Comments on: Tipping point http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/ Freedom is the right of all sentient beings Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:39:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: John Carlyle-Clarke http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-52 John Carlyle-Clarke Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:19:31 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-52 I had a similar experience. I'd tried dual booting Mandrake a few times in the past, and had also set up Debian on a spare 486 in the mid '90s. I'd also run an old box as a leafnode server on Mandrake at work for a while. Dual booting never worked for me, and all my hardware was non-linux friendly back then, so I never stuck with it. I installed a new CPU on my main box back in November, and started getting all kinds of weird problems - lock ups, blue screens, file corruption, strange errors. Took me a long time to figure out that the CPU was at fault. In the process, I installed Ubuntu to try and rule out OS problems. The file corruption hosed my XP partition, but left the Ubuntu one. I decided it was a sign, and re-installed XP on VMWare on Ubuntu to ease the migration (still needed Outlook, Word, Visual Studio). I now only fire up the VMWare for Visual Studio work, and the occasional Word document that Openoffice doesn't like. I spent about three months where at least twice a week I'd swear tomorrow I'd give up and go back to XP, but now I love using Linux and would not go back unless I had to. I'm still grateful for that push I had from faulty hardware to make me take the pain and convert. I had a similar experience. I’d tried dual booting Mandrake a few times in the past, and had also set up Debian on a spare 486 in the mid ’90s. I’d also run an old box as a leafnode server on Mandrake at work for a while. Dual booting never worked for me, and all my hardware was non-linux friendly back then, so I never stuck with it.

I installed a new CPU on my main box back in November, and started getting all kinds of weird problems - lock ups, blue screens, file corruption, strange errors. Took me a long time to figure out that the CPU was at fault. In the process, I installed Ubuntu to try and rule out OS problems. The file corruption hosed my XP partition, but left the Ubuntu one. I decided it was a sign, and re-installed XP on VMWare on Ubuntu to ease the migration (still needed Outlook, Word, Visual Studio).

I now only fire up the VMWare for Visual Studio work, and the occasional Word document that Openoffice doesn’t like.

I spent about three months where at least twice a week I’d swear tomorrow I’d give up and go back to XP, but now I love using Linux and would not go back unless I had to.

I’m still grateful for that push I had from faulty hardware to make me take the pain and convert.

]]> By: Kevin Dupuy http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-51 Kevin Dupuy Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:14:52 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-51 Yes, basically it's 2003 and Red Hat 8, my first experiance with Linux, and I was too dumb to figure out how to dual-boot with XP, so I just took the plunge and replaced XP. I only reinstalled XP when I needed to get an app on there that I couldn't get working on Wine. But I am back to a non-Win. laptop. Yes, basically it’s 2003 and Red Hat 8, my first experiance with Linux, and I was too dumb to figure out how to dual-boot with XP, so I just took the plunge and replaced XP. I only reinstalled XP when I needed to get an app on there that I couldn’t get working on Wine. But I am back to a non-Win. laptop.

]]> By: David Tremblay http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-50 David Tremblay Sun, 12 Aug 2007 18:37:45 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-50 Was using it on and off, since 2002, I decided one day that was over, and that was over, early 2004. Something like, how can you be "advocating" it but still not using it full time ?? Was using it on and off, since 2002, I decided one day that was over, and that was over, early 2004. Something like, how can you be “advocating” it but still not using it full time ??

]]> By: CraigM http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-49 CraigM Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:17:58 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-49 Mine was a little more sublime. It was around 1994/5 when I decided that dual-booting between Linux (Slackware) and Windows was too much of a hassle. I usually wanted another program in the other operating system, so I decided to remove that problem by removing Windows. Its been both a joy and a pain, but I've never fully regretted it. Mine was a little more sublime. It was around 1994/5 when I decided that dual-booting between Linux (Slackware) and Windows was too much of a hassle. I usually wanted another program in the other operating system, so I decided to remove that problem by removing Windows. Its been both a joy and a pain, but I’ve never fully regretted it.

]]> By: Rob http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-48 Rob Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:07:30 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-48 My experience was distinctly less sudden than most of these described here. I'd had a friend who had told me that she was tired of Windows giving her blue screens of death, but she refused to change to a Linux distribution until it WINE could run SIMS II perfectly, and advised me not to install it because I 'would clearly be lost'. I kind of rolled my eyes at this, but thought nothing of it at the time. However, when she and I began to fight for the first time, I went out and downloaded Ubuntu (at the time, Dapper beta) thanks to the help of another friend, and installed it, just to prove to myself that I wasn't illiterate, and that a person with no real experience to speak about on Linux could learn it. I installed it that night, and spent about 8 hours just playing with it, straight. I was digging the absolute customization of it all. Unfortunately, because what I did at the time was mostly gaming, I wound up booting Windows 2k most of the time. It wasn't for a bit longer that I used Ubuntu again, but it was entirely by accident. Grub sets up Ubuntu to boot first, and so I'd always sit there, punch escape, and change it to windows. Unfortunately, my RAM started to go, and because it took absolute ages to boot up, I'd leave the room, and usually when I returned, Ubuntu was staring at me. Well, it was up there, so I just used it. The real tipping point, so-to-speak, was when I migrated all my writing over to Ubuntu, and when Amarok went through my massively iTunes-cloned music library and removed all the duplicates. That pretty much earned my loyalty, but the real kicker was when I was in Seattle, troubleshooting for my girlfriend's mother. Qwest's internet wasn't working, and after spending about 5 hours on tech support, I popped in an Ubuntu livecd that I happened to have with me (read: Carry everywhere). Surprise, surprise -- Ubuntu just works. The most amusing thing was that when I told Microsoft-through-Qwest support that it was clearly an OS issue and not a modem issue because it worked on Ubuntu, they told me they couldn't help and hung up. Now my mother-in-law uses Ubuntu, too. My experience was distinctly less sudden than most of these described here. I’d had a friend who had told me that she was tired of Windows giving her blue screens of death, but she refused to change to a Linux distribution until it WINE could run SIMS II perfectly, and advised me not to install it because I ‘would clearly be lost’. I kind of rolled my eyes at this, but thought nothing of it at the time. However, when she and I began to fight for the first time, I went out and downloaded Ubuntu (at the time, Dapper beta) thanks to the help of another friend, and installed it, just to prove to myself that I wasn’t illiterate, and that a person with no real experience to speak about on Linux could learn it. I installed it that night, and spent about 8 hours just playing with it, straight. I was digging the absolute customization of it all.

Unfortunately, because what I did at the time was mostly gaming, I wound up booting Windows 2k most of the time. It wasn’t for a bit longer that I used Ubuntu again, but it was entirely by accident. Grub sets up Ubuntu to boot first, and so I’d always sit there, punch escape, and change it to windows. Unfortunately, my RAM started to go, and because it took absolute ages to boot up, I’d leave the room, and usually when I returned, Ubuntu was staring at me.

Well, it was up there, so I just used it. The real tipping point, so-to-speak, was when I migrated all my writing over to Ubuntu, and when Amarok went through my massively iTunes-cloned music library and removed all the duplicates. That pretty much earned my loyalty, but the real kicker was when I was in Seattle, troubleshooting for my girlfriend’s mother. Qwest’s internet wasn’t working, and after spending about 5 hours on tech support, I popped in an Ubuntu livecd that I happened to have with me (read: Carry everywhere). Surprise, surprise — Ubuntu just works. The most amusing thing was that when I told Microsoft-through-Qwest support that it was clearly an OS issue and not a modem issue because it worked on Ubuntu, they told me they couldn’t help and hung up.

Now my mother-in-law uses Ubuntu, too.

]]> By: Martin-Éric http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-47 Martin-Éric Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:00:33 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-47 I never liked Windows much to begin with and could not afford Mac, but what really broke it for me was how many times Word would eat a large document I was working on or how it would manage to crash the whole OS with it. Eventually, I issued an ultimatum to upper management that we either changed tools or they were loosing me. They lost me. The next job was somewhat more accommodating in one's choice of OS, but still mandated Word for documents, which meant pointless dual-booting. The next job and this one were perfectly happy with documents produced using OpenOffice, so I haven't had to look back since 2001. I never liked Windows much to begin with and could not afford Mac, but what really broke it for me was how many times Word would eat a large document I was working on or how it would manage to crash the whole OS with it. Eventually, I issued an ultimatum to upper management that we either changed tools or they were loosing me. They lost me. The next job was somewhat more accommodating in one’s choice of OS, but still mandated Word for documents, which meant pointless dual-booting. The next job and this one were perfectly happy with documents produced using OpenOffice, so I haven’t had to look back since 2001.

]]> By: Trevor http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-46 Trevor Sun, 12 Aug 2007 13:20:03 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-46 I was running Windows 98 at the time, on an oldish machine. One day I looked at all the software I used regularily (Firefox, OpenOffice, 7-zip, etc.), and realized that the only non-free software I used was the operating system itself. So, I figured it would only be right to switch to Linux. I was running Windows 98 at the time, on an oldish machine. One day I looked at all the software I used regularily (Firefox, OpenOffice, 7-zip, etc.), and realized that the only non-free software I used was the operating system itself. So, I figured it would only be right to switch to Linux.

]]> By: Marius Gedminas http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-45 Marius Gedminas Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:40:39 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-45 It was back in 1998, I think. I was dual-booting between DOS (or Win95) and Linux at the time, but DOS was my primary OS. Then a friend helped me configure my email (some weird UUCP setup) on Linux and I switched. It was back in 1998, I think. I was dual-booting between DOS (or Win95) and Linux at the time, but DOS was my primary OS. Then a friend helped me configure my email (some weird UUCP setup) on Linux and I switched.

]]> By: ND http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-44 ND Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:27:11 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-44 I bought a small, lightweight laptop very cheap. It didn't have a cd-rom drive or floppy. After trying a lot to put Windows on it, it was not working. I just thought to give Linux a try as anyway I would not solve my problem soon. I installed Ubuntu and it just works fine. I bought a small, lightweight laptop very cheap. It didn’t have a cd-rom drive or floppy. After trying a lot to put Windows on it, it was not working. I just thought to give Linux a try as anyway I would not solve my problem soon. I installed Ubuntu and it just works fine.

]]> By: Harsh http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-43 Harsh Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:01:55 +0000 http://yama.hosting.k-sit.com/blog/2007/08/12/tipping-point/#comment-43 For me it was the fact that i had been testing the vista betas for quite some while(1.5 years) and when it went gold and it still ran like crap on my pc... It pissed me off big time! So from that day on i started using ubuntu full time, which i too had only been toying around with until then. What helped me keep using ubuntu full time was that fact that i was too lazy to install windows xp on my other partition LOL. Which meant i was forced to fix any problems i had with ubuntu instead of running away to windows everytime i had a small problem that i couldnt fix. For me it was the fact that i had been testing the vista betas for quite some while(1.5 years) and when it went gold and it still ran like crap on my pc… It pissed me off big time! So from that day on i started using ubuntu full time, which i too had only been toying around with until then. What helped me keep using ubuntu full time was that fact that i was too lazy to install windows xp on my other partition LOL. Which meant i was forced to fix any problems i had with ubuntu instead of running away to windows everytime i had a small problem that i couldnt fix.

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