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____/ Rex Ballard on Thursday 30 Jun 2011 14:07 : \____
> On Friday, June 24, 2011 12:10:46 PM UTC-4, Homer wrote:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>> >
>> > http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?title=hey_where_are_all_the_clueless_newbs_who&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
>
> Pete makes some good points in this article, pointing out that many people
> have no trouble navigating an Android Phone or an iPhone, but freak when they
> see the Linux GUI instead of Windows, and many still struggle with the Windows
> GUI.
>
> Pete probably doesn't remember the days when we used to access computers via a
> terminal, or we had to use CP/M or MS-DOS and there was no GUI, and getting
> support over the telephone often meant spending hours with a customer who had
> typed a semicolon instead of a colon, or a dash instead of a dot.
>
> Apple introduced the Mac as "A computer for the rest of us", but it was very
> expensive, and any real applications like MacProject were painfully slow.
> Microsoft tried to introduce Windows, but 1.0, 2.0, 286, 386, and 3.0 were
> very slow, buggy, ran hardly any applications, and required the most expensive
> hardware available on the market - it was cheaper to buy a UNIX server or
> workstation and some X-terminals or some X11 software for the PC.
>
> Windows 3.1 was Microsoft's crowning accomplishment. For 3.0, they had
> offered a free help line on a 1-800 number, and came up with thousands of
> "frequently asked questions" - then figured out how to provide those answers
> in the user interface so that all you had to do was hover, hit f1, or right
> click the mouse to get context sensitive help. It really was an amazing
> achievement - if Microsoft deserves a patent, that would be it, but it would
> be impossible to define the actual patent implementation without publishing
> strategic source code - besides, it would have expired by now. Of course,
> Microsoft bought much of the UI from HP, and "borrowed" other parts,
> especially the UI for Windows 95, from Linux projects like FVWM. Still, with
> all that context sensitive help, Microsoft was able to grow the PC using
> population from about 50 million users to around 500 million users in less
> than 10 years. An amazing feat for any business. The only industry that grew
> faster was the Internet, with it's millions of UNIX and Linux servers - which
> grew from 2 million users in 1993 to nearly 500 million by 1997. Much of that
> early growth was fueled by the Winsock shareware and Mosaic Web Browser,
> published in 1993. Microsoft's web browser and internet stack wouldn't be
> part of a stable Windows 95B until April of 1996.
>
> Linux, with it's open source applications, many dating back to the "terminal"
> days, had user interfaces ranging from command-line to "CHUI", to Athena 2d,
> to Motif, to Olit, and eventually to GTK/Gnome and QT/KDE.
>
> Google (and several other Linux advocates) saw that having a consistent user
> interface approach, and keeping application user interfaces separate from
> their service modules would result in something far easier to use. The result
> was Chrome and Android. Android is a full blown Linux server with lots of
> service applications, which can provide information that can be presented
> using any compatible GUI. In most cases, the service app is tied to the GUI,
> but when there are multiple apps capable of handling the information, a list
> of those options is offered.
>
> As a result, each application can be very simple. Rather than a huge complex
> monolithic application that has to be able to do everything imaginable to any
> type of office document, each application can have a very specific purpose,
> working on a specific type of information, and the user gets the ability to
> choose from thousands of apps, most of which are easier to use than the cell
> phone itself.
>
>> Is that the same Penguin Pete who launched a vicious attack on Ken
>> Starks (of the HeliOS project that donates computers to kids), accusing
>> him of being a fraud, and attacking Linux advocacy in general?
>>
>> http://www.thenixedreport.com/articles/tholbrook2/penguinpete.html
>
> I know what Pete went though. In 2007, I was the one having the stroke, and
> after going into a surgical procedure that the insurance company decided
> (after the fact) was only partially covered, leaving me with a huge debt, they
> realized they couldn't use surgery to fix the problem, and had to go with the
> "Passive" approach.
>
> It took almost 3 months to get back to where I could walk, eat, and get back
> to work. I'd lost the left side, and was left-handed.
>
> Ironically, when I did start posting again, even though I had posted that I
> had had a stroke, the WinTrolls still had their fun with the ad-homonym
> attacks.
>
> I finally just ignored them.
>
>> http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?title=why_i_am_not_a_linux_advocate
>>
>> I don't think his sort of "advocacy" is especially useful, frankly.
>
> I didn't see anything in the article than indicated that pete was even aware
> of the nature of the problem. There are many open source advocates who have
> to stop working on their OSS projects because their paying job
> responsibilities have increased and they have to do more "Real Work" to meet
> deadlines and other business commitments.
>
> Many developers and advocates work on OSS with the permission of their
> employers, and that permission is ristricted. Their OSS participation can't
> negatively impact their jobs, and they can't doing things that would expose
> the company to legal liabilities (posting as a representative of the
> company...)
>
>> Meanwhile, if Ken really is a "scam artist" as "Penguin" claims, he must
>> be the most impoverished one I've ever heard of, since he can't even
>> afford to pay for a life-saving operation on his partner Diane, after
>> she suffered a stroke:
>
>> http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-minor-and-devestating-are-used-in.html
>
> Ken stated in the article that he and diane were in that age where they were
> old enough for Social Security, but not yet old enough for Medicare, and they
> hadn't been able to afford to extend their COBRA long enough to bridge the
> gap.
>
> Since they had some assets, probably retirement funds, they didn't qualify for
> indigent care. At the same time, they didn't want to drain their entire
> retirement nest-egg to pay for a surgery that would have left them homeless
> and indigent for the rest of their lives.
>
> Like so many millions in the United States - they were exposed to all the
> risks, and getting none of the benefits of all those insurance premiums they
> had paid to their respective health insurance companies for decades.
>
> I hope Diane makes a speedy recovery and will pray for her. I was lucky, I
> was able to tolerate the pain as my brain found new pathways to the different
> parts of my body. It often felt like a nail being driven into my arm or leg,
> but enduring it and not seeking the pain killers helped me recover parts of my
> body I thought I had lost for good. Today, you wouldn't even know I'd had a
> stroke.
>
> For me, it was God working a miracle anonymously.
That was a good post until that last line (maybe a metaphor though) ;-
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Dr. Roy S. Schestowitz (Ph.D. Medical Biophysics), Imaging Researcher
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux administration | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Editor @ http://techrights.org & Broadcaster @ http://bytesmedia.co.uk/
GPL-licensed 3-D Othello @ http://othellomaster.com
Non-profit search engine proposal @ http://iuron.com
Contact E-mail address (direct): s at schestowitz dot com
Contact Internet phone (SIP): schestowitz@xxxxxxxxx (24/7)
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