Here are a few sound bites on my philosophy of tools:
I have my reasons for taking pot shots at Microsoft. Having said that, I'm willing to use whatever tool I need to get the job done. I have gotten a lot of use out of the operating systems that came with my first and second PCs (Windows 95), my third PC (Windows 98), and my current home PC (Windows XP). I've also used Windows NT and Windows 2000. I use the Web browser and mail client "given away" by Microsoft (Internet Explorer / Outlook Express).
I like Mozilla better.
Tabbed browsing especially rocks!
I think Linux is the most promising platform for future computers. I first installed it on one of my old home PCs in the mid-90s. I also got it running (thanks, Bdale!) on an old 75 MHz '486 laptop with 8 Mb of RAM. I had Debian 2.1 installed on it for about four hours, then the 500 Mb hard drive crashed. I bought a 700 Mb disk (thanks, MicroStar!) and Linux installed just fine. I named the machine Ben-Oni.
My old ISP migrated to Debian, too, but he sold out. I'm happy
with my current ISP -- I think it's only a matter of time before they
migrate to a Linux distribution.
Since June, 2003 I have been hacking Linux for HP. It took me about
5 months to migrate to a
Linux desktop, but I haven't looked back. As far as I'm concerned,
2003 was the year that Open Source came of age on the desktop. The
struggle is over. All that remains is tidying up some loose ends.
Having said that, the one thing that still chains me to Microsoft is,
of all things, my Treo 300 PDA/cellphone. I hear there's a way to sync
my PalmOS databases to Linux applications, but I haven't been able to
get it to work, yet. And I also need to get Linux to talk to my Treo as
a modem. Right now I have to use PdaNet.
However, as with my ISP, it's only a matter of time.
Last Updated: 3 March 2004 by Tim Chambers, hacks_tools@timchambersusa.com, http://alum.mit.edu/www/tbc/