I sort of agree with you, but the term hobbyist may be a little off the mark for some of us: For example, I don't use Ubuntu primarily for "pleasure." I do get pleasure out of using it, but I use it for what other people use a computer for--writing, organizing pictures, listening to music, doing online banking, replying to emails, designing websites, etc. It's not like I use Windows to get "real stuff" done and then just tinker around with Ubuntu "for pleasure." I don't use Windows at all at home.

What I will concede is that for most people, there has to be a significant amount of time devoted to learning a new operating system. It's like learning a foreign language. If I all of a sudden took up learning French, at first it would seem just a "hobby" and not terribly practical because I'd be using a lot of my free time to learn something I can't put to use yet. Eventually, if I moved to France or Quebec, though, it wouldn't seem to be so much of a "hobby" any more.

Well, I've moved to Ubuntu-land, and it's not a hobby any more.

I'm not anti-Microsoft, but I use Linux every day. I use Linux every day to do everything. Ergo, I'm not a hobbyist. Windows really starts to fall down when you get into serious mathematics, science, and engineering. I suspect programming is enhanced in a Linux environment (all the programmers where I work do it on linux-boxes).

Windows is more of a hobbyist OS than Linux. Linux is for people that need to get work done. Linux is for professionals.

Well, I have, and I certainly try to be a responsible individual.

For example, De Beers' business practices in extracting diamonds in Africa was personally witnessed by a friend of mine. Ever since then, I and my fiancee choose not to support the diamond trade. We will make our own wedding gifts through silver we mine on our own.

Whenever possible, we do NOT buy Chinese made products. I, personally, know individuals that have escaped from the exploitation foistered on the Chinese populace by the economic policies of their government.

My fiancee and I are trying to be more and more self-sufficient. We hunt and gather our food, instead of buying from mass meat producers who treat their stock inhumanely; we buy wool from local people, with whom we have some sort of relationship, in order to keep the money in the local economy and to really know the business practices of those involved; we are building our own sailboat instead of buying one; we are learning how to plane our own wood so that we can use renewable, local lumber; we grow our own vegetables, or buy berries and stuff from local people, whenever possible.

All of this is stuff we are doing now, have done for quite awhile, or are in the process of doing. If we can do it, I know other people can, as well. However, conveniece will win out, and people will continue to go to the Wal-Marts, the Targets, etc. rather than learning how to live as responsible individuals.

As for myself and the computer world is concerned, I took it upon myself to learn BASIC at age 11/12, then learn electronics and electronic repair at 19, learn networking at 20, and then continue to learn computers ever since. I am learning the Linux kernel and hope to contribute to the OpenSource community. Eventually, for grins and giggles, I hope to write my own OS and, if it is effective, use it as the primary OS in my home.

Like I said, I try to be an informed and conscientious consumer; I have a long way to go, but at least I try =).

sosborne and his fiancee are certainly responsible individuals, but I'd like to think it makes sense for most people to be even 50% or 25% responsible and informed than for everyone to be 0% responsible/informed.

Just because we can't all be 100% responsible/informed doesn't mean we should just give up on making any sort of difference, however small.

Most Windows users don't have stability problems, mine has been up for over a month. If you know how to take care of yourself you don't even need a virus scanner. Just as many if not more open source programs can be found on Windows. I use linux but it doesn't feel ready for everyone yet.

Not for any graphical professions, that is where the mac and windows destroy linux. Oh but linux has Audacity and Kino, i'm sure they can compete with Audition and Premiere or Final Cuth

shit double post

Well, you're the first one of those I have seen. Do you have yours connected to the internet at all?

Yes, but this is (to a degree) an issue of commercial support. And we're seeing companies slowly releasing Linux builds of previously Windows-only software: look at picasa and google earth!

I like to screw with StepMania a lot...

Audacity helps me to find the perfect gap, and the GIMP does image editing just fine.

They both also work just fine for school work too. And I usually use my IBM T21 at school, which is an all-Windows environment. They don't even notice...

Well, my tech teacher did and he said not to bring it to school anymore. Of course I'll still bring it to show friends and teachers Linux, but I won't use it for school work.

Need Help!!!! I'm trying to install a sata hdd on an Asus A7n8xe - deluxe and it can't copy the si3112r.sys file from drive a:
The hdd is a Seagate Sata 200Gb.
What can i do?????

You could start by asking a real question in the proper forum.
If your question is only Windows related you will not find one on these forums.
If not, post a new question here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...splay.php?f=18
or here:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...isplay.php?f=8

PS: You should also post a lot more information about your current setup and what you're trying to achieve.

True. My wife does semi-pro (i.e. she does it for professional photographers, but for free) graphics work. I downloaded GIMP and she gave it a try, but it didn't have the capabilities of Photoshop. I was small-mindedly referring to the math/engineering work that I do. For that Windows falls short.

OOO wow Picasa and Google Earth that's amazing.

Yeah but I don't click on random shit, like free screensavers and win 5 million dollars. As long as your not retarded you should be fine. I mean i'd love to use linux more it's just I constantly have to log back into Windows. Most people would be find with Windows if they actually updated the thing.