[GRLUG] value of time and why I run Linux

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 23:56 -0400, 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'd be more than happy to spend money to save time,  and I use LINUX
(openSUSE) on both my workstation and my desktop.  I install openSUSE,
add three repositories [via cut-n-paste], and then there is only *1*
application I have to install [DbVisualizer].   An entirely working
desktop out-of-the-box for every purpose is pretty amazing.

> > 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

I don't really understand the "control" arguement, but it seems critical
to the KDE crowd.  I want to get stuff done;  so the best tool chain
wins.  And that is GNOME (D-Bus, Evolution, F-Spot, Banshee, Tomboy, ...
so much goodness), Firefox, XMPP (whatever client you want),
Mono/MonoDevelop, Python, HG, Open Office, PostgreSQL, and OpenGroupware
- hands down!

> your machine reboot because a bunch of patches got downloaded, or having
> something break because a "patch" was downloaded a control issue, 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 use an Vista VM quite a bit and other than things getting mucked up my
installers [and I am testing alpha/beta software] I don't really have
any stability issues.  Starting with XP I think most of the Windows
workstation stability issues were resolved,  the once a week reboot for
updates doesn't bother me.

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

Nautilus: right click, open-terminal-in-folder.  Or GNOME-Do:
<super>+<space>, "T", <enter>.  Gnome-Do is highly addictive.  After
using Do for a couple of months every other desktop feels like a sludgy
hack.