by Ken Starks
My best friend makes a fortune providing you
a service...and I do mean a fortune. He is 36, owns his own home...paid
for mind you, and has more "big-boy toys" than I could ever hope to
collect. Now, he's no Bill Gates or Michael Dell, but he does ok. Day
Trader? Drug Dealer? Lexus Salesman...? No, he fixes your computers,
your Windows computers. He comes to your home when your 13 year old
daughter downloads the latest 50 cent song and it contains a virus. He
comes when you call him because your computer is running so slow it
takes 5 minutes to just open a browser...and why does it do that...?
Spyware. Your computer has become your enemy, it will not let you do
the simplest things anymore, it owns you, not the other way around and
my friend comes to your home to fix it...and in doing so, you have put
him on the verge of becoming wealthy. I would like to take this time to
personally thank you on his behalf. He would do it himself, but you
see, he is a very busy man. Ninety percent of you run the Windows
Operating System on your computer and he is having a hard time keeping
up.
A news article published the week of 5/13/2005 adds
insult to your injury. Now, no one can dispute that the Windows
Operating System is a security nightmare. My personal company suffered
a nasty variation of bagle last year and almost caused me to go
bankrupt...yeah, poor backup habits were to blame sure, but if the
operating system did not give monsters like this an environment in
which to flourish, it would be a moot point. Now about that article.
Let me give it to you in link and then I will give you the down and
dirty three line synapsis.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39198252,00.htm
Pay close attention now, I am sure some of you will just gloss over
this because you are used to being mistreated. Microsoft is going to
SELL YOU a monthly subscription for virus and anti-spyware tools. To
protect you from THEIR MISTAKES! Excuse the exclamation points...I hate
exclamation points but this particular message merits many of them. My
goodness, Al Capone could not have come up with a better swindle.
Companies like Norton and Trend Micro have built multi-million dollar
industries from Microsoft screw-ups but for Microsoft to actually start
buying anti-virus companies and integrate their technologies into
Windows, it's a travesty. And now for the sad part. You...Windows
users, are going to follow the good shepard Bill Gates and let him lead
you to the shearing house. It's not wool he's shearing from you
folks...it's your money.
Now let me tell you what he
doesn't want you to know. There is a simple way around this mess and
not only do you no longer have to worry about these things, you pay
little or nothing for it. Thousands of businesses and people every week
are giving Linux a look. Linux is a free or nearly free operating
system that looks and acts much like windows except it comes with most
all the software included...programs you have to buy separately with
Windows. Have you priced Microsoft Office lately? Now assuming that
someone is not stealing the software, a new install of Windows XP, MS
Office, Norton Antivirus, a firewall and any given adware tool can
total about a thousand dollars. MS Office costs hundreds alone. Do you
think that because Windows XP is included with your new PC, that it is
free? Far from it. Ask your vendor for the price difference between a
computer that comes with XP and one that has nothing on the drive. I
think you would be surprised. As far as office software goes,
OpenOffice, which comes with Linux does about everything MS Office
does, and it is free. People like me have seen the writing on the wall
and have taken the week or two it takes to actually learn Linux. We
have not looked back. Here are some of the problems, and most of them
are your fault. Some of you are too lazy or too apathetic to do
anything about it. Many of you simply did not know that you had a
choice. Now you do Some of you would rather complain and risk your
sensitive, valuable data than expend the small bit of effort it takes
to make the change. You are under the impression that Redmond is going
to "fix" all your problems. Microsoft is years behind in the proper
updates. Why would you think they are going to magically catch up now?
It's not gonna happen dude.
Back to my best friend. He
does not want you to switch to Linux. See, if you switch to Linux, he
loses money. So, let's review shall we: For all the problems you will
encouter if you continue to use Windows, for all the chances you take
with your data, the time wasted and money spent on anti-virus tools,
spyware tools, popup blockers and third party firewalls...you will do
nothing. A free, simple and safe alternative exists to Microsoft
Windows and you will still do nothing. That is sad and as mean as it
sounds, you probably deserve what you get. Tell me something...would
you jump out of the way of an oncoming automobile if it were bearing
down upon you? Of course you would, so why do you insist on using a
product that not only takes you for granted, but provides you a less
than poor environment to work in? My friend likes the fact that your
choices border on self-destructive inertia. I'm sure when he finds out
I have written this, he will tell me that I should have thanked you for
putting his kids through college and affording him the opportunity to
buy a home on Lake Travis.
For the half-dozen of you that will actually pay attention to this, go to
www.PCLinuxonline.com.
You may run the cd without installing a thing to your computer if you
wish. When you are done, if you dare...you may reboot and go back into
the land of servitude. A whole new world awaits you in PCLinuxOS.
Article provided by: Ken Starks
helios17@gmail.com
Note:
The author is more than happy to personally answer any questions about
the use, installation or any other questions concerning PCLinuxOS.
