Converting "Dozies" (was Re: [ale] OT: winxp upgrade...)

[Greg]

Dear gentle Linux user;

	Well, if you have never paid for a distro, then how do you expect to
continue to download for free in the future ???  As Mandrake is getting
ready to go down the drain I expect the others to follow in some capacity
(i.e. no free eternal downloads) at some time in the future. Yes, I know
that the GPL says you have to make the source available, but it is ... on
the disks when you buy a distro.  There is no requirement to make it
available on to the world on a ftp server.  I mean, it takes money for the
boxes, the Sys Admins, the electricity & facilities, the bandwidth, and the
development of Linux.  I don't care about all that BS from Stallman, it
takes money to ride the train, and the lease holders/tax
collectors/utilities won't accept "goodwill".  Obviously Mr. Stallman never
had any trouble paying bills or took an economics course.

	Look at Smoothwall's history.  They started out dependant on "good will"
and found out it takes money to do a project.  Goodbye warm & fuzzy inc and
hello corporate world. I would suggest that if you use Linux, you should
support those who "give" you stuff - and I mean "give" as in the sense "THEY
foot the bill and YOU use for free".

	If you use Linux, you should support it.  It's like the lessons in that
parable about the common green or some such title, where if everyone just
takes and takes then it is all used up.  I would, gentle Linux user, suggest
you start to buy distros and help out at installfests.  I can understand
some not buying distros, but if you can afford 2 pizzas, you can afford a
distro.

	As for the rest of the stuff ... well .... what goes around comes around
and if they want to put up with MS crap, then so be it, but just don't waste
my time crying about it to me.   I am resigned to living in a society of
mindless drone-lemmings and so don't worry anymore about what I cannot
change.

Greg Canter

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-admin at ale.org [mailto:ale-admin at ale.org]On Behalf Of David S.
> Jackson
> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 12:02 PM
> To: ale at ale.org
> Subject: Converting "Dozies" (was Re: [ale] OT: winxp upgrade...)
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 06, 2003 at 08:36:03AM -0500 James P. Kinney III
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com> wrote:
> > <begin soapbox rant mode>
> >
> > Wipe the drive, repartition, slap on a RedHat 8 (no distro wars, please)
> > for him and show how easy it is to do things and hit the Internet. Show
> > him how much he can get for the money and time investment. Show _your_
> > Linux box uptime report. Preach to him about subversive nature of the
> > controls and "bug fixes" that Microsoft uses.
>
> I guess "converting" or "preaching" to others is pretty hard for me to
> do.  But perhaps that has more to do with my personal emotional baggage
> than with reality.  Rationally, friends shouldn't let friends drive
> drunk.  So, perhaps friends also shouldn't allow friends to compute
> stupidly.
>
> However, none of us has the power to make up another's mind for him.
> Unless it's by force or by trickery.  So I haven't pushed too hard when
> people (friends) appear to ignorantly follow the M$ herd of lemmings
> over the cliff.  I guess it comes down to, "How stupid do I really
> believe my friends are, and how much of their delusion is actually due
> to force and trickery?"
>
> If they refuse to listen to rational arguments for forsaking M$, then I
> can do nothing (ethically speaking).  But if they are innocent captives
> then I should try my hardest to explain reasonably and dispassionately
> why they are on a collision course by continuing to use M$ crap.
>
> So, I'm thinking this whole discussion comes down to:
>
> 1. How do you identify whether your friends are either genuine victimes
> or are too stupid or indifferent to care what they use?
>
> 2. How best do you advocate Linux without seeming like a zealot?  (Is it
> too zealous to install only *nix and not dual boot their machine?)
>
> > Convert that person and show them the ALE list.
>
> This is truly an enormous "selling" point.
>
> > Tell them to save their money by NOT giving it to Bill.  Have him give
> > it to you instead to setup and teach him how to use the new found
> > freedom of an computer system that puts the box owner IN CHARGE
> > instead of the corporate interests in Redmond.
>
> This is a little tougher one, I think.  I mean, I've used the "hood
> welded shut" argument time and again, and people look at me with glazed
> eyes.  I think it's because they don't work on their cars either, so
> they have no concept of how bad the M$ situation truly is.   I keep
> expecting them to call me Mulder and look around for The Smoking Man.
>
> > Show him how wonderful it is to be able not have to have an extra $70 a
> > year just to keep from getting email viruses. Show him the elegant
> > simplicity and excellent functionality of OpenOffice.org installed WITH
> > the operating system, not a separate purchase and installation headache.
>
> I switched over to Linux in about early 1995. Since then I've paid once
> for 98se for my wife/daughter's machine as a dual boot.  That's the last
> "purchase" I ever made for any OS.  Meanwhile I've upgraded all my
> machines at no cost and burned new CDs of any distro I have wanted for
> all these years.  All with the reliability and sensibility that is *nix.
> It's hard to get people to even conceive of what I'm talking about here
> if they've never experienced it.
>
> I guess all one can do is find the *one* reason that *will convince
> them* to try 'nix out.  For me it was that I hate to be made an ass of
> by M$.  I was tired of being Microsoft's bitch.
>
> :-)
>
> --
> David S. Jackson                        dsj at dsj.net
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> When I woke up this morning, my girlfriend asked if I
> had slept well.  I said, "No, I made a few mistakes."
> 		-- Steven Wright
>

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