| wIndependence Day Essay: Just Say No! |
by David McNab (July 25, 2002)
My story is sad, but must be told. If others learn from my sins, my suffering need not be in vain.
Eight years ago, I was a successful developer of embedded software on UNIX-variant systems. But circumstances saw me changing career to alternative health care, and getting out of computers completely.
After writing a successful book on alternative healing, I realised that subsequent writing would be easier if done on computer, instead of my antiquated Brother Word Processor.
This was my turning point. In terms of computing, I was in bad company - living in New Zealand, in which Microsoft holds a 57% stake, with everyone telling me to get a Windows PC. It was then that point my addiction began.
My first PC was a 486-66, running Windows 95. It felt so strange to do things visually, instead of by command line as I'd normally done. A strange kind of stupor set in, as if I'd taken some down-market recreational drugs.
It took no end of struggle to make this system recognise my modem and get online. But final success saw me entering a darker world again.
My addiction went from bad to worse. Shareware site webmasters and authors knew me by first name. Soon, the 'thrill' of Windows 95 wore off, and I went after the harder stuff - Windows 98.
Little did I know I was descending into almost inescapable depths of computing debauchery. Because I soon craved the really hard stuff - Windows 2000 beckoned.
All spare cash went into hardware upgrades, as my older systems proved too slow. Shady liasons in dark alleys with people selling second-hand software sticks of RAM and hotted-up motherboards, to keep away the growing distress of Blue Screens of Death.
My systems hygeine deteriorated, without me even knowing. I got a shock one day to find all my modem bandwidth consumed by viruses/spyware like TsAdBot, Radiate, Gator, AllAdvantage and Spedia. My mailbox filled daily with 'special offers' and 'members privileges', with every internet marketer queueing up for credit card details. Thankfully, my lack of credit cards spared me of this level of depravity. It was bad enough though, with email messages taking over my PC and deleting my files without me even opening them.
It was only on joining the Freenet Project that I saw what a mess I'd made of my life. The kind folks there, fighting for people's internet and computing freedom, worked selflessly to make me aware of the errors of my ways, sometimes harshly.
Rehabilitation was long and hard. So much of my brain had been destroyed by the Redmond Menace that my best friend was the Talking Paperclip. In the real world, people shunned me, instead talking amongst themselves of strange things like 'kernel builds', 'GTK+ classes', 'procmail recipes' and 'iptables rules'. I envied and even despised them for their spam-free mailboxes, virus-free systems and automatic shell scripts.
I knew I had to start small in healing.
First step was replacing Outlook Express and and Internet Explorer with Mozilla. The feeling of freedom and safety felt weird, but I finally started enjoying the fruits of quality Open Source software.
By the grace of God, I worked up the courage to download my first Linux - Mandrake 7.2. During installation, I felt my body shiver and sweat from withdrawals as I craved the familiar Microsoft logo. My mind was seized by desperation, as I couldn't find the screen to enter my license key.
It was a brave attempt. But I succumbed to crippling agoraphobia with Mandrake's installer asking me what window managers I wanted. I asked, "window managerS?? Windows only has one window manager - Windows - who needs more than that? Like there's only 2 types of music - country AND western!"
Resultingly, my attempt to go straight was short lived. I lapsed deeper into ‘windowholism’, now hacking code, struggling to decipher the mysteries of the Windows API, and its more addictive cousin, the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Visual Studio took me almost to the point of no return.
More months of Blue Screens of Death, Shareware Nag Screens, viruses, spyware, spam and corrupted partitions followed. I even resorted to a trial version of GoBack to try to keep ahead of corrupted windows system files, but alas, I needed the 'hit' of re-installing Windows, almost daily at times.
I was so far gone, I don't know where I found the courage to turn back, but I kept persisting with Mandrake until I had it licked. Some relief at last!
But my sponsor at Windowholics Anonymous advised me to try this different flavour of Linux called 'Debian'. Suspicion mounted in me when I couldn't find Debian Inc on the NASDAQ, or in the phone book! My mind couldn't grasp the concept of Truly Free Software.
I'm happy to say that I'm now well on the way to permanent recovery from Windowholism.
If I feel Windows Control Centre cravings, I only need to type 'make menuconfig bzImage modules install modules_install && reboot', or cruise around the /etc directory, and all cravings disappear.
If I'm hanging out for a shareware hit, I just type 'apt-get install' or 'apt-cache search', and get immediate relief, without so much as a 'please register' screen.
If I'm missing Windows Update, I only need to type 'apt-get dist-upgrade', and am once again at peace.
So I hope that my story can save others from unnecessary suffering and self-destruction.
While I'm far from perfect, I have got to the point of running Debian Linux full-time on my server and my desktop. I hardly ever use my windows partition, and it's only a matter of time before I reformat it and throw away all windows CDs.
Kids - don't listen to your parents and teachers - if they pressure you to use Windows, just say NO!
Talk back! Do you have comments or questions about this story? talkback here
Please note: The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the writer, not of the management or staff of DesktopLinux.com.
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