cd music, making a little bit of music, creating documents with Open Office which I than transfer to my work laptop (98se), etc. And doing so happily and outside of the constraints that corporate cretins and legislative lunatics (powered by MS) would love to herd all of us into. Meanwhile I watch my work laptop with 98se continue with it's tempermental tantrums that result in blue screens. And I'm forced to maintain my lady's xp box which exhibits 'strange' problems now and again. But since this isn't an MS list, I won't get into the 'strange' problems.
By the time SuSE 8.2 arrives, I'll have most of my system working under 8.1 -- though probably not the joystick -- and I'll install 8.2, just to see what one more increment of usability has been achieved. Then I'll spend the following four months discovering and fixing a bunch of broken things, but maybe I'll actually get my entire computer working before 8.3(or 9.0?) arrives. I won't get the usability that Win2K would give me, but I'll stick with SuSE cuz I'm a glutton for punishment. Unfortunately, the people around me will be firmly frightened back to Windows by my ongoing frustrations.
When I upgraded from 8.0 to 8.1 everything worked right away with the exception of the zaurus syncing.....and I realized that it was an issue with the upgraded kernel which wasn't difficult to remedy. The key for everything working was the hardware manufacturers supporting Linux. The important point is that I _thought_ about the issue. It appears that the people around you do not take to thinking. They would rather someone think for them. Bill Gates and crew embrace that kind of attitude because it furthers and deepens his own agenda and power base. With DRM, the TCPA cartel and Palladium coming along in various stages coupled with inept politicians worldwide and mangled copyright/patent laws, Billy is well on his way to thinking for everyone. It would be a jewel in his crown if Billy could manipulate events that could lead to Linux being a rouge OS on a consumer level. He and his monkey boy are definitely pushing in that direction. Perhaps Anders is correct in his assumption that you are simply trolling. My suggestion to you would be to stay away from Linux. Go back to Windows. Although I'm no geek, I've had very little problem maintaining Linux. I don't understand why someone would have such issues. Maybe it's bad karma caused by attempting to turn a technical mailing list into an advocacy group? :)