Why I Started Ordinary Linux User

Welcome to Ordinary Linux User!

At some point, years ago, I became a proficient DOS user. (I know - these days that and $2.00+ will get me a large coffee at Starbucks.) The more I learned about DOS, the more I chafed at its limitations. Sometime after I reached proficiency / disillusionment with DOS, I was asked to help out doing very junior admin work on UNIX systems, and I was astonished at the comparative "power" available on a UNIX system compared to a DOS / Windows system. Why... you could even write "batch" jobs on UNIX that would execute (cleanly) on a schedule and email the results of the batch job.

So... I was impressed with UNIX a long time ago, but never quite got around to actually doing much with UNIX - keeping NetWare, Mac, and later Windows servers going kept me pretty busy. Then Linux happened, and oh my gosh did the computing / networking world change from that!

So, I've experimented with Linux several times. I've installed Red Hat and used it a bit, played with other distributions, including Knoppix which was very cool that it would boot from a CD and could shut down and leave nothing behind on the host Windows sytems. I played with that quite a bit at my former employer. There were some other significant developments in Linux that tempted me, like Redmond Linux / Lycoris and Lindows / Linspire putting a "Windows" face on Linux with a very good desktop interface. But with all that, I still never got seriously around to getting a personal Linux system up and running.