kelley> heck, the NYT is featuring www.linux-hacker.net lately. the
kelley> guy is hacking net-appliances sold for 99$ so they can run
kelley> linux. ha!
As someone else said, most people don't really need full-blown PCs, they need computing devices. The irony is that Linux (or one of the BSDs) makes a far better operating system for computing devices than it makes for ordinary PCs, but the OS, just like the kind of brand of memory or CPU, is the last thing that any computing device user wants or needs to know (and the last thing that computing device developers and manufacturers should use in distinguishing their product from its competitors).
It's true, most *people* don't give a shit and perhaps properly so.
This is why I mentioned progressive *activists*, the kinds of people who can become quite obsessive in their pursuit of a lifestyle and value system attuned to the demands of social justice.
kelley> the bigger problem is the steep learning curve. no matter
kelley> what anyone says. afterall, part of the whole dick swinging
kelley> scene here is the trick of simultaneously maintaining that
kelley> _anyone_ can do it AND dissing people who don't get it and
kelley> ask questions.
Hmm, this, actually, was my *real* reason for asking the question: it had been *too* long since Kelley had described me as a d***-swinging geek, and I was hoping to tempt her into doing so again! :>
kelley> people who are geeks tend to forget their roots. but that's
kelley> true of lefties too. so.
I try to forget my early days using Linux because they were so goddamn frustrating... I once spent days trying to get my PC to recognize and access my CDROM. I didn't understand the commands necessary and they were rather cryptic. I didn't have anyone to ask here in Dallas; so, from the sheer frustration, I went back to Windows and started the Dallas Linux users group (now one of the biggest in the country), just so I could pretend to be using Linux, all the while asking little questions, off-handedly, of the hardcore telecom Unix geeks who came out to the earliest meetings. Not an approach I suggest to others, but it worked for me.
Now when my wife pops a CD into her machine, which runs the newest, bestest Gnome desktop, the CD gets recognized automagically, just like that *other* OS. Progress is a beautiful thing!
Best, Kendall Clark