Prejudices against Linux?

[gn2]

Nationwide Building Society online banking. (UK)
If you use Linux you are not covered by their anti-fraud protection scheme.

http://www.linuxformat.com/forums/viewt ... p?p=102941

[minitrucker]

Wow. Just wow. That doesn't make any sense. Windows is the one that shouldn't be covered cuz it's inevitable that a windows comp is gonna get hacked

[Garvan]

My USB Modem stopped working, refusing to recharge the account when I tried to top up the balance, so I knew I needed to bring it to the telephone company to check the SIM, but figured they would be less than happy to see I was using Linux scripts to get it working, instead of the companies own software. So I dug out an old Windows laptop from the cupboard, recharged the battery, updated the anti-virus installed the phone software and said nothing about Linux when I brought it in for fixing.

The young lady assigned to fix the problem was less than impressed with my old laptop running XP. I took a good ten minutes to boot. No amount of right click and refresh made it work faster. The faster she typed, the slower it responded. She told me my computer was very old, and I smiled.

Eventually she gave up with my computer and installed the SIM in her own phone, and re-registered the SIM on her system. I lost the credit that was registered, but was happy to get it working again. I suspect the registered credit was incorrect anyway, and the balance was empty all along.

When I paid and was leaving, she advised me to install Linux on the old laptop, telling me it would be much faster.

So perhaps there is hope for the future after all.

Garvan

[minty33]

my mother just had her windows machine "cleaned" at office max. to little effect i may add. i told her that i would defrag repartition and add mint for a dual boot so she can see what hassle free computing is like. of course i would get all codec's and proprietary stuff running first for her like flash, updating java ect... that said when she took her cpu back to office max because her windows was still freezing constantly despite the "cleaning" she mentioned that i would put linux on it for her and this guy said "you don't want to use linux unless your an expert and want to be typing commands in the terminal all the time". this ignorance bothers me because if any linux experience at all his must be an old one and ignorance in itself is not objectionable but acting like you know is what's objectionable. i would have asked which linux distro and how long ago if i had been there. this type of assumption from ppl who others assume know is just wrong. that said he scared her away a little now. i probably won't bother convincing her at least not till her fustration mounts again and with windows that's frequently so i'll eventually get linux on her machine. it's funny to because i'm using a 5 year old toshiba and she has a brand new laptop and she is always asking me to go to a page and print something for her ect... because she is looking at a spinning wheel and a frozen window. meanwhile i print it before she even gets to the page. long story short this fear and prejudice against linux can be so pervasive that even when someone like my mom sees that it works better she can't fathom it being better or even as good because as she say's "the whole world uses windows so it must be ok" . she actually said this to me after the guy at office max downed linux. so i just said ok you and the rest of the world have fun stairing at a loading screen i'll be over here actually using my computer.

[minitrucker]

[quote "minty33"]long story short this fear and prejudice against linux can be so pervasive that even when someone like my mom sees that it works better she can't fathom it being better or even as good because as she say's "the whole world uses windows so it must be ok"[/quote]

EXACTLY! It's kinda of scary and very aggravating. Mob logic..... My wife actually I might as well be using a typewriter and an abacus cuz of the prejudice still online, plus my hatred for all thing java, flash, and otherwise useless on my browser.( although apparently almost no web builders think so anymore). I thought it was funny when I checked out tryruby.org it required java....

[Pilosopong Tasyo]

...this guy said "you don't want to use linux unless your an expert and want to be typing commands in the terminal all the time". this ignorance bothers me because if any linux experience at all his must be an old one and ignorance in itself is not objectionable but acting like you know is what's objectionable.

Consider this possibility:
They are just playing "ignorant" and use the excuse as their tactic to keep their customers coming back for repairs (malware, et. al.). They know how stable and problem-free using a Linux system can be. They know they'll lose customers because of this. Naturally, they want to protect their interests.

[minty33]

i didn't think of that possibility and it is true to a point. but in my example its just some guy working at office max. i don't think he cares that much about their bottom line. i don't know where you live but in the US linux is even less used and accepted by avg users. i think at least here the pervasiveness of a cost equals quality mentality is even worse than most countries. that all said your point would definitely be true of the management of office max especially upper management and CEO's. actually i never thought about it but that could be why you can't by a cpu with linux pre-installed in this country. that and all the other software they sell is windows based so those sales would drop to. GOOD POINT the more i think about it.

[wyrdoak]

I've been having to use FireFox to see my Yahoo mail now, for when I try to use Google Chrome it ID's me as an Iphone.

[minty33]

its ID'ing you as a mobile device since netbooks are sorta mobile devices although a hybrid in reality. and chrome is kinda designed with that intention i think. can't you choose mobile from yahoo or /m after the address like on google. i haven't used yahoo in cpl years so idk for sure.

[wyrdoak]

I imported the bookmarks from Google Chrome to FireFox, the same bookmark still shows me as a mobile device in Chrome but works well in FireFox. I shot off a "nasty gram" to Yahoo because of it. I've been finding though that Chrome is getting more and more useless to me on the web, so maybe it's time to migrate back to FireFox anyway.

EDIT: the URL in the bookmark is http://my.yahoo.com the code on the site is changing it to the above.

[minitrucker]

Get this. I need a job between semesters so I figured I would just throw an app at the local Geek Squad in Best Buy just to see if they would bite. Got to reading all the pros & cons, what they're looking for ya know. Saw that Linux experience was a plus. I thought cool this could be good. Get around to the actual application link, I get the famous screen telling me that I need a M$ or Apple sys with IE or Safari or else I might get booted from the app page. Crazy thing though: they accepted chromebooks! but I guess google is padding those pockets so they have a reason for that one.

i think at least here the pervasiveness of a cost equals quality mentality is even worse than most countries.

Nail on the head again! It's like we're in the same book. Who knows if we're on the same page....

[SurfaceUnits]

I'm paraphrasing but it was something along the lines of "This system is not supported on your browser. Please make you are using Internet Explorer 7.x or higher." Now why would be using some inferior, unsafe browser if I'm not using Windows? I was pissed that I still ended up having to call. And even more pissed.... well the rest is a rant about Dell....

Actually Wine comes with a version of Internet Explorer. I don't know if it would have worked but it may be worth a try.

the Dell site is trying to run some ActiveX DLL carpolla

[truexfan81]

Anyone know if comcast supports linux? i have called support many times when my connection was down, and was never asked what os i was using. When using the online tech support i just let them know from the start that i know what i'm doing, so they just tell me what they want me to check, and i do it, doesn't matter what os i'm using.

side note: if you can believe it, the hardest thing for me when switching from windows to linux, was getting used to typing / instead of \ when typing directories once i got used to that it made it easy to fix my video playlist files to make them work in linux, just opened them up in gedit, and used the find and replace feature

[minitrucker]

in my experience, comcast doesnt really care. when the tech told me he needed a comp to ......crap i dont remember what he called it..... my modem, I told him "I told have Windows". He said it doesn't matter I can do it on a mac. Told him it's not a mac either. He was kinda excited when I told him Linux. Wanted to play around with it a bit and what not. (wasn't a user)