Give people a real reason to switch to LINUX
 

Ok this bothers me; I'm sitting next to this guy at work and he's trouble shooting with this customer on the phone over some issue with his OS...
and finally he gives up and says honestly you should just try switching to Linux. He says "its a much better product, more stable and secure and there's alot more you can do with it for less" Okay so all of that I agreed with but then he stops and says "Micro$oft just wants your money and even though I work on Windows here at work I run all Open Source software at home...I wont support companies who are just interested in profits"
That part just bugged me because here he is at his cubicle wearing Nike tennis shoes, drinking Starbucks coffee, talked to another employee about a game on his PS2 which is made by SONY...etc. Every large corporation is interested in profits so that was just the wrong thing to say in my opinion. Its like vegetarians I know who say its unethical to eat meat and they have leather coats or shoes. Eh? Excuse me what did you say? Every point he made was valid until he got into the discussion on businesses wanting your money. His internet and viewing pleasure is provided by a cable company that had a large monopoly on the city until Direct TV and Dish became a worthy alternative. So it just urks me when people use that $$$ as a reason why they dont buy something or support something. If he wouldve just came out and said "hey Linux is just cooler and more interested" I wouldve let it slide.

Re: Give people a real reason to switch to LINUX
 

there are no free shoes which are convenient to get and are acceptable in the work place. when he purchased his starbucks coffee there probably wasn't a free mom and pop coffee shop right beside it. the alternatives to ps2, xbox and gamecube, certainly aren't free.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=162561

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=75931

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=174252

That tech didn't like the idea of earning a bit of cash, I guess. I am completely for using Linux, but if I was doing what my friend,Kevin does for a living (as a small businessman, driven by his own work - no work, no paycheque), I'd never tell people to switch to Linux (at least not too loudly). He has a computer shop. He seels hardware and services machines. If he didn't have clients using what was already on their machines, he'd likely have no money. All he really does is troubleshoot things that always go wrong with the Windows OS. Virus problems. Poorly written spyware crippling the system. Drivers fighting for IRQs. Dumb things like Zone Alarm leaving crap on the drive that renders it unbootable, god forbid you uninstall it. Other crap like that. He makes good money off this garbage. Without it, he'd have to do something else for a living.

That guy was an idiot, obviously.



As far as giving a real reason for switching, I don't want to and I don't have to. I switched. If someone else does as well, that's great! They'll be glad they did.

I think that the statement about profits should relate to the fact that Microsoft is a convicted monopolist which makes abnormally high profits by engaging in illegal actions. There is nothing illegal or immoral with Nike's, Sony's, or Starbuck's profits.

-----------------------
Steve Stites

Good reasons to use Lin not win:

1. You don't have to defrag. Lin knows how to defrag itself.
2. You don't have to scan for virus.
3. You don't have to buy Lin. But when you buy, it's like U$ 10 or something.
4. You don't have to have Norton doing misterious stuff inside the misterious win registry.
5. You don't have to download and run cracks, serials, keygens and the like.
6. You can open, create and edit any msoffice documents you want, without having it installed.
7. You can listen/watch any multimedia file you want with Lin.
8. You don't like, and never will, the blue screen of death and their relatives (illegal operations).
9. You don't agree with MS policies. Even if you support/use other brands/products playing by the same market rules.
10. You don't believe when bill says win won't hurt your privacy.
11. You see the use/support of a particular OS like not only a personal choice, but a political one with further implications.
12. Lin let you see what's going on inside your pc. But if you don't want to know, it's ok, too. Lin will work anyway.
13. Lin is funny.

Of course not, if you don't think child labour and sweatshops are immoral or illegal.;)

no one is obliged to switch to linux. Everybody has it's own reasons except security and all the stuff you are used to hear....I don't consider it worthy to try to convince someone to use linux, because if someone doesn't see something evident, you will have to talk a lot, i don't like to talk a lot... If they are really considering to switch, they will...for their reasons.

With Linux, if you upgrade your hardware you won't have to
call Uncle Bill and get permission...........(IE windows product activation)

320mb: congrats on becoming an addict 5-1/2 minutes ago. :D

You should check out www.microsuck.com for why you should switch to Linux (or any other OS besides windows anyway)

I don't think this is true

Did you mean fun...Im usually not cracking up when I'm using Linux.. ;)

Run Debian and apt-get moo

That's funny

If everyone was using Linux, it would degenerate into something like windows, perhaps even worse. Its better that the majority of people don`t use Linux, because it gives us "gurus" a super fast, clean OS thats not clogged up with viri and ads, whereas the "average user" has to contend with windows and the crap that comes with it.

But the only people who use Linux are tech-heads that actually want to LEARN anyway. For instance I was tying to get my brother to look at Linux and have a go, but he didn`t seem interested because the fact that he could redirect the output of a command into a text file simply didn`t excite him.

95% of computer users don`t think of a computer as a "computer", like we did back in the 1980`s. These days people see the computer as a "media" device, like a VCR, they use it for web browsing, playing games, looking at digital photos/printing/editing them. With windows you can do all this almost minutes after unpacking your new PC when you buy it.

Can you imagine what would happen if Dell decided to ship their machines with Linux instead of windows? They would go out of business.

I'm rambling on a bit here, but to get back to the original topic, why should Linux fans be trying to convince average users to use something that not only is way too difficult for them, but the probably wouldn`t even be interested in. If you want Microsoft to have a new competitor, the answer is: Design a new OS thats REALLY easy to use, can do everything windows can do, and try and make it better than windows.

thats a good answer Nodger. I think you're right about people not really caring and just using the PC as a media device to email, play games, type word documents etc. I'm surprised at how many people at my last job at an ISP who were so called enthusiast that didnt care to touch Linux. When I first used Linux a few years ago I installed FreeBSD because someone had given it too me for free...just the disk. I was surprised and ecstatic that I actually got it installed but after that I didnt know what to do with it? I ended up eventually just taking it off my computer but a few years later I installed RedHat (a friend told me RedHat or Mandrake is a good starting point) and was happy that it felt a little like Windows to begin with but was powerful enough that I could explore and learn Linux with while doing Windows type task also.

agreed. i been on linux poking around for a little less than a yr and i still consider myself a newbie. theres just so much to learn. linux to me is like a big puzzle. so much to edit and customize. with windows. what you see is what you get. when i install something in windows theres always something to delete in either startup or services i hate that. with windows being made more simpler and simpler each time, it takes me forever to do a simple task because it takes you through a process. with linux its only one or two commands away then im done.

the BEST thing to me about linux is that its free. no cost. nada. and i love the community. im surrounded by people itching to learn new things, rather than looking for profit. people in this community dont look down on newbies and help whenever they can.

being that linux is getting more and more popular, i only hope it stays the way it is..not bloated and clogged with crap that you dont need.

quote:Originally posted by bruno buys
Good reasons to use Lin not win:

1. You don't have to defrag. Lin knows how to defrag itself.



I don't think this is true


Hi, Pres! Found this at the tldp, named Linux Partition HOWTO:

Noncontiguous placement of blocks in a file is bad for performance, since files are often accessed in a sequential manner. It forces the operating system to split a disk access and the disk to move the head. This is called "external fragmentation" or simply "fragmentation" and is a common problem with MS-DOS file systems. In conjunction with the abysmal buffer cache used by MS-DOS, the effects of file fragmentation on performance are very noticeable. DOS users are accustomed to defragging their disks every few weeks and some have even developed some ritualistic beliefs regarding defragmentation.

None of these habits should be carried over to Linux and ext2. Linux native file systems do not need defragmentation under normal use and this includes any condition with at least 5% of free space on a disk. There is a defragmentation tool for ext2 called defrag, but users are cautioned against casual use. A power outage during such an operation can trash your file system. Since you need to back up your data anyway, simply writing back from your copy will do the job.

hmm, i think the majority of people support linux not because it is free. Ok maybe thats a portion of the cause but i would say it has more to deal with open source. And as far as linux being more secure than windows. That isn't necessarily true. I would say because linux is open source that it is almost less secure than Windows. Sure windows does have plenty of gaps in its security, but i linux is free from all of the possible ills that the internet has to offer. I havent heard of too many viruses written for linux, probably because of the good fan fare that linux has, but malicious scripts can be written to tare apart a linux pc. And i have to add that linux doesnt have enough plug and play support and i wish that every time i installed linux the same result would happen. I have installed it on my pc numerous times. Redhat, Mandrake i still have issues with some devices. I mean come on, the fact that i had a USB Logitech 4000 webcam plugged in prevented my sound from workign correctly. You have to admit that is annoying, and that would never happen with Windows. Look, i guess instead of bashing both windows and linux at the same time, and praising them too, i just would like to say there isnt a great deal of pointing fingers that you can do about one or the other. Just because each has their faults. You choose the one you do for your own reasons. And, obviously from my prior complaint of having to reinstall many times, i wouldnt have kept trying if i didnt feel that linux had some potential.

Open source means that the source can be audited for expliotation and flaws byu the whole world, instead of somewhere in a secret lab with a licence that makes it illegal to look at the source if you don't work for those with the little locked room.

Sorry, you got it backwards. Because the source is free to look at, it is more secure. An exploit will be squashed immediately.

Redhat, Mandrake i still have issues with some devices. I mean come on, the fact that i had a USB Logitech 4000 webcam plugged in prevented my sound from workign correctly. You have to admit that is annoying, and that would never happen with Windows.
hah, I wish. My brother has had quite a few hardware problems. Me too. The same for software, I've had some terribly strange situations before with windows.

Good points JAZ,
Attacking Capitalism is immature and hipocritical. Beleive me I buy shoes but not nike, I buy pants but not Dockers. Microft is not lame because they want to make money or because they use child labor, they are lame because they produce a crappy product. unlike other companies that do use child labor and Destroy the environment in other countries.
If it were up to me The US and the UN nations would be restricted from importing any product produced by child/slave labour and violating any US environmental laws. In other words US companies would have to abide by US labor and Environmental laws even though they are located in other countries, China, Mexico, India, Pakistan, ETC......