> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 21:42:00 -0600 > From: "Jason Hsu, Linux user" <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> > Subject: [tclug-list] When, why, and how did you start using Linux? > To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org > Message-ID: <20100202214200.005d4dcb.jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > > When, why, and how did you start using Linux? > > I started using Linux 3 years ago. The reasons I started using Linux were: > 1. I had heard about how Windows was full of security holes. It also > seemed that security threats only grew over time. > 2. I had heard that support for Windows 98 (my main OS at the time) was > about to be terminated and that this was even more vulnerable to security > threats than Windows XP. I wasn't about to "upgrade" my main computer from > Windows 98 due to the expense and trouble of doing so. > 3. I heard that Windows Vista was nasty - a quantum leap forward in > bloatware that was slow even on many NEW computers. I also heard that Vista > didn't work with many items of older hardware like printers, scanners, etc. > 4. I'm cheap. My attitude towards computers can be summed up by, "If it > ain't broke, don't replace it." I didn't think Windows XP was that much > better than 98 or 98 that much better than 95. But I noticed that it took > more RAM, hard drive space, processor power, etc. to do exactly the same > things we had done 10 years earlier. At the same time, I noticed that there > weren't many killer apps (like the Internet in the 1990s), so I felt that we > should be able to keep using the same computer for 5-10 years. > 5. I'm green. I thought it was scandalous that so many computers get > trashed each year NOT because some critical component failed but because the > OS failed or was declared obsolete. To me, the only good reason to get rid > of a computer is because it breaks and cannot be repaired. > > So I bought a used IBM NetVista desktop computer (256 MB of RAM, 1 GHz > processor, 20 GB hard drive, built in 2001, originally equipped with Windows > 2000, which had been removed for sale) for $50 from a local used computer > dealer. I also bought a KVM switch so I could switch between the older > computer and the newer one. I used this newer used computer for going > online and used the old computer with Windows 98 strictly offline. (I still > have and use this old computer, which I bought new in 2000. It had a 466 > MHz processor and a 4.3 GB hard drive. It originally had just 128 MB of > RAM, but I upgraded it to 384 MB of RAM. I just recently replaced the > Windows 98 setup with Linux.) > > Over the last 3 years, I have been doing more and more stuff in Linux and > less and less in Windows. My first distro was Fedora Core 1, because the CD > came with the book _Linux For Non-Geeks_. Then I used Damn Small Linux, > Puppy Linux, and Ubuntu. (I dabbled with Debian but couldn't get it > configured properly.) I recently switched to antiX Linux. As I mentioned > before, it's the most lightweight and user-friendly distro with more than > 20,000 programs in the repository due to the Debian repository > compatibility. It's the best of both worlds. > > -- > Jason Hsu, Linux user <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> > 1. linux is just as vulnerable just in different ways, there is also some really shitty nix's out there, most vendors know theres a bug or hole in there app / distro and are openly to help on patching it. Or there is an advisory, if you had enough understanding of the app you could patch it push it through. While M$ you have to wait month by month for patches to come through and depend on a corp to patch it for you, even if write a nice POC exploit and show them they will most likely ignore you. 99% of world uses M$, path of least resistance ftw, and adobe is about to pass M$ in exploits. 2. not upgrade because of a hassle and $$, peoples mindset on security is hopeless, ITS MAKES ME SAD! /me sad panda, it does make for a nice sized botnet 2-4 Moores law, about every 1.5 years processing power, memory capacity doubles or generally technology doubles every 2 years. Just go through the requirements of windows hmmmmm 98 released in may 1998 and xp released 2001 hmmmmm iirc the cpu skews the jump from 98 -> XP you were feed by the media just like anyone else in this crappy universe. You believe what they feed you and so does the norm. sad but true :( If you have knowledge you can trim down any OS You almost qualify to be a mac user. iMac therefore iSecure, lets not go there mac user are there own unique niche. sry to feed the trolls -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20100204/460f3032/attachment-0001.htm