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osOpinion: Supporting Windows / Supporting Linux

[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill
for this link. ]

“I’ve spent close to 10 years babysitting Windows (and DOS)
machines. At the start of this period we had 4 technical support
technicians supporting about 3,000 computers and users. This was in
1989. When I left in 1999 there were about 20 technical support
technicians supporting the same 3,000 users!!!”

“I challenge anyone who has done technical support of personal
computers for 10 years or more to take an old DOS app. (Like Word
Perfect 5.1, or WordStar, or whatever they used to use) Temporarily
load it on their “latest and greatest state of the art” computer.
Run it and see it run at least 10 times faster than it used to.
Then ask yourself why common tasks take longer than they did 10
years ago when your computer is so much faster. With Linux you can
ignore the GUI if you want to. You can write software that does
only what it needs to and doesn’t have to receive thousands of
messages that are irrelevant to it. Or you can use the GUI if you
want. But all that POWER is still available under the hood any time
you want to tap into it…”

“Play with Linux for a while. It won’t take long before you
decide that for some strange reason computers are FUN again… Once
again, your only limitation is your own lack of skill or
knowledge.
I still support Windows (for close friends,
relatives, and our computers at work). But what I really want to
use is Linux.”


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