[Leaplist] Linux Advocasy: What they'll miss

[Chris]

Damien McKenna wrote:

> On May 7, 2008, at 1:49 PM, patrick wrote:
>
>>> However, I have *never*, I repeat, *never*, had those problems on  
>>> *any*
>>> of the Windows machines I've regularly used.
>>
>>
>> The 'average' Microsoft user has no clue to defrag their disk, so, two
>> years later, they are being presented with a bill from the local PC
>> repair shop for $180 (from a "nice" shop) or more, just to clean it  all
>> up and possibly get it running again.
>
>
> A need to defrag a drive doesn't quite have the same effect on 
> Windows  XP as it did back in the Windows 9x days with slower machines 
> and  smaller drives, these days with seemingly the smallest drive on 
> the  market being 80gb I doubt people would need to defrag before the  
> system physically fails.

While I agree that NTFS was an improvement over the FAT
file systems, I have absolutely seen 120g NTFS partitions
with only fifteen gig of files - badly fragmented. MS has had
at least three chances to fix some of the NTFS deficiencies,
but has so far chosen not to do so.

The EXTn and other Linux filesystems do a much smarter
job of laying down files, but it's still possible to frag them.
But you have to have your partition nearly full before it
becomes obvious - and even then, the fix is pretty easy.

I also have to defend clueless Windows users. They really
were sold what they thought were appliances. You know,
it's like a big toaster oven, only with a keyboard and screen.
They didn't buy a computer to learn about the registry, or
about locking down security. They bought it to do email,
or play a game, or watch a video, and that's exactly what
the sales-person, and all the advertising sold them.

So I can't blame them too much for being ignorant, and
truth is, if their PC had come with a proper operating
system, with a rational default setup, they might never need
to learn anything. But that's not the case, and too often they
learn that the care and feeding of their machine can become
a confusing and expensive proposition.

That situation is unlikely to change. Consumers will still
believe the advertising. Sales staff will still be sales staff.
And Microsoft will absolutely continue being Microsoft.
So here's what I do. I'll work on your Windows machine
one time for free - but you have to do two things. Pay
attention to my security suggestions, and sit through my
Linux demo on your machine. After that, you pay regular
rates, family or friend, doesn't matter, or I won't touch
your PC.

Or, I'll install Linux on your PC for free, and support
it for free. I don't view this as blackmail. I view it
as being in harmony with the cultures of the Windows
and Linux communities. Windows is about pay as
you go, and Linux is about sharing the power. And
I'm not at all worried about putting myself out of work.
Microsoft's sales numbers are too high for that to
happen for years.

Cheers,

Chris