[Asterisk-Users] Linux and Windows

[Benjamin on Asterisk Mailing Lists]

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 08:25:03 -0600, Me <mylist at lightwavetech.com> wrote:
> The thing is, why run it on Windows.. Even though there is a Windows version
> now it's not really a Windows version is a Linux version running on a
> version of Linux that will run on Windows.. YUCK.. That's like taking a
> Cadillac engine and putting in a Yugo just because you feel more comfortable
> driving your Yugo. Just jump in the Cadillac and enjoy the full power of the
> engine without your Yugo wheels falling off along the way.
> 
> No point to it, just load up a free version of Linux on an separate PC and
> you are off. Fedora is so easy to install these days it's not like it's
> reserved for just the super geeks.

The trouble is innertia. Most Windoze folks are so much into their
Windoze routine, they won't even use a Linux or BSD box if you install
it for them. I have got a friend in the UK who is always complaining
about his Windoze box being down and having to rebuild it from scratch
because of viruses, DLL hell, hardware quirks and god knows what else.
For years I told him that he could get rid of all that once and for
all very easily. When I started with Asterisk, there was finally
something that got him interested because he's a telephone junkie.

I personally talked him through a Mandrake installation over the phone
and all seemed hunky dory. Then he ordered a Grandstream phone and the
phone took two months to arrive. By the time he took delivery of the
phone, he had forgotten the password to login to his Linux box. When I
was to talk him through the steps how to reset the password in single
user mode, he said he couldn't hook up the machine right now anyway
because he hadn't got enough RJ-45 ports on his router to plug in
three devices. I asked him to go to Tottenham Court Road and pick up a
cheap 5 port switching hub. He said he would do that within a day or
two and that was 18 months or so ago.

The next time he had a story to tell what a horrible experience he
just had rebuilding his Windoze PC again because of whatever popped up
again problem, I simply said to him "You have this trouble because you
feel good about telling other people how bad you feel. Your Windoze
box gives you a channel to complain about something, because there
aren't many other things you can get away with so easily complaining
about. You don't really want a computer that works properly, you enjoy
this Windoze disaster too much. But you don't have my sympathy
anymore."

I only heard from him about six months or so ago when he was telling
me that he would now really get his act together and get into his
Mandrake box. Well, I haven't heard from him since.

I think this is symptomatic for most Windoze lusers. Moral: You can
lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink.

In this respect, something like CoLinux and Astwind is definitely a
good thing because it lowers that entry hurdle, even if only the
perception thereof.

rgds
benjk

-- 
Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
Tokyo, Japan.

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