[buug] Re: Jackpot!

[Zeke Krahlin]

--- Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> It's not a big thing, but your Reply-To header has the immediate effect
> of auto-directing replies to your list posts to your private e-mail 
> mailbox (and off the list).  Every time I want to follow up one of your
> list posts, posting back to the list, I have to manually override your
> Reply-To.

IOW: It's best that I go by established protocol...which is how I want to
do things, anyway. Please ignore my last posting, asking you exactly
what's up with this, as you just answered it in this message. Guessing
that it would be better to use just one e-mail address for both "from" and
"reply-to", last night I created a new mailbox specifically for my mailing
lists.

> The nice thing is that your clients will never mess up the machine
> setups you've crafted for them, because the system is protected from 
> mishap.  

They don't even use a news reader, chat, or ftp client...making my work
that much easier, giving me the breathing space I need, during this first
major LLC (Linux Learning Curve). Any downloading they do is rare, and
it's only via http in a Netscape browser. Their main interests on the
'Net, for now, are web browsing and e-mail. But in a few months, I'll be
quite capable of setting up more elaborate desktops for those who are a
few steps beyond my pleasant Linux clients. They are kind enough to allow
me to use them as my "beta testees".

BTW, my clients are very intelligent and gifted...but definitely not when
it comes to computers. We can't *all dedicate our lives to the chips!

> A few years from now, it'll start to dawn on them that their 
> systems aren't degrading over time, as they're used to.  

I already pointed this out to them...another bonus they are pleased to
hear about. But it was an easy sell, when I told them their virus-attack
worries would be gone.

> The worst they
> can ever do is mess up their home directories, which you can recreate
> for them in a jiffy.  (Also, they can sometimes screw up filesystems
> by kicking out the power cord and such.  This risk will vanish as
> ext3, Reiserfs, and other journaling filesystems become available.)

I already am a master at installing Linux on the fly, and setting up a
client desktop. The process is a lot less messy than a similar situation
in Windoze. I certainly look forward to the evolution of Linux, and am
very happy to be part of this amazing community.

> And your earlier points were well taken, against somewhat dogged
> resistance from me:  

Ha ha! Just makes your compliments so much more valuable, 'cause you know
they're sincere.

> There can be, and ought to be, a class of users who
> are not at all concerned with how Linux (or one of its brethren) works,
> and who can successfully use the software while remaining ignorant of
> computing basics.  

The PC is *supposed to serve these folks. And what I find so amazing about
the personal computer, is all the ingenuity that has sprung up around it,
including the vast collection of freeware and shareware...including all
those marvelous games. I am astounded at such genius.

I have had the great pleasure of working under Andrew Fleugelman
(co-creator of the shareware concept, original editor of Whole Earth News,
auther of PC-Talk) as my department manager. This was way back in 1985,
working at the offices of the then-spanking-new-magazine "PC World". I
have also contributed (back in those "golden years") some of my own
original projects to the public domain...one of which was a full-blown
animation tale done in pure ANSI: "SallyJones". (My name back then was
different, as I legally changed it in 1996.)

So I have a great respect and appreciation for the freeware subculture,
including the open source movement of which Linux plays a central role.

> The usual obstacle to that is that they refuse to pay anyone to install
> and configure their systems, or to administer them.  

That is wrong, but I know what you mean. They don't really *appreciate the
value of the computer. I mentioned this to one of my clients, who depends
on his PC for his livelihood...as he runs certain programs in DOS for his
real-estate appraisal work. I have urged him quite frequently, to get into
the habit of running scandisk once a week, and defrag once per month, or
he'll likely lose all his data. I've also advised him to get a decent
backup system. Well, the inevitable occurred: his system crashed because
he neglect those two housekeeping chores. Only then did he decide to
purchase a backup peripheral, and keep a better house. I told him he
should appreciate his system more, as he depends on it to earn a
living...and that he should set aside a little more money than he has in
the past, in order to keep his PC well tuned.

> They don't believe in system administration (if they've even heard 
> the term).

And that is precisely why so many e-businesses have lousy security: they
don't pay for decent adminstration.

> And x86 hardware will always hold pitfalls.  

But you gotta do with what you have: and PC's are de riguer for the home
and small-business users. I gather you deal mostly with networking, and
thus must deal daily with better systems, as well as with short-sighted
supervisors who shun administration.

> I learned about that by talking to my friend Jim Dennis.  He does the
> "Answer Guy" column every month in Linux Gazette, which is well worth
> reading:  http://www.linuxgazette.com/

A fine publication. I must devote more time to reading that, and a few
others. 

> The first Menlo Park CABAL meeting was surprisingly successful: 

Does sound like a great get-together. Glad it worked out so well.

> I think this may become my test-bed for effort to create an "InstallFest
> server" 

Wow, sounds wonderful! I'm sure many will appreciate that. Presume this
will be in Debian?



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