Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

On 1/3/2011 7:37 PM Higgs Boson spake thus:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Dunno what your specific problems are, but there are newsgroups
dedicated to certain operating systems (i.e., Windows) and some
applications; Mozilla.org maintains private groups for Thunderbird and
Firefox, for example. Microsoft also maintains lots of newsgroups, which
actually have people in them ("champions") who give good advice.

Have you looked through the comp.* hierarchy? There should be a ton of
stuff there.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.

In article
,
Higgs Boson wrote:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

Throw it away and buy a mac, say g'bye to problems.

You might try posting here, us OT in the subject line. Also, you might want
to limit a post to one or two questions. I doubt you'd get a very positive
response if you had a laundry list of questions.

Also, perhaps first, try Googling for help. There are several sites that
offer assistance.

Bob-tx

"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

On Jan 3, 10:37*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? *My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. *The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

Does it have to be a newsgroup?

There are lots of computer related forums such as:

http://www.geekstogo.com/

and

http://www.computing.net/

I know first hand that the folks at geekstogo will have you run
diagnostics and send them the logs. In response they'll post scripts
for you to run before re-running the diags and reposting the logs. You
go back and forth until the problems are solved.

You basically get adopted by one person who works with you until your
issues are solved.

They've helped me solve issues with more than one machine in the past.

On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 19:37:32 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson
wrote:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt for hardware problems
Too many to list for software problems

On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 19:37:32 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson
wrote:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=co...N&hl=en&tab=wg

Would have been a very productive search when Google was new. It is
crap now that Google has "improved"

On 1/3/2011 8:37 PM frag spake thus:

David Nebenzahl wrote in
.com:

On 1/3/2011 7:37 PM Higgs Boson spake thus:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

Have you looked through the comp.* hierarchy? There should be a ton of
stuff there.

The OP didn't search enough. Lazy dummy.

Well, ain't you the helpful one.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.

On 1/3/2011 10:05 PM, Metspitzer wrote:
On Mon, 3 Jan 2011 19:37:32 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson
wrote:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=co...N&hl=en&tab=wg

Would have been a very productive search when Google was new. It is
crap now that Google has "improved"

I love the paid ads in Google. Find all the "and" you need at our site.
We have every sort of "and" a person could possibly want. :-)

TDD

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Throw it away and buy a mac, say g'bye to problems.

I run PCs, my wife runs Macs, she's had about as many problems as I've had,
both with software and hardware. In fact within the past year we've both
had machines die completely dead with DOA motherboards, requiring the
purchase of new computers. Apple might have better customer support, but I
don't see their product as being inherently more trouble-free.

"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

alt.comp.hardware

Higgs Boson wrote in news:37aa1530-fc6e-48dc-970b-
:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

You're not saying what problems you have. If they are windows and software
related (not a broken HD), I'd suggest to clear out clearable stuff. Use
ATF-Cleaner, and select what you need cleared. I use ALL, except cookies
and passwords. Can easily clear GB amounts

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Jan 3, 9:37*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? *My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. *The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

Try asking here (nice, polite, knowledgeable). Not a NG.

http://tmf.activeboard.com/forum.spa...mID=128018&p=1

Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.


I usually ask my customers, when they report a hardware problem, if they
have local access to a twelve-year old male.

On 1/3/2011 10:37 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

I have a Gateway and while company has been sold their ng with other GW
owners often gives me good advice.

On Jan 4, 6:40*am, Frank wrote:
On 1/3/2011 10:37 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? *My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. *The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

I have a Gateway and while company has been sold their ng with other GW
owners often gives me good advice.

Gateway, Emachine, Compac, HP, all the same POS.

"Higgs Boson" wrote in message
...

Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

----------

For a newsgroup maybe 24hoursupport.helpdesk gets a lot of traffic still

for a website tomshardware.com has tons of forums.

On 2011-01-04, Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

Here's a link to a forum that lists newgroups. Not sure how that
works out, but at least it provides the names of a lot of newsgroups:

http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/for...re-newsgroups/

nb

On Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:40:10 -0500, The Henchman wrote:
For a newsgroup maybe 24hoursupport.helpdesk gets a lot of traffic still

I was struggling to recall the name and couldn't motivate myself to go
and search, but yes, that one certainly used to be very good for PC/
Windows problems (but far less so for other hardware or OS combinations).
Maybe it still has healthy levels of contributors...

cheers

Jules

On Jan 4, 2:43*am, "DGDevin" wrote:
"Smitty Two" *wrote in message

news
Throw it away and buy a mac, say g'bye to problems.

I run PCs, my wife runs Macs, she's had about as many problems as I've had,
both with software and hardware. *In fact within the past year we've both
had machines die completely dead with DOA motherboards, requiring the
purchase of new computers. *Apple might have better customer support, but I
don't see their product as being inherently more trouble-free.

"In fact within the past year we've both had machines die
completely dead with DOA motherboards, requiring the purchase of new
computers."

DOA - Dead On Arrival - motherboards required the *purchase* of new
machines?

No warranty coverage?

On 1/3/2011 9:37 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

These folks are very helpful, and there's a lot of information on
their site for DIY'ers, too.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

DGDevin wrote:

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Throw it away and buy a mac, say g'bye to problems.

I run PCs, my wife runs Macs, she's had about as many problems as I've had,
both with software and hardware. In fact within the past year we've both
had machines die completely dead with DOA motherboards, requiring the
purchase of new computers. Apple might have better customer support, but I
don't see their product as being inherently more trouble-free.

People I know who use Macs report far more problems that I've ever had
with Windows PCs (remember PC is a hardware platform, not an OS). I have
some 5 personal Windows PCs that I use regularly, several of which are
up and online 24x365, and if I have one OS issue among all of them
during a year it's unusual. Hardware issues, usually just a failing HD
don't count, and those run about one every few years total.

As for customer support, in a couple decades of running multiple Windows
machines I have not needed any customer support from Microsoft until a
few months ago:

Several months ago the HD in one of my laptops died, not generally a big
deal. The laptop was out of manufacturer's warranty, so I looked on the
HD manufacturer's site (Western Digital). The WD site indicated the OEM
disk wasn't under warranty, but indicated it qualified for a "customer
loyalty upgrade program". The end result was a new 500GB replacement
disk with warranty for $63 including shipping. So far so good, time to
rebuild the laptop...

This laptop originally came with Vista, but I put a Win7 upgrade on it
when I got my mother a new laptop that came with Win7 so I had a
matching machine to help with remote support. In the time since I got my
laptop I moved and remodeled, so the original Vista disks were long
lost. As this was my only Win7 machine all I had was the upgrade disk
set. The Win7 upgrade didn't want to install on a new HD, so I was a bit
stuck.

It was about 9pm at this point, but I figured I'd give calling Microsoft
a try, not expecting much. Much to my surprise I got to a real person
after only about 2 minutes of selecting VRU options. I explained the
issue to the CSR who gave me a case number and passed me over to a tech
after only 5 minutes or so. There was no wait on hold for the tech, just
a few seconds of call transfer.

I explained the issue to the tech and in about 30 minutes they had the
licensing stuff reset so the upgrade version would install properly.
They waited on the line for the install to complete and verify that it
showed as licensed. Total call time well under an hour. A few minutes
after I got off the phone with the tech, I received an email with the
case summary. About 15 minutes later I got a call back from a supervisor
checking that my issue had been resolved. The next day I got a survey
email.

This was the only time I ever needed to call Microsoft, and it was off
hour as well. To be clear, I had no service contracts, VIP status or
other affiliation with Microsoft, this was just a normal call to the
number listed in the Win7 upgrade disk package. Apple may have good
customer service, I don't know since I've not had any dealings with
them, but I honestly don't think Microsoft could have possibly handled
my service call better.

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

As for customer support, in a couple decades of running multiple Windows
machines I have not needed any customer support from Microsoft until a
few months ago:

I've run linux for the last 10 yrs. Never had to call anyone. More
than enough help on the internet.

nb

For general computer guru and geek stuff, I always use a newsgroup called
"annexcafe.general.user2user".

It is provided through the news server called:

news://news.annexcafe.com .

It's free but you have to register with an name and email address. I used
an anonymous name and a hotmail.com email address to sign up. Then, like
any other newsgroup, you can set up an anonymous username and fake email
address to do the posts.

Information about how to sign up is at:

http://www.annexcafe.com .

On that page, you can also click on "Newsgroups" on the right and see all of
the available newsgroups that they have. You have to scroll down pretty far
in the newsgroups list to get to the one that I am recommending --
annexcafe.general.user2user.

I am pretty sure that none of their newsgroup posts are archived by Google.



Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.

HB

notbob wrote:

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

As for customer support, in a couple decades of running multiple Windows
machines I have not needed any customer support from Microsoft until a
few months ago:

I've run linux for the last 10 yrs. Never had to call anyone. More
than enough help on the internet.

nb

Perhaps I wasn't clear - in those couple decades of running multiple
Windows PCs, I didn't need support - not from Microsoft and not from the
Internet.

I've fiddled with Linux many times (and several other Unix variants),
but I've never found a compelling reason to use it. I've even performed
a side by side shoot-out between Windows and Linux for a particular
application and Windows won. The main thing it seems to have going for
it is price, and I make enough to not care about the modest cost of
Windows and Windows applications. I also tend to be put off by the
non-professional "feel" of Linux.

On 01/04/11 10:13 am, Pete C. wrote:

This was the only time I ever needed to call Microsoft, and it was off
hour as well. To be clear, I had no service contracts, VIP status or
other affiliation with Microsoft, this was just a normal call to the
number listed in the Win7 upgrade disk package. Apple may have good
customer service, I don't know since I've not had any dealings with
them, but I honestly don't think Microsoft could have possibly handled
my service call better.

Our son has a MacBook, and on both occasions that I have accompanied him
to the Apple Store to report a problem I have been impressed with the
professionalism of the support staff. They replaced the battery free
even though it was still "just about within spec." for the time he'd had
it, and they replaced the logic board free even though the machine was
out of warranty because Apple acknowledges a fault in the graphics chip
they used in this model (but Apple will probably lean on the chip
manufacturer for reimbursement).

However, I cannot help remembering the high upfront cost of this
service, taking into account the price of the Apple machine compared to
comparable "PC" hardware.

Perce

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

.....the modest cost of Windows and Windows applications. I also
tend to be put off by the non-professional "feel" of Linux.

Thanks. I haven't heard a computer related joke in awhile.

nb

notbob wrote:

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

.....the modest cost of Windows and Windows applications. I also
tend to be put off by the non-professional "feel" of Linux.

Thanks. I haven't heard a computer related joke in awhile.

nb

Sorry, Linux does indeed have a non-professional "feel". I may be biased
a bit, since I've spent many years managing enterprise class OSes.

On 01/04/11 10:31 am, Pete C. wrote:

I've fiddled with Linux many times (and several other Unix variants),
but I've never found a compelling reason to use it. I've even performed
a side by side shoot-out between Windows and Linux for a particular
application and Windows won. The main thing it seems to have going for
it is price, and I make enough to not care about the modest cost of
Windows and Windows applications. I also tend to be put off by the
non-professional "feel" of Linux.

There are so many different Linux distributions with so many different
"look and feels"s that I wonder how one can generalize as you do.

Perce (who still prefers "the OS for which Windows was intended to be
only a placeholder": IBM's OS/2 -- in its latest incarnation, an OEM
version called eComStation)

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

Sorry, Linux does indeed have a non-professional "feel". I may be biased
a bit, since I've spent many years managing enterprise class OSes.

heh heh....

Yeah, Oracle, IBM, and Google are sooo unprofessional. Keep posting.
I enjoy a good laugh in the morning.

nb

On 2011-01-04, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

Perce (who still prefers "the OS for which Windows was intended to be
only a placeholder": IBM's OS/2 -- in its latest incarnation, an OEM
version called eComStation)

Interesting. I had no idea OS/2 had continued to evolve. I see a lot
of OSS has been ported to it. I'm curious. Jes what does ecomstation
bring to the table that can't be had in linux/BSD?

nb

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
Folks, could you recommend a computer NG where I could seek help for
several probs? My guru has moved, and I am bereft....and need to
avert a crash.

I searched the computer NG lists, but did not find what I need. The
NGs seem highly specialized.

Any help appreciated.


I usually ask my customers, when they report a hardware problem, if they
have local access to a twelve-year old male.

But since Texas doesn't have laws to protect the children, I guess many
of them don't.

notbob wrote:

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

Sorry, Linux does indeed have a non-professional "feel". I may be biased
a bit, since I've spent many years managing enterprise class OSes.

heh heh....

Yeah, Oracle, IBM, and Google are sooo unprofessional. Keep posting.
I enjoy a good laugh in the morning.

nb

I take it you don't have any experience with an enterprise class OS, if
you did you would understand the non-professional feel of Linux.
Certainly many companies are using Linux, or more specifically Red Hat
Enterprise Linux as a cost saving measure, and they didn't use Linux at
all until RHEL came along with a proper support system behind it as is
required in an enterprise environment. There were corporate directives
that Linux was not allowed to be used in any production application, and
the same with any open-source applications that did not have support
from a single corporate entity.

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:

On 01/04/11 10:31 am, Pete C. wrote:

I've fiddled with Linux many times (and several other Unix variants),
but I've never found a compelling reason to use it. I've even performed
a side by side shoot-out between Windows and Linux for a particular
application and Windows won. The main thing it seems to have going for
it is price, and I make enough to not care about the modest cost of
Windows and Windows applications. I also tend to be put off by the
non-professional "feel" of Linux.

There are so many different Linux distributions with so many different
"look and feels"s that I wonder how one can generalize as you do.

It is that variation, and the very inconsistent documentation that give
it the non-professional feel. I've fiddled with various Linux variants,
as well as professional Unix variants and there is a very noticable
difference in the feel between them.

notbob wrote:

On 2011-01-04, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

Perce (who still prefers "the OS for which Windows was intended to be
only a placeholder": IBM's OS/2 -- in its latest incarnation, an OEM
version called eComStation)

Interesting. I had no idea OS/2 had continued to evolve. I see a lot
of OSS has been ported to it. I'm curious. Jes what does ecomstation
bring to the table that can't be had in linux/BSD?

nb

Interesting. The last time I saw OS/2 anywhere was on a PC based voice
mail system about 15 years ago. The eComStation name seems to imply it
survives in a telecom niche of some sort.

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

I take it you don't have any experience with an enterprise class OS, if
you did you would understand the non-professional feel of Linux.
Certainly many companies are using Linux, or more specifically Red Hat
Enterprise Linux as a cost saving measure, and they didn't use Linux at
all until RHEL came along with a proper support system behind it as is
required in an enterprise environment. There were corporate directives
that Linux was not allowed to be used in any production application, and
the same with any open-source applications that did not have support
from a single corporate entity.



My Fortune 500 company was using Unix years before M$ was even
conceived. Later, one of our major divisions was used as a guinea pig
to see if switching to M$ and Windows-based Oracle was a good idea.
They even went so far as to spend $6M to have Oracle customized to fit
our needs. Whatta freakin nightmare. Just using Oracle on Windows
created 30% more work for the company's database users. When I
retired, the company had still not changed over beyond that one
division and it's huge, now world-wide, DB was still HP-UX based.

While never employed as an IT professional I've worked and trained as
one and I've seen it all. From Unix/IBM tape storage mainframes /w
dumb terminals to IBM-DOS PCs and Mac desktops in the cubes. So much
of computer choice is capricious whim bull****. Some moron mgr a has
friend he went to school with, who now pushes platform/software ABC,
so makes recommendations he has nary a clue about and may actually be
detrimental to the company. A choice of some really crap platforms,
OSs, and software has been made by people who can't even use a word
processor.

If you are a M$ enterprise professional, more power to you. Windows
definitely has a place in the enterprise landscape. I will not deny
that. I still keep an XP box around, despite my preference for all
things *nix. But, to say Linux, which is nothing more than an open
source updated version of Unix, is unproffesional, is just plain
ignorant and only shows you actually know little, if anything, about
it.

nb

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...

"In fact within the past year we've both had machines die
completely dead with DOA motherboards, requiring the purchase of new
computers."

DOA - Dead On Arrival - motherboards required the *purchase* of new
machines?

I phrased that poorly, I meant diagnostics on the machines showed the
motherboards were toast, so DOA at the bench. The Mac was four or five
years old so it made sense to get a new one. My top-of-the-line Dell was
less than three years old, so I looked into fixing it and learned that
Dell's proprietary motherboards cost twice as much as they have any right
to, and with labor factored in it made no sense to fix it. So I pulled out
the RAM and gave it to somebody, and yanked the drive, sound card and video
card (upgrades) and had them put into a new machine which runs circles
around the DELL for half the cost. I'll never buy another DELL because
their customer service is poor and their repair parts are vastly overpriced.
I found a local computer shop that's been in business for 25 years and they
built a new machine with impressive performance for half what I paid for
DELL's flagship model three years ago--another lesson learned.

On 01/04/11 11:51 am, Pete C. wrote:

Perce (who still prefers "the OS for which Windows was intended to be
only a placeholder": IBM's OS/2 -- in its latest incarnation, an OEM
version called eComStation)

Interesting. I had no idea OS/2 had continued to evolve. I see a lot
of OSS has been ported to it. I'm curious. Jes what does ecomstation
bring to the table that can't be had in linux/BSD?

nb

Interesting. The last time I saw OS/2 anywhere was on a PC based voice
mail system about 15 years ago. The eComStation name seems to imply it
survives in a telecom niche of some sort.

Nobody seems to know how they dreamed up the name, but I do seem to
recall that one of the people involved in the early stages of Serenity
Systems, the company behind eComStation, was involved in some kind of
telecom business.

At a conference I attended last year, it was reported that sales for the
first half of 2010 were better than for the whole of 2009, many to
companies that wanted a version of OS/2 that would work on the new
hardware with which they were replacing their old equipment

I think I read that eComStation runs the NY subway ticketing and
turnstile system. It is also in use by some banks -- possibly more
overseas ones than US ones.

Many people say that OS/2's Workplace Shell is unrivaled, and I don't
think Linux/BSD has anything like OS/2's "shadows": unlike a Windows
"shortcut," whatever is done to the shadow operates on the "real object"
as well.

Perce

"Pete C." wrote in message
ster.com...


People I know who use Macs report far more problems that I've ever had
with Windows PCs (remember PC is a hardware platform, not an OS).

I dont see my wife's Macs having *more* problems, but she's had software
issues from time to time, and one major hardware failure same as my PCs.
I've only tried to get support from MS one time, and was told that my OEM
version of Win 7 meant I had to call the shop that built the computer--yet
another reason to be less than thrilled with Win 7. I wish I'd stuck with
XP on my new machine, everything worked in XP, all my software ran, I knew
how to do whatever I wanted to do.... My wirehead friends tell my W7 is
better, but hardly a day goes by that I don't run into something irritating.

notbob wrote:

On 2011-01-04, Pete C. wrote:

I take it you don't have any experience with an enterprise class OS, if
you did you would understand the non-professional feel of Linux.
Certainly many companies are using Linux, or more specifically Red Hat
Enterprise Linux as a cost saving measure, and they didn't use Linux at
all until RHEL came along with a proper support system behind it as is
required in an enterprise environment. There were corporate directives
that Linux was not allowed to be used in any production application, and
the same with any open-source applications that did not have support
from a single corporate entity.

My Fortune 500 company was using Unix years before M$ was even
conceived. Later, one of our major divisions was used as a guinea pig
to see if switching to M$ and Windows-based Oracle was a good idea.
They even went so far as to spend $6M to have Oracle customized to fit
our needs. Whatta freakin nightmare. Just using Oracle on Windows
created 30% more work for the company's database users. When I
retired, the company had still not changed over beyond that one
division and it's huge, now world-wide, DB was still HP-UX based.

While never employed as an IT professional I've worked and trained as
one and I've seen it all. From Unix/IBM tape storage mainframes /w
dumb terminals to IBM-DOS PCs and Mac desktops in the cubes. So much
of computer choice is capricious whim bull****. Some moron mgr a has
friend he went to school with, who now pushes platform/software ABC,
so makes recommendations he has nary a clue about and may actually be
detrimental to the company. A choice of some really crap platforms,
OSs, and software has been made by people who can't even use a word
processor.

I'll certainly agree that in many or even most companies nearly all IT
decisions are made by clueless managers based on what is being hyped in
CIO magazine or by their buddies and not based on any technical
evaluation of the various options. In the company I work for which is
well up in the Fortune 500 list, there is still some of that, but in
many cases there is an extended comparison evaluation "shoot out"
between the various options, at least for larger projects. Of course we
also absorb a lot of other entities so just about every possible
platform ends up in one of our many DCs somewhere, and stick around a
good while before they can be converted to a corporate standard
platform.


If you are a M$ enterprise professional, more power to you. Windows
definitely has a place in the enterprise landscape. I will not deny
that. I still keep an XP box around, despite my preference for all
things *nix.

I have nothing to do with M$ besides using it on my personal machines
and my work laptop.

But, to say Linux, which is nothing more than an open
source updated version of Unix, is unproffesional, is just plain
ignorant and only shows you actually know little, if anything, about
it.

You seem to have trouble comprehending what I've said. I said that Linux
and it's variants have an non-professional feel to them. This is quite
apparent in their poor documentation compared to "professional" Unix
variants or high end OSes, and the many ridiculously named utilities.
This is not to say that Linux doesn't work properly, it's a sloppy feel
compared to high end OSes developed by consistent highly organized and
disciplined teams.