Happy birthday Linux

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zapshe wrote:
there's nothing tying you down to these apps.

Except the management saying I have to use the Dells. I can't even bring in my laptop and use that instead, even though I'd probably get a lot more done.

As for Word.. it only looks complicated because of the options.

Exactly!!! I like having just the things that I'll actually use, I don't want text decorations, shadows, or all that stuff. I just want 12-point Verdana font, black, white background, double-spaced, 1-inch margins. Nothing else. Except maybe a thing where I can change to centered text for a title, and a header for page numbers. But other than that, I don't want anything from my word processor.
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Except the management saying I have to use the Dells

Install something else on their work computers!
Exactly!!! I like having just the things that I'll actually use

The most commonly used tools are in the "Home" tab. You could use Word and never stray from that tab if you wanted to.
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zapshe wrote:
These [apps] all have a wide array of alternatives in Windows

The "wide array of alternatives" is usually considered a Bad Thing(tm).

zapshe wrote:
Install something else on their work computers!

Good management will not grant elevated privileges to regular users. Management installs the necessary applications. For example, how do you collaborate "in Teams", if you don't use Teams?

zapshe wrote:
The most commonly used tools are in the "Home" tab. You could use Word and never stray from that tab if you wanted to.

Yes you can. Many have, for decades (so it is not about specific version of Word). However, why drive an aircraft carrier, if all you need is a vehicle to fetch groceries from mall? If you command a carrier, then use it "as it is meant to be used".
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However, why drive an aircraft carrier, if all you need is a vehicle to fetch groceries from mall?
because you may need to go to war, supermarket price wars are vicious.
How did people shift from "N years from X" celebration into arguing which hue of lingerie looks good on them?


Ha, that made me laugh. There is a school of thought that prefers sans lingerie :+D I just don't like it when lies are spread around.

I am bored, so I will engage in some more ribbing, FWIW :

zapshe wrote:

If you've never had Linux crash on you, you haven't used Linux.


Don't tell me I haven't used Linux, you insolent millennial puppy. It's you that hasn't really used it. If you are aged 20, that means I have been using it since about 13 or so years before you were born. I don't have grey hair for nothing. I simply don't believe you when you say Linux crashed. Ah, I guess: maybe you were using Ubuntu in a VM, with Windows as the host OS; the VM crashed; you wrongly blame Linux.

I maintain that one would have to be quite determined to crash Linux. Unless one wrote code that screwed with the kernel or boot process, I think it would be hard to achieve that. One reason is that Linux has private linear address space, meaning that each process gets it's own private memory. Windows eventually implemented this too, it was about that time that windows became more reliable.
The "wide array of alternatives" is usually considered a Bad Thing(tm).

There are commonly used ones, there are common alternatives. How are more options bad? Especially when a lot of the options are good?

Good management will not grant elevated privileges to regular users. Management installs the necessary applications. For example, how do you collaborate "in Teams", if you don't use Teams?

If the COMPANY demands everyone use Teams, then that's that. They thought it was good enough for the purpose or were too lazy for find alternatives.

And regular users should be able to install simple programs I'd assume.

Yes you can. Many have

Obviously... But if all you want is to write a quick paper then you probably have no use for the tools outside the Home tab. The person I told this too said Word was too complicated, implying they likely had no use for many things outside the Home tab. And then there are alternatives, like I said before, that are dumbed down versions of Word.
you insolent millennial puppy

Is this what they would call teasing back in 1920 you triple chinned saggy ass?

that means I have been using it since about 13 or so years before you were born

That's a disgracefully long time you've spent learning nothing.

Ah, I guess: maybe you were using Ubuntu in a VM, with Windows as the host OS; the VM crashed; you wrongly blame Linux.

This implies that if you Google, "Ubuntu Crashing" you would find no one with that issue. Here's one:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1068720/what-can-i-do-to-find-the-crash-reason

Yes, you could do the same for Windows. But you can't simply say that Ubuntu would never crash. "He's my friend! He would never snitch on us!"
*grabs a big bucket of fresh popcorn, a cooler of iced beverages and a lawn chair...settles in at a minimum safe distance for a nice toasty flame war*

I see someone doesn't like a bit of levity in the lounge. How trollish. Bork 'em.
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Back in the day, all three OS would crash frequently. For the last 15-20 though, all 3 are stable if the user did not mess something up. I don't think the old school junk about stability, viruses, etc apply anymore.

Linux lost me when I stuck in a hard drive and it made me recompile the OS (and it never really worked right again, which is my fault, sure, but make msmanners or whatever it is failed one time too many and I got more frustrated than was healthy for me). I have not run it at home since, though I tap into someone elses' properly configured servers @ work when need be. I have never had a mac, largely due to the cost-benefit. My folks didn't see the point in having them when the at home apple PCs were first out and IBM at home was not a thing yet.
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Back in the 9x kernel days, it was possible to crash the entire system with a short QuickBASIC program that POKEd zeros to memory from address 0 up. It would overwrite kernel memory and grind the system to a halt within seconds. Memory protection? What's that? Of course, that level of "security" was what allowed black magic like SoftICE to work, but you gotta take the good with the bad.

These days the most common causes of crashes are, in order: bad memory, buggy device drivers and/or faulty hardware other than memory, temporary memory errors (corruption by cosmic radiation?), and bad GPGPU code. I've crashed the display driver many times by giving it jobs that were too expensive. The OS can recover from that without rebooting, though.
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I don't think the old school junk about stability, viruses, etc apply anymore.

Totally agree, but occasionally you'll get crashes on any OS. If not to blame the OS, we can at least blame the cosmic rays shifting an important bit.

*grabs a big bucket of fresh popcorn, a cooler of iced beverages and a lawn chair...settles in at a minimum safe distance for a nice toasty flame war*

Perhaps it will be a cold war.


EDIT: Just saw your post Helios, didn't notice it. My most common reason for my computer crashing was my undervolt. It was just slightly too much and caused random BSODs that I couldn't track their cause for a while.
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zapshe wrote:
How are more options bad? Especially when a lot of the options are good?

I don't know. It is the (Windows?) users, who usually call plurality of open source (e.g. all the Desktop Environment forks) a bad thing.

zapshe wrote:
They thought it was good enough for the purpose or were too lazy for find alternatives.

Isn't that the description of most humans?

zapshe wrote:
Totally agree, but occasionally you'll get crashes on any OS. If not to blame the OS,

then blame the user. Human error is the most likely reason.
I don't know. It is the (Windows?) users, who usually call plurality of open source (e.g. all the Desktop Environment forks) a bad thing.

Never heard that before..?

Isn't that the description of most humans?

Sure, then blame the company. Cisco/Zoom/etc.. are easy alternatives to get. I've never even used Teams before so I can't even tell you if it's bad, I'm just saying there are alternatives if you don't like what you have.

then blame the user. Human error is the most likely reason.

Humans made the OS..?
zapshe wrote:
Install something else on their work computers!

Yeah, and look for another job the next day. No thanks. I do lke the job, despite the crummy equipment.

*grabs a big bucket of fresh popcorn, a cooler of iced beverages and a lawn chair...settles in at a minimum safe distance for a nice toasty flame war*

*does the same, except with a cheese and cracker plate and a gin and tonic*
*grabs a big bucket of fresh popcorn, a cooler of iced beverages and a lawn chair...settles in at a minimum safe distance for a nice toasty flame war*


Well, it worked: the button pushing function and wind up mechanism seem to be working well; not to mention the last word policy :+D

Anyway, we should use our beverages, popcorn etc to celebrate the profound change Linux has made in our world, as per the link in the OP.
I am a Windows user from before Linux existed, since Win 1.0 days. I freely admit my experience with Macs or *nix is limited because my professional duties at the time were working with IBM clones and MS-DOS/Windows.

Don't bother asking for further details, I won't answer any queries. :Þ

But I certainly won't take a dump on either OS precisely because of my lack of any in-depth experience. Now I continue to use Windows because it is what as a hobbyist is readily available at the PC repair shops I haunt and what I am comfortable with mucking around with.

Whatever OS someone likes and uses, that is the best OS for them. I won't try to convert you, don't try to proselytize me.

One of the reasons I stick with Windows is several apps I use, can't do without them, they are "mission critical" for me, are Win only. No VM, no emulator, no "not Windows ever". *shrugs*
Whatever OS someone likes and uses, that is the best OS for them. I won't try to convert you

As far as Linux goes, people can do what they want. But when it comes to Mac, I'm adamant that people at least install it on a regular PC and not one purchased from Apple.
@FurryGuy

Just to be clear, my last post wasn't directed at you, it was another respondent I was pushing the buttons of ;+) , the one that I had been replying to the majority of the time. I should have made that implication clearer. I have always respected and looked forward to your posts.

I am a Windows user from before Linux existed, since Win 1.0 days.


Yeah I remember Win 1.0, it certainly was an improvement over the DOS 3.0 or 6.0 we had at the time. The proof in the pudding was the huge take up of Win3.1, and even bigger Win95.

However, I was extremely lucky to have access to the high end and expensive Sparc station at the time, and it was about 1 year later when the first version of Linux came out, so I was very happy about that. Who knows when I would have discovered Linux if I had not had the exposure to UNIX so early on. I guess my preferences were further pushed by the very shitty survey software I had to use at a different job after the Sparc station. Although AutoDesk did bring out some very good Civil Design software in later years.

I have used both Linux & Windows in equal amounts mainly due to software used at work only being available on Windows, and that is mainly due to 99% of people having Windows. It is quite ironic that in my current endeavors, I am learning Power Shell, vbs, and Java Script.

Whatever OS someone likes and uses, that is the best OS for them. I won't try to convert you, don't try to proselytize me.


I agree wholeheartedly. My main reaction was towards those who disparage Linux without sufficient experience.

Well, I still have some red wine left, time to have some of it - Cheers :+D
@TheIdeasMan,

Even IF you did direct your last post at me, I know you didn't, is neither here nor there. I've been talked down to and yelled at by more than a few scores of people who insist the OS they use is the choice of the universe.

I just nod and smile a Cheshire smile.
Clearly MINIX is king. You're probably running it whether you want to or not.
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