Subj : Re: Old computer
To   : acn
From : boraxman
Date : Wed Jun 29 2022 11:01:15

 ac> Hallo boraxman,
 ac> 
 ac> b> Well, that is kind of my point.  People who are used to Windows
 ac> b> will see an alternative as "deficient", wheras people used to Linux
 ac> b> will find Windows deficient.  This shows that much of the
 ac> b> "deficiencies" that are claimed are really a matter of the
 ac> b> alternative not matching their habits.
 ac> 
 ac> Well, I've started my computer career (after the C64 phase in the  
 ac> early 90s) with a MS-DOS/Win3 system and upgraded to Win95 (starting  
 ac> with the March '95 beta!).
 ac> I liked it and played around with that quite a lot, later I upgraded  
 ac> to Win98. But with the deep integration of IE, I more and more  
 ac> disliked it and moved to OS/2, which I had seen running on a BBS PC of  
 ac> some sysop.
 ac> Later, I moved to Linux and stayed there (with some years of MacOS on  
 ac> my main desktop machine).
 ac> 
 ac> So, I should be preferring the Windows style of computing, as I  
 ac> started there. But I don't.
 ac> Today, I have to use Windows on my work machine, but I'm thankful that  
 ac> I could install MobaXterm, which contains a local bash shell.
 ac> There are quite some tasks where I need some of the basic UNIX text  
 ac> mangling commands that don't have feasible equivalents on Windows.
 ac> 
 ac> I only have a Windows PC at home for Fusion 360 (3D design) and some  
 ac> old Windows games, my main desktop (and the one of my wife) are  
 ac> running Linux (KDE Plasma).
 ac> 
 ac> Regards,
 ac> Anna

That is almost identical to my story!  Except I didn't use OS/2 and moved to Windows 95 at the end of 1996 and Linux in 2000.  Windows I only have for games, but it is not functional at the moment as I only have XP and there are no drivers for my current video card, so I run all my games either natively or Wine/Proton in the rare occasion that I need to.

Initially I used to use Linux "Windows style", but moved more and more to using it "Unix style" over time.  You know, using the GNU tools more and Windows equivalents of applications less.  I generate financial reports for a company I'm a director of, and I've automated a lot of it with groff and a simple program I wrote.  Other tasks I employed Awk instead of wrangling spreadsheets.  Instead of thinking "is there an application I an download to so specific task X" I think "how can I make what I've got do task X".

The real difference is in the value in learning the tools. In the Windows world, you really learn to use 3rd Party applications, you don't really learn to use Windows because there is nothing to learn, really, except Control Panel.  Powershell has changed that, but its just not BASH.  In GNU/Linux/Unix, there are many tools to learn, but the learning pays off differently because with a little imagination you can employ them to solve novel problems.

So yeah, I too started my PC use in the MS world (DOS and Windows), and while I did like DOS, and was used to Windows, I couldn't go back.  Using Windows at work, I'm struck by how often I have this tedious task to do, which I *COULD* automate, but can't because Windows isn't designed for that kind of power user.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

.