XPost: alt.os.linux.mint, alt.os.linux.ubuntu   
   From: noone@nowhere.noway.con   
      
   On 15/07/2013 20:35, Dänk 42Ø wrote:   
   > On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 21:14:35 -0700, 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   
      
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