Linux vs. Microsoft TCO debate rages

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Re: Narrow scope

Roger Ramjet said:

Just about every *NIX expert knows Windoze. Being "computer professionals", their friends and family use them to support their Windoze platforms (the way I was "trained" in Windoze).

To which I reply:

It is true that many Unix types know something of Windows, and not always because of factors external to work. Many of these professionals are burdened with heterogenous networks to support, and must know something of many OSs to survive.

Roger Ramjet further stated:

The converse is not true however, "pure" Windoze guys never learn anything else. I could see how training them in Linux might be an uphill battle. But even so, most of these people would welcome the chance to learn something new, and would make decent admins - some day . . .

To which I reply:

Oh, I don't know, this seems a bit over-generalized. There are guys like me out there, who started off with CP/M, learned DOS, "graduated" to Win 3.XX, then Win95, 98, ME, 2k, and now, by default XP. (Okay, I only learn as much about XP as I have to...). Oh, with brief flirtations with QNX, RT-11, MUSE, VMS, and OS/2 (very brief, that last). But I guess this doesn't make me a "pure" Windows guy, does it?

Anyhoo, along about 1996, I found a copy of InfoMagic's Linux Developer's Resource Kit with Red Hat 3.03, Slackware (2.1, I think), Debian, and the Sunsite archives.

Inside an afternoon, I had an X Window system running on a 386DX-25 with 8 megs of RAM and a 205 meg hard drive. I remember thinking "so this is X Windows". (I have since dropped the "s"...)

Since then, I have continued to play around with Linux, at first just enjoying the riddles it presented, then, gradually deploying it on my small network at home.

Something I've noticed over the years of using Linux. It's gotten easier in many ways, but it still requires more willingness to dig and learn. There's a lot more software out there for it now, too, so it's more useful.

Do I miss the ease of use of Windows? Occasionally I do mutter under my breath that "this was easier in Windows", but less and less as time goes by. Windows has acted as a spur to the Linux community, and served a good purpose thereby.

Do I miss the Blue Screen of Death? Do I miss the expense of having to purchase upgrades? Do I miss the ever-gaping security holes in IE? I could go on, but the answer to all these and more is, "No, not in the slightest." I note that these are less and less frequent as time passes, because Linux is acting as a spur to Windows. This, too, is a good thing.

So let these two jackasses be set to grind corn, as Uncle Aleister used to say. There is yet plenty of room in the world for both.

Posted by: horusfalcon   Posted on: 07/20/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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