XPost: alt.os.linux.mint, alt.os.linux.ubuntu   
   From: VicGar007@at-gmail.dot.com   
      
   On 07/15/13 00:14, Mach 2 wrote:   
   > On 07/14/2013 07:26 PM, Aragorn wrote:   
   >> On Monday 15 July 2013 02:47, Chris F.A. Johnson conveyed the following   
   >> to alt.os.linux.mint...   
   >>   
   >>> On 2013-07-14, Auric__ wrote:   
   >>>> D?nk 42? wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> I never regret switching to Linux, especially now that I know what   
   >>>>> Microsoft has been up to!  Thanks, Clem!   
   >>>>   
   >>>> That's nice. I've been using Linux for about 14 years now. I'm stil   
   >>>> using Windows. Shrug.   
   >>>   
   >>>     I've been using Linux for almost 14 years.   
   >>   
   >> Likewise.   
   >>   
   >>>     Before that I used an Amiga.   
   >>   
   >> Right before I started using GNU/Linux, I was running NT 4.0, which I've   
   >> run for about two years.  I chose NT because, before that, I had been   
   >> running OS/2 for nearly six years, but I needed a new machine, and what   
   >> I really wanted was UNIX, which was hard to come by in those days and   
   >> which was very expensive for private use.   
   >>   
   >> I did not have an Internet connection yet at the time - nor any other   
   >> network connection for that matter - so file transfer was always via   
   >> sneakernet, and all my friends were running Windows 95 on their machines   
   >> of the time.  Coming from OS/2 - which was a real 32-bit operating   
   >> system, but its popularity was weaning - I didn't want to settle for   
   >> something based on DOS (and especially not on a Pentium II) so I   
   >> compromised and chose NT instead.  I didn't /completely/ like it, but I   
   >> wasn't particularly bothered by it either.  It was a standalone machine   
   >> anyway, and it was the only computer I owned at the time.   
   >>   
   >> I did however have the experience that software which wasn't explicitly   
   >> written with NT support in mind would often throw up errors, and I was   
   >> slightly irritated that NT didn't support Ultra-DMA access for my hard   
   >> disk.  I was even more irritated that I needed to install Service Pack 3   
   >> first in order to get NT to recognize my AGP bus, and installing the   
   >> proper graphics driver and the proper sound driver was quite annoying as   
   >> well, particularly as I had to redo the whole thing after the hard disk   
   >> in my computer broke down only a few weeks after I had bought it.   
   >>   
   >> Yet, when I switched to GNU/Linux, I didn't do so because I would be fed   
   >> up with NT or anything.  I simply wanted to explore GNU/Linux and   
   >> immediately found that it was everything I had been looking for in an   
   >> operating system.  It was a UNIX family system, and the GPL and other   
   >> Free Software licenses appealed strongly to me, as did the wealth of   
   >> software which was all installed together with the base operating system   
   >> in one go, and fully integrated with it.   
   >>   
   >> My first distribution came with StarOffice - the predecessor to what   
   >> would later become OpenOffice - and StarOffice didn't have the ability   
   >> to produce MS-Office documents yet at the time, but also included in the   
   >> distribution was a native GNU/Linux version of WordPerfect 8, and that   
   >> was definitely enough for me on account of being able to produce   
   >> documents which were compatible with DOS and Windows computers.  After   
   >> all, my friends weren't making any particular efforts at producing   
   >> anything compatible with /my/ software either, even back when I was   
   >> still running OS/2, so why would _I_ need to run software which was   
   >> explicitly compatible with their systems?  WordPerfect was definitely to   
   >> my liking, because I had been involved in teaching WordPerfect - the 5.x   
   >> versions, for DOS - and even typing up the WordPerfect courses in the   
   >> past, so I knew WP pretty well.   
   >>   
   >> I ran a dual-boot installation of GNU/Linux and NT 4.0 for about a   
   >> month, during which I found myself booting more into GNU/Linux than into   
   >> NT, and when NT then finally refused to boot on January 1st 2000 in   
   >> spite of having installed the official Microsoft Y2K Pack and the latest   
   >> NT Service Packs, it only sped up my decision that GNU/Linux was the   
   >> operating system I was going to stick with.   
   >>   
   >> I was already exclusively running GNU/Linux for four months before I got   
   >> a cable Internet connection at home.  Prior to that, if I wanted to surf   
   >> the Web or engage in some IRC conversations, I would go to a cybercafé.   
   >> That gave me a chance to socialize a bit while I would be doing my   
   >> Internet-related stuff, albeit that I did find the Windows 9x   
   >> installations there rather irritating, and so when I finally got an   
   >> Internet connection at home, I was then able to go on the Web and on   
   >> IRC, and to send and receive e-mails and participate in Usenet   
   >> discussions, all from my own GNU/Linux machine.   
   >>   
   >> Having an Internet connection at home certainly changed my life, and I'm   
   >> guessing that this applies to most other people of my generation as   
   >> well.  Suddenly your connectivity with other people - even in remote   
   >> locations - improves immensely, and secondly, if you want information on   
   >> any given subject, it's all there at your fingertips, albeit that I must   
   >> admit that I was somewhat disappointed in the way the Web quickly got   
   >> transformed from a gigantic library into an even more gigantic   
   >> marketplace.  If you're simply looking for information on something   
   >> nowadays by way of a search engine, then instead of finding the   
   >> information on what it is or how it works, you are presented with   
   >> information on where to buy it albeit that "at what price" is usually   
   >> conveniently left out.  Well, in a manner of speaking, of course.  But   
   >> you know what I mean.   
   >>   
   >> Kids these days grow up entirely differently.  I'm only 50 years old now   
   >> as of a few months ago, but when I was a young boy, we didn't even have   
   >> a TV set at first, and when we then finally got one, it was black &   
   >> white.  Kids these days grow up with color TV, gaming consoles, MP3   
   >> players, laptops, cellphones and Facebook.  They've never known it to be   
   >> any different.   
   >>   
   >> They don't go and play outside on summer days, building camps from   
   >> trees, branches and old linen, and pretend that they are medieval   
   >> knights, or cowboys and Indians, or cops and robbers, or Captain Kirk   
   >> and Mister Spock for that matter.  They just pull up the laptop and chat   
   >> on Facebook while listening to droning music.  Their whole psychological   
   >> development happens in a very different way.  In the old days, drivers   
   >> would be careful when there were kids playing football near the road -   
   >> that's "soccer" for US Americans :p - because the ball might go off the   
   >> field and onto the road, and a small kid would be running after it,   
   >> unaware of traffic.  Nowadays, as a driver, you have to be extra careful   
   >> not to run over the kids crossing the street while texting, and who   
      
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