Saturday, November 23, 2002 :::
 
So now I'm faced with a problem. Should I dual boot my Dell unit, run Win 98SE and Mandrake 9.0? ( And risk messing up the unit)
Or perhaps I should buy another pc and install just Linux on it?
Decisions, decisions. My life is filled with difficult choices:-)

::: posted by hitest at 8:01 PM



Sunday, November 17, 2002 :::
 
So why open source software like Linux?
The first compelling reason that made me start down this path of exploration was cost. It is getting too costly to purchase software to run my pc. I mean who can afford this stuff? Does that mean I'm cheap, well, let's just say I don't want to needlessly waste money on technology....okay so I'm cheap. A Linux install CD ROM is very inexpensive to buy. Having Linux software freely available for download is also a plus. Spending hundreds of dollars for an OS doesn't seem cricket to me.
Second, security, viruses are being written at a staggering rate for the most widely used OS. At this point there are not as many viruses that exploit the Linux/unix code base. Also, it is very difficult to hack into a Linux box running in user mode.
Third, intellectual freedom, I've found Linux to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Open source developers, users share their knowledge in a free exchange of information with other users. I've received help on many occasions from Linux users on my message board at "The Screen Savers" who helped me to solve a technical problem. In turn, I've helped people out who are installing Linux for the first time. However, the other model of software delivery would have me call a pay for view help line.......enough said.
Finally, perhaps the most compelling reason to try out Linux is that this is new to me. I'm enjoying the process of learning a new language, the command line interface. I'm just starting to learn the cli.
End of rant.

::: posted by hitest at 7:37 AM

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In this blog I muse about Linux and anything in the free and open source software ecosystem