[Linux-aus] Listless and Sagging

[Randall Crook]

Hi,

I am new here too. You do have a point. There should be more on Linux
and FOSS. So to remedy that here we go.....

I have been messing with Linux since 1993 and SLS.

I am a systems admin that currently works at the Tidbinbilla Space
tracking station, admittedly on Solaris boxen but with suns release of
the source and the birth of open Solaris you could say it's still in the
FOSS arena. 

What I can say is after so many years I have managed to finally exile MS
and MS based software from my home. I will admit that I still have one
of the seven PCs in my home running windows, but that is for a couple of
games that need windows. That's all it does, its become a games console.
(You could say were it belongs.)

My desktop dist of choice is Kubuntu. There is a reason for it being
Kubuntu, namely that is does not treat the user as a dummy. Gnome has
been slowly microsofting to the point where it hides too much of its
configuration from the user. 

KDE seems to leave a lot of its configuration up to the user, not the
developer. Shrug, I do enjoy firing up vi to hack away at customising my
Linux platforms but when it comes to eye candy I much prefer to point
and click.

My Server dist is and has been for 10 years now debian. I want my server
to run and run and run. EI not die when ever I switch desktop like beryl
does. It just works and has since I started using it. Plus I can run old
hardware and still get performance using debian, which is good when $$$
are tight.

The amazing thing about running Kubuntu on my lappys and Desktop is none
of my family has complained... In fact 2 years back when I dropped Linux
from my main desktop box the wife complained bitterly. So much so that I
ended up dual booting it. That vanished when I finally managed to get
all of my peripherals running under Linux. Bye Bye windows.

I do not like the direction Microsoft is trying to push the PC. I find
it amazing the the company has turned so harshly on its own roots. MS
wouldn't be where it is now if it wasn't for the reverse engineering of
the IBM PC bios. Just one thing MS is now trying so hard to eliminate.
The magic of, and the reason PCs took off was because of the versatility
of an open architecture. They are now closing it to the point that the
user will be able do nothing in the way of customisation. There goes the
versatility.

It makes me sick to think that all of the pain and heart ache us "geeks"
feel comes down to the pure greed of just a few people. "Trusted
Computing", its almost an insult to everything FOSS stands for. It seems
to me that the only people who are going to trust it are the stock
holders of MS and the entertainment industry.

Ok.. there is my rant on Linux, FOSS and their Nemesis's. (Or is that
nemisii?...)

Be Well All.

Randall.
 

On Wed, 2007-05-23 at 21:22 +1000, Don Knowles wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've only just signed up to this mailing list, and I've got 5 days worth
> of emails ... and the last 3 days has been about
> "don't discriminate against women in Linux / FOSS"
> and "we don't do that" or "what are you talking about".
> 
> Prior to that was "there's a Linux logo on that racing car",
> something I already knew.
> 
> I thought I'd be hearing about Linux, what people are doing with it,
> what's new in FOSS etc. in Australia.
> 
> I was really looking forward to that, since I don't know too many people
> who use Linux here in Rockhampton.
> 
> If this list is moderated, is there any chance it could be kept ontopic?
> 
> Or, am I missing the point of a bunch of familiar bods having a whinge
> about anything they feel like ... and I should shut up and go away,
> and leave you all to your entertainments?
>