Being a hardcore Linux user is not easy, if you are forced to use Windows, especially by official decree. When I used to work for Motorola, we used to get only Windows machines, and the closest thing to a Linux machine was a Solaris 8 server. I could not get a Linux machine without any official project requirement. In the current startup where I work, Linux is the defacto standard, so my life is much easier.
Recently as part of a new assignment, I had to use a firmware compiler, which unfortunately runs only on windows. So I started installing windows on another machine. After installing XP (after a couple of BSoDs and reinstalls tending from heavy infections), I tried to download the compiler software, and I found out that the network card driver was not installed. I was totally pissed off, and then I remembered that I had a Fedora 9 Boot CD, which made the situation akin to someone asking Salman Khan to remove his shirt, or Deve gowda to take a nap... I immediately installed Linux on the machine, and once it is done, booted into linux and figured out the type of hardware from lspci. I started downloading windows drivers for the network card, and it took me quite a while to get proper network drivers.
It made me realize that I have become addicted to Linux... which although does not have a support group like Linux Addicts Anonymous, is a serious impairment for someone living in Bill Gates's Paradise. Ever since I started using only Linux, both in office and on my personal desktop and laptop, my patience for waiting for stuff to happen was gradually thinning all the time. I became a crazed maniac asking for lower response times to actions - until now. Now that I have to use Windows atleast once in a day, I am back to being more patient waiting for my computer to respond, or taking care of it like a loving father while it throws tantrums like a BSoD or plain stops responding to my pleas or gets sick. Guess with due effort, I can become a WindowsXP certified user soon enough. However to become a Windows Vista certified user, I think I would need a prescription medication like Prozac.
P.S: I am not a Linux Fan, just a user. If there is anything I am a fan of, it would be the Windows OS from a shareholder standpoint.
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1 comment:
The PS part was good :D
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