STR † THE FREEDOM BLOG

Some readers of the ShelleyTheRepublican.com blog complained that my recent critique of the Linux computer program was unfair; They claimed that I was ignorant and therefore unqualified to review their product, moreover they stated that my opinions were biased therefore untrustworthy.

Shelley has given me the opportunity to defend myself; to tell you a little bit about myself and the methodologies I have used to evaluate Windows and Linux. This is also my opportunity to shoot down some of the more fanciful theories that have been proposed in response to my previous warning.

For starters my credentials; I am a former IT manager from a major city in Oklahoma. I am also vice-president of IT for our regional Prayer Team. Some years ago I’m proud to say that I graduated as a Microsoft Certified Engineer; I have a wide understanding of both technical and business computing issues. I am sure you will agree that I am exceptionally qualified to speak on this subject.

As for “bias”, I am not a “Microsoft Fan-boy”? or any of the hundreds of more offensive things I have been called. I do however admit an admiration for the company that gave us the modern computer and invented both the Internet and the world-wide web. Where would we have been without Microsoft? Perhaps typing obscure Russian commands into a barely comprehensible command-prompt on a Chinese made computer.

And as for our methods of evaluation: They are based on exactly the same bench-tests used by PC Magazine, which is the world’s most trusted IT journal. Let me share some of my recent findings:

We prepared two nearly identical machines. The windows “rig” was based on an AMD “Athlon 64 X2″? 2Ghz chip, whereas the Linux machine was based on an Intel “Pentium 4″? 2Ghz. We would have liked to test Linux on an Athlon as well, however AMD would not provide us with a Linux driver CD; In any case both of these chips were approximately equal in power because the Intel chip had has “Hyperthreading”?.

Naturally we tested the latest version of both operating systems. For Windows we chose the 2003 edition, available at almost every computer retailer in our country. Finding the latest version of Linux proved a challenge in itself:

We had been told that the newest version of RedHat Linux was version 3.0, which for a “flagship” product was surprisingly hard to find. When we did locate it, we were astonished to be told that it was “quite old” and that RedHat no longer provided any level of technical support for it.

When we opened the shrink-wrap box we were astounded to find that it contained a large set of floppy-disks. I cannot imagine what Redhat were thinking in this age of DVDs; still this would be a step up from the magnetic-tapes upon which FreeBSD is normally supplied (Free BSD is an older kind of Linux).

This alcoholic has Linux installed on his laptop.

After a number of failures, we managed to take the tedious floppy-disk based installation to it’s conclusion. We could not have been more disappointed. The GUI seemed garish and hard to use. It was a woeful mish-mash of primary colors and clashing visual styles. We had become accustomed to Microsoft’s visual sophistication. The crude Linux desktop was a shock to our poor eyes:

A typical Linux desktop: Note in yellow the Linux “equivalent” to Microsoft’s Outlook.

Is this really the best that Linux had to offer? We decided to gloss over the superficial aspects of the interface and get down to actual usability.

The Linux installation did not include a web-browser, but according to the manual one could be “easily” installed using Linux’s RPM utility. After spending half an hour trying to decode the “man page”, we were able to install the latest version of Netscape Navigator, the new browser from Firefox.

This truly uncompelling start contrasts profoundly with the Windows installation experience. There was no need to download a web-browser for Windows (Microsoft thoughtfully decided to integrate one with their operating system), so instead we downloaded a small shareware productivity utility called “Bonzi Buddy”?.

Most commonly used productivity tools are not available on Linux; For example, this program uses Microsoft Agent technology which has not yet been ported to Linux.

The installation couldn’t have been simpler; The install icon appeared on my desk. All I had to do to install the program was double-click on it. There were no additional passwords to type in and as an additional courtesy to users, Windows installers often include extra programs that might be of interest.

For example, my download included Claria, and Comet-Cursor. A review of these utilities is outside the scope of this article, nonetheless it was gratifying that the makers of Windows software have the freedom to innovate.

The same could not be said for Linux. In the time that it took me to install three great utilities, I had barely managed a single Linux installation. Had it not occurred to the makers of Linux that their users might wish to use the Internet? Installation of some basic software required a complex series of commands and passwords to be entered.

Now what can we say of the Windows browsing experience? Many of you will be familiar with Internet explorer. Millions of Americans have grown accustomed to it’s ease of use, slick presentation and universal compatibility;

But what about Netscape?

This is how the STR site appears to a Linux User. The images are jumbled, the layout appears random.

The experience as you can see was somewhat surreal: Images appeared jumbled fonts were bizarrely out of proportion and the vast majority of websites simply failed to load. I imagine this is how pot-heads must see the world; I suspect that only a pot-head would assume that this is how the rest of the world is supposed to appear!

A Linux user’s view of the world. Hallucinations from excessive use of Linux might be similar to those of LSD or pot.

As expected, this browser lacked many of the basic features that Microsoft’s users take for granted. For example, it was incompatible with “Active X”, an exciting technology from Microsoft that allows “plugins”? to be instantly loaded.

On Windows, these are seamlessly downloaded and installed in the background, usually without causing any interruption to the user; On Linux, a simple browser plugin apparently requires extensive knowledge of the command-shell; Once again, we asked ourselves why Linux users would be willing to put up with this?

Finally we looked at support; Access to technical information is important for any software. Microsoft offered an extensive knowledge base in addition to a commercial, “per incident” based support line. While the support was friendly and expert we felt no need to consult Microsoft. On the other hand, Redhat’s product was baffling from the start.

Lacking any official support channel, we turned to something called ?IRC?? for help. Lacking offices, or immigration visas, many Linux developers often use IRC as a means of communication. We were quite baffled as to how anybody might expect to get any assistance at all, the whole IRC experience resembled a sordid on-line brothel:

The #linux channel, seemed to be a venue of immorality; I would not wish my wife or children to use this service. It appeared to be some sort of pick-up venue.

We soon gave up expecting to find any help at all; I expect that this is what any Linux user who is not fluent in C++ will have to do eventually.

In conclusion; the much hyped combination of Linux and Mozilla’s “Netscape Navigator” does not measure up to Microsoft’s latest offering. While I feel Linux might be applicable to certain niche applications, I for one couldn’t think what that application might be. It certainly is not yet ready for the desktop.

I should hope that dispels some of the more fanciful notions about Linux’s worth to a corporation; It’s an absurd to suggest that great companies like Google and IBM might have had anything at all to do with this mess.

Of course, this review is somewhat incomplete; Linux is defficient in many more ways; For example it does not feature something called Digital Rights Management; It certainly seems that Linux users have chosen to become a 2nd class citizen compared to users of more mainstream operating systems; That too is outside the scope of this review, but please be reassured that we will return to it soon enough.

God Bless You,
Tristan

*Update:** This problem is now fixed, this website is now hosted on Windows 2003. I feel a lot better already!
Friends
People who know me can confirm that I am the last person that would not admit a mistake I made.
Therefore: I told you all that this website is not hosted on Linux and that was dishonest. But in my defense: I did not know any better, because my webmaster told me I was hosted on a solid Windows operating system. Now that I found out the truth I, of course, cancelled my webhosting and fired the webmaster immediately and signed up for REAL WINDOWS HOSTING! I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, since many of you probably never would have visited this website if known that it was actually Linux hosted.
Just to let you know my friends, in the next days the website might be offline on an hourly basis but I am sure you might find that the website will be much better hosted in the future: Faster, more secure and first of all, I am not contributing to this strange Russian operation system called ‘Linux’.
God bless and if the website might be down don’t forget your friend Shelley and come back soon!
Yours,
ShelleyTheRepublican.com

Those of us who try our best to follow Jesus Christ’s example are always conscious that we too may be persecuted; It is always the way ? those who dare to bear witness often fall prey to the forces of evil. Forces of evil that are every bit as real today as when Christ walked the Earth.
I became conscious of this fact shortly after posting a sobering report on some disturbing trends in the IT market. This site became the victim of two of the web’s worst gutter-dwelling persecution sites. For daring to follow Christ’s example a horde of rude and disruptive liberals attacked this blog and made offensive remarks about myself, Shelley and Mark.
A long list of mainly French and German blogs posted crazy, but fortunately incomprehensible remarks about my article; If only I could be bothered to learn to read your dead languages, I might actually care what you said! Fortunately I cannot read French or German.

We are not the first blog to have become victims of Lunix user’s mob-mentality, but we are not going down so easily.We are determined to keep publishing despite the hundreds of visitors who would wish to silence us. We are writing for the silent Republican majority whose voice has traditionally been suppressed under the crushing weight of Liberal media.Furthermore, I intend to expose the corruption and malicious intent behind the two web-sites that cheerfully send their goons to disrupt our sober and reflective discussion.

Digg.com: http://digg.com/linux_unix/Linux_-_European_threat_to_US_world_domination

You may not have heard of this web-site, however it is the most popular co-ordination center for illegal left-wing vigilantism. Despite being owned by an American company, it’s users overwhelmingly consist of European hackers who have a grudge against American business and morals.
Digg.com is a popular place for Internet-mobs to meet; You can think of this as the online equivalent of soccer-hooliganism; a barbaric practice that still remains popular in much of Europe. Users of this site take turns voting on which site they will hack next.
TheInquirer.net
Whilst this site is of concern to any decent minded webmaster; I am more worried by a British news-site called “The Inquirer”; Anybody who works in the computer industry will recognize this publication; It’s distinctive red-top confirms it’s association with Marxist traditions of journalism.
Since The Inquirer was founded; it’s mission statement has always been to provide misleading left-wing propaganda with a view to causing harm to the American IT industry.
They never have a single nice thing to say about American products; and everything they publish is written with a disgusting Limey sneer. I suppose you could call them “Activist Journalists”, but that would be too high-praise for this site; I am sure they make it all up as no manufacturer with any sense would be willing to talk to their operatives.
So now you know who are sending these illiterate, godless mobs to harass us. Our old enemies, the Marxists and the Democrats who in turn are being led by their traditional puppet-masters the British. These are the people who want you to stop reading Shelley’s site.
But I have news for you crazy Europeans; This is America, land of free-speech ? and no matter how many Linux hackers try to shut down our site, we intend to keep telling the truth no matter what it takes. As Christ is our example, this is what we promise!

(Article by Tristan)

Like most things that are worth owning, Computers are an American invention. Look at any modern computer and you will see that the whole thing is the product of American brilliance.

For example, this rugged IBM laptop I am using was designed and built by an American company. It runs software built by Microsoft, one of America’s most productive organizations. My computer does everything I could possibly want: I can do my work, submit my taxes and even search the Bible.

Like all the greatest American engineering, it’s an example of innovation that makes a growing group of European and Chinese hackers jealous. They hate our lead in computing technology and will stop at nothing until they have control of all of our computers.

I’m talking about a project called ‘Linux’, something you may not have encountered, but might do some day.
It’s a computer program that was initially developed in Finland as a means of circumventing valuable copyrights and patents owned by an American company called SCO Group.

Unlike Windows, which is a mature commercial product which is normally included with every new computer, Linux is given away. Now it may not sound like much of a problem, after all there is very little profit in merely giving a product away.

This would be certainly true were in not for the Linux project’s seductive Marxist ideology and the effect that it has on ‘Blue-State’ liberals. Indeed, Linux is so pervasive amongst the blue states and many liberal universities that a leading computer expert Steve Balmer (from Microsoft) described Linux as cancer.

The American software industry is worth more than $7 Billion; Introducing a foreign product like Linux which is often copied for free could threaten that entire industry. A generation of computer users might get use to accepting foreign software hand-outs rather than paying for a superior American products. If only the danger were just to our economy:

These days computers control everything from TV stations to battleships; Our crucial information and defense infrastructure is built on computer technology. If we allow this cancer into our networks, there is no knowing what the effect might be on our infrastructure, but that is just what liberals are trying to do.

Imagine if the State of the Union address were hacked because the TV station decided to save money by using Linux? Imagine if a stealth-bomber crashed because it’s software was written by anonymous Chinese or European hackers. It would make as much sense as inviting the French to come over and take over the White-House.

And guess what software Osama Bin Laden uses on his laptop?

If you guessed it was Linux you would be 100% right. Osama uses Linux because he knows designed to counterfit DVDs, curcumventing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and defraud companies like Disney.

Next time somebody asks you how Al Queda agents pay for their rifles and rocket launchers, you can tell them that foreign hackers make software called Linux which helps them steal from Americans.

This Linux problem is a growing issue, and one that conservative Americans cannot afford to ignore. Fortunately Microsoft have prepared a great deal of information to help computer users get away from this menace. But there is something you can do to help keep American #1 in the computer business:

If one of your friends is using Linux or may be tempted to try it show them this article. Explain that Linux is a genuine threat and that by using it they may be opening their computer to Chinese hackers.

If you see a company using Linux, it may be that they have not paid for this software. Report them to the Business Software Alliance who have the legal authority to inspect any company’s computers for illegal programs like Linux.

Finally, remember to include Linux users in your prayers tonight. As individuals we may not be able to change people’s minds, but the Bible teaches that God can make any sinner repent.

Tristan

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