Does anyone else get this feeling? (Warning: [rant on])

[Clinton]

I realize that if I do buy a new computer, it will probably come with a form of Winblows OS on it, and if it does, I will "play" with the OS for a couple of days

Why pay the Redmond beast?

Where to buy a Linux laptop

An off-topic plug if you'll indulge me.

[NewB4Life]

I've had this problem to the meanest, >first question "what version of windows are you using sir?" LoL
"oh, um, I, um, Could you just tell me the gateway,mask,static ip, and does your isp curb any prot traffic when I torrent? please?" "are all my 65000 ports open?" "can I nmap my neighboor because he's asked me nicely to pen-test him? will you kill my connection or is that sweet?"
Yes they get defensive, Yes they put you onto "someone who can answer those questions", Yes, this call will be recorded for training purposes, and Yes, "I've heard of linux - We don't normally support that and you'll have to google it but here's the gateway,mask,ip etc"

...and crumbs at the laptop shop ARGHH, they don't even have a hardware list -ala everest or whatever, and according to every last one of them windows comes "free" with every computer so they aren't going to refund "nadda" thank you very much!!

[hat_monkey]

On the Linux forums you meet far more low end spec freaks than exclusive high end brags. If a computer comes with M$ preinstalled I wont buy it full stop. I have absolutely zero cents to give to extortionists. When Gprs was newer the tech support where I am would recommend using Knoppix due to easier configuration.

[turbine]

Cuddles, you're an extremely intelligent person but you do yourself a disservice by saying "loosing" when you should be saying "losing". Check it out.

[Cuddles]

Cuddles, you're an extremely intelligent person but you do yourself a disservice by saying "loosing" when you should be saying "losing". Check it out.

Ah, yes... You have found me out... my intelligence was never in English... that is for sure... To be completely honest, I almost failed every English class I ever took... funny I knew not to get into speech writing, or literary writing, for the reasons that I fail to communicate in the written word, but I do wonders when I can speak

Sorry for my poor English writing skills, I apologize for that.
LC

[Clinton]

Damn! And I thought it was a sticky "o" key!

Just when you think you know someone....

[Cuddles]

Damn! And I thought it was a sticky "o" key!

Just when you think you know someone....

Clinton,

Reminds me of a wise mans saying: Better to keep your mouth shut if you think you are a fool... Because opening it, will remove all doubt

I tend to open my mouth more often than I should - but, when I have a subject that I feel strongly about, I just can't keep quiet... thus, the above becomes apparent.

LC

[Clinton]

I tend to open my mouth more often than I should

Fortunately for us. I, for one, have learnt a lot from your posts.

[daveca]

"When it comes to a ISP, why does it matter what OS I run?"

It makes no difference.

Let me use my ISP (Ignorant Service Provider) as an example - Clearwire.

CW, as an Employee explained to me, started up the Company great guns, got the money rolling, THEN FIRED ALL THE TECH STAFF.

The reason one gets an ignorant response to a technical question is that no one hires (or can afford to hire) competent people because they are EXPEN$IVE.

Its their JOB on the line, which is why they get defensive.They have cue cards and they read from them.

ISP Tech: "did you try rebooting the computer"

Me: "No, I just shoved a hot dog in the CD Rom drive and expected that to fix everything. Any more stupid questions?"

[krishna.murphy]

"When it comes to a ISP, why does it matter what OS I run?"

It makes no difference.

Let me use my ISP (Ignorant Service Provider) as an example - Clearwire.

CW, as an Employee explained to me, started up the Company great guns, got the money rolling, THEN FIRED ALL THE TECH STAFF.

The reason one gets an ignorant response to a technical question is that no one hires (or can afford to hire) competent people because they are EXPEN$IVE.

Its their JOB on the line, which is why they get defensive.They have cue cards and they read from them.

ISP Tech: "did you try rebooting the computer"

Me: "No, I just shoved a hot dog in the CD Rom drive and expected that to fix everything. Any more stupid questions?"

Yeah, I sympathize with your feeling, I feel that way myself when dealing with Tech Support, often.

Speaking as a former tech support coordinator for an ISP (a GOOD one, albeit not a leading edge provider), I'd say that ISPs generally can't support anything that isn't mainstream. They simply MUST staff for people calling in with NO (or minimal) tech knowledge (same problems over and over, no real challenge, but LOTS of time consumed), and when someone who knows more than they do calls in, they're likely to feel threatened. And it NEVER does any good to get upset (I used to remind myself of that constantly, people were often mad at me, even though we had done nothing wrong.) Since you're only ranting to us, your community online, not at the poor guy on the other end of the phone, I say "vent away!"

Cheers!
Krishna
p.s. I use WinBlows as needed - for instance, my wife has difficult navigating unfamiliar applications, despite being both Mac and Win-PC savvy more than most, so if I leave my laptop set up in Knoppix, she's likely to try to use it and get frustrated - who knows what'll happen to me then? But it is useful to me as well, as I can access certain IE-only websites, use Win-only apps easily, etc. What I'd really like to get done is to force Winders into a VM so I can restart it instantly when it (as usual) blows up for no especially good reason, and switch back to Linux quickly w/o rebooting to use really reliable apps. So if I need to talk to them, I just boot up in Windows (or start/reboot my Win-VM, ) and then when can go hand-in-hand over territory they're familiar with, and I can get what I need from them without anyone being upset.