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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!asstdc.scgt.oz.au!nsw.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!cssun.mathcs.emory.edu!cc.gatech.edu!cc.gatech.edu!byron From: byron@cc.gatech.edu (Byron A Jeff) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Date: 24 Apr 1996 13:11:04 GMT Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology - College of Computing Lines: 44 Message-ID: <4ll998$3ic@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <317C8F0F.307E@curtin.edu.au> <4lgo4c$6fa@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <317E07F1.441D@curtin.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: gemini.cc.gatech.edu NNTP-Posting-User: byron Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:22207 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:812 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3475 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3330 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18054 comp.os.linux.advocacy:46955 In article <317E07F1.441D@curtin.edu.au>, Dimitri Maziuk <emaziuk@curtin.edu.au> wrote: >Byron A Jeff wrote: >>... snip - snip - snip > >> Think about it and don't give up the desktop without a fight. > >Great warrior doesn't fight: he sits on his dorstep waiting for the body of >his enemy to be carried down the street. > Tao Te Ching > (not an exact citation: I read it long ago and in different language :-) Interesting quote. Unfortunately the masses are too brainwashed to let Microsoft die. > >Besides, I'm not giving my desktop to anybody. I'm quite happy with Linux, >thanks. As am I. But I'm not talking about us. I'm talking about everybody else. I'm talking about the hundreds of folks who ask me about "how do you do this in Word?" and "How do you print this Excel spreadsheet?" and "How do you use the Windows 95 dialer to connect to the ISP?". I'd like to tell them "You're using the wrong environment." But I can't. For them it's the right environment because it runs the applications they want and need to run. No other reason. If they could get the applications work done in Linux or FreeBSD they'd switch. Then as a Free Unix enthusiast I'd be more willing to answer their questions. Most users are lemmings. They follow along with whatever they see, hear, and get from computer salesfolks and colleagues. They would blindly follow the Pied Piper into the free Unix world if (and only if) it's doesn't interrupt their current style of work. That's the hitch. I have entirely selfish motivations for this campaign. I want to make my life easier with the interactions of the poeple around me who consider me to be a "computer expert". They could care less about how things get done just as long as it gets done. BAJ -- Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of... Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel - And Using Linux! Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 Internet: byron@cc.gatech.edu