Please Don't Ask Me About Windows On Christmas

Like many Slashdot users I spend a wee bit of my otherwise leisure time doing gratis tech support for people I may not even know. I usually don't mind too much but last Christmas I got more than one call from distant relatives that, along with wanting to spread holiday cheer, had me weigh in on whatever might be wrong with their new gadget. I was pleased as punch to see this article in the NYT (F.R.Y.Y.Y) about where I might be able to send the less techo hip. If you do *Windows* tech support for grandma after hours this article might also come in handy." Here are a couple of previous articles about the sorry state of conventional support options -- perhaps articles like this will spark some entrepreneurial ideas, too.

Comments

Re:Ah yes...

[duncf]

if you are like me and would want to both avoid the hastle of washing your shirt daily

Try going shirtless for a while!

Re:Only Fix bootleg copies.

[Elwood P Dowd]

Whoever marked this Troll, I hope I get you in metamod.

Re:Upgraded to Linux

[tzanger]

Yippee, so your systems stay up. I can do the same thing with my linux boxes:

mail/radius/postgres box (authenticates and accounts for all NAS ports across three cities (over 1000 ports)):

kit-auth:~# uptime
1:01am up 294 days, 9:50, 1 user, load average: 2.37, 2.40, 2.42

colocation box (~48 colocated web/mail hosts):

hanscolo:~# uptime
1:02am up 96 days, 6:08, 1 user, load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00

50-user fileserver (HW RAID5 UW2):

bigmama:~# uptime
1:33am up 318 days, 6:57, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

hmm, time's a bit off on that one.

You don't have fancy uptime stats out of the box on Linux, no, but I've never found much use for them except for bragging rights. I get a fuck of a lot of work done under Linux, and I'm sure you get tons of it done under Win2k -- what's your point?

And for the record, I find that I am far more productive with Linux than I ever was with Win32. I am lucky enough to have most of the work I need to do able to be done under Linux, but then again, so does most of the world. The problem I see is that they don't realize that they can be just as productive without paying the Microsoft tax and existing within the upgrade cycle that Wintel places them in.

Re:Upgraded to Linux

[morgajel]

I get lots of code done on my linux box... perl/tk, my website, java, some C, etc...
and on windows, I get just as much work done....
ut2003, battlefield 1942, neverwinter nights....hey wait a minute....
just a an fyi, not a troll.

my point is, for me, linux is both a tinkering system and a WORKstation... the windows partition is strictly for goofing off:)