[Coco] [Color Computer] The evolution of the Coco..

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Sun, 2005-04-24 at 08:32 -0600, Glen VanDenBiggelaar wrote:
> Basil,
> I guess when you have been exposed to it the way I have, you just get 
> bitter. I use to work in a small computer store as service manager, and 
> EVERYDAY (YES- 6 DAYS A WEEK!), I would have these guys come in and try to 
> "covert me", and the owner of the store and try to get us to sell Linux 
> Pre-intstalled, and suport Linux Boxes.

That's sad. I used to have the same problem at community college with
the born-agains trying to convert me. No fun.

But not all Linux users are in-your-face evangelists. I think it's a
small minority. If the subject comes up, or there is a discussion of
"what OS should I use for ___" new system, as in this case, it's a
relevant topic of discussion, not an attempt to convert anyone. Linux is
$0 to COGS, so it is a popular embedded OS.

Coco/Linux, Coco/BSD, Coco/FreeDOS, Coco/ReactOS, etc. all could make
sense. Coco/WinXP doesn't as far as I can tell, for reasons that myself,
Merch, and Frank have already outlined.

In any event Coco/Linux is not an attempt to force anyone to learn
Linux. In fact, you should think of Linux in such a picture more like a
BIOS chip. How often do you get worked up about which vendor's BIOS is
running in your computer? For a machine like this, Linux is just the
interface to the hardware that gives us a lot of nice ready-made juicy
drivers to use.


>  The simple fact is Microsoft, and my 
> MSCE, feeds me, puts food on my table. It makes money for the store, and it 
> sells computers, for people with families, it feeds the childeren and puts 
> childeren through school.

Same for me. I make 99% of my income sharecropping on the Windows
platform. It pays the bills. But when I have a choice I use Linux. Even
when I use Windows it's usually running under VmWare, simply because I
want to do all my work on one machine.

>  Dell has tried now twice to sell computers with 
> Linux "pre-instaled" and has failed miserbly both times.

Get serious: Dell never put much effort into selling pre-installed
redhat. 100% sham. They half roll it out once in a while to keep
Microsoft honest, but I've heard stories of people trying to actually
buy one of these and it ain't pretty.

Anyway  Dell is missing the boat, there are 3rd party vendors fully
supporting Linux hardware today.

>  I had the chance to 
> become Redhat Certified for something like $5000. I would much rather use 
> that kind of money to further enhance my MCSE, because the job market 
> demands it.

Windows isn't going away anytime soon, your strategy is sound. However,
I have learned what I know about Linux without paying anyone anything.
All you have to do is use it.

>  I have had  demontrations on many different flavors of Linux, 
> you go to Technet and all the banner ads are now for Linux books. Linux is 
> everywherw in the tech world, but nowhere in the real consumer world.
> I look on linux like the movie "Titanic" by James Cameron. I have never seen 
> the movie because all the hype has turned me off so bad, I refuse to watch 
> it. When I die, I want that writen on my grave stone "Refused to watch 
> Titanic".

So you're saying your opinion is based on prejudice rather than actually
using the OS... definitely an opinion, but I wouldn't expect it to carry
any weight. That said, I saw Titanic, and it *really* sucked. So did
Forrest Gump. What was the country thinking?

> When linux is mainstream, and customers like grandma's are useing linux, or 
> if Redhat came to me and offerd certification for free, then I will start 
> learning it, but for now, I see it like something that is dead, but refuses 
> to be burried.

Dead? No it won't be dead anytime soon. The truth is that it's
growing... already about on part with Mac market share, and doing even
better in the server arena.


-- John.






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