Art Clemons on Fri, 11 Jul 2003 12:38:05 -0400


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Re: [PLUG] Community Service Project (Devil's advocate)


Kyle R. Burton:
If it doesn't cost the installers any more to do 98 vs Linux, why not poll the kids and their families and let them choose? List what each one
comes with, the beneifts that we feel relate to each offering and
allow them to choose their own destiny (perhaps with an offer to re-install
their system if they change their minds later?).

Unfortunately there is a cost technically, since there are no free versions of Win98. MS also officially ceased to support Win98 earlier this year although it does continue to issue security patches. There are several versions of Linux that one can download, burn to a CD, setup a server and install on as many computers as we wish because much of Linux is not only open source but LGPL or GPL. The hard choice comes though when users of Linux go looking for software to do certain common things like for example watch a QuickTime movie (possible but a real pain) or play some common games (once again possible at times but a real learning curve). Oh yes, I almost forgot what can be a real pain for some and that's printing. Despite CUPS, LPRNG, and apsfilter, getting some printers to work properly can best be described as a nightmare in waiting, and inexpensive printers seem to be the worst offenders. Still choosing the right ISP does allow one to surf for less than $12 per month over dialup, get access to email and all of the other little things. Even dialup beats no access in that regard.


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