[GRLUG] value of time and why I run Linux

[Michael Mol]

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 11:56 PM, <peyeps at iserv.net> wrote:
>>
>> Maybe my time isn't as valuable as yours, but I'm willing to spend
>> time to avoid spending money.  That's the same reason I did my own
>> auto maintenance with my last car.
>>
>
> My time is valuable, which is why I run Linux and don't install a new
> kernel every two years.

I have wonder how many known privilege escalation exploits your kernel
hasn't been patched for.

>
>> Control is a nice feature of it.  Control is also one of the reasons I
>> run Linux in the first place.  I suspect that's true of a lot of the
>> people on this list.
>>
>
> I run Linux not because of the control, unless you consider not having
> your machine reboot because a bunch of patches got downloaded,

I would.

> or having
> something break because a "patch" was downloaded a control issue,

I would.

> but
> because I want something that works and doesn't freeze up because of a
> code picked up in passing from a google search.

I don't know how that factors into any software choice, honestly; Are
you insinuating that Microsoft snaps up snippets from Google Code?  Or
do you somehow think that the source code Gentoo compiles doesn't come
from the same upstream as Debian stable?

>
> So I don't do bleeding edge.  I stick with what works.  Call me old
> fashioned.

That's not old-fashioned, that's pragmatic.  I'm fine with pragmatic.

I stick with what works for my needs.  Until it stops working.  I
switched from Debian to Ubuntu a few years ago because Debian wouldn't
work on my (five-year-old at the time) hardware whatever I did, while
an Ubuntu live CD worked perfecly.  I'm looking for an alternative to
Ubuntu because I don't like how Ubuntu has a nasty habit of breaking
things during upgrade cycles, and the severity and annoyance of that
breakage is getting worse.

Yes, I'm *looking* for an alternative.  I haven't settled on Gentoo.
I'm giving myself time to settle in and learn it.  So far, I really
like it as a service and X11 app server.*  I haven't yet massaged it
into a comfortable desktop.

* Yes, I do the thin client thing frequently...

> I really don't like having my tools re-arranged and having to
> find out where useful things have been moved to. It's bad enough finding
> out that the terminal is not under accessories in Redhat as it is in
> Ubuntu, but is under utilities.

Yeah, having common apps moving around menus in different environments
is a pain.  That's one reason I prefer the command line; If I now the
name of the command, I just need to run it.  If my window manager has
a shortcut to run a command line, so much the better.

> Having a standard control panel shuffled
> about the way Microsoft did just because they wanted to do something
> different is nothing but a pain.  Good riddance to bad excrement.


Indeed.  I still have a pause when I try to find what used to be
called "Add/Remove Programs".



-- 
:wq