By Don Patzsch, Tampa PC Users Group
patzsch@helios.acomp.usf.edu

We have been asked to sit down and write something about what we as individual computer users are doing; the idea is that other user group members may be interested. Articles are needed for a newsletter. Each of us is doing something that we should write up so that others may benefit from taking a look at whatever we are doing!

When I read that, I wondered just how many people are really interested. So I will try to write something sensible and describe what my thoughts have been in the field of computers that might interest others. Perhaps I might start by describing the CD-Rom that came in yesterday’s mail.

The title of the CD is "Software Developers Tools". "Improve your Applications Performance on Windows and Linux." "From the people who know processors." (The CD comes from Intel). Do you suppose that Intel is telling us something?

Now let’s go back several years. As an individual I bought only IBM computers, and I could not get across the reason I bought them to others. Unless you experience something you can not understand what that thing is all about. You can only guess.

As time went by, I noticed that there was a force acting on the computer industry that was not right. So I began to look around me and to try to find something that would change the computer world. It was not hard to find. I looked at all the operating systems that were not MS Windows. There was Minix, Xenix, Unix, and many others like those. Then came Linux. Linux is not an operating system. Linux is a core idea that can be expanded to become an operating system. Thousands of computer programmers all over the world looked at Linux and recognized the value of this kernel. Programmers from all over the world began to write add-ons. Very soon the additional work done by all those programmers began to bear fruit.

First a basic operating system began to take shape. Maybe we could look at it as thought it were DOS. DOS was written by some people, and then MS bought it. After a time, IBM and MS began to try to emulate the Apple computer. Apple used a mouse which was designed by the Xerox people. Windows is an add-on to DOS that allows the use of a mouse.

When Linux appeared, it was not the only variation of UNIX. The kids at Berkeley wrote FreeBSD. That is another operating system. IBM took Linux and ran with the ball. Apple took FreeBSD and ran with the ball.

If you were to take a computer and run it, with either Linux or FreeBSD, you would not have any trouble using those operating systems because they use “Windows” in just the same way as the Windows you use. I decided to buy a computer using the FreeBSD system so I could see what it is like. I bought the Apple Mac G4, with dual processors, because it won't be long before we have 64 bit and 128 bit programs.

I am writing this to give you a bit of an idea of what it takes to learn how the Apple system works. I assume you are new to this type of computing, as I am. First, I brought the computer up in Mac OS X. OS ten is based on FreeBSD, reworked by Steve Jobs to operate his NEXT computer when he left Apple. FreeBSD is very similar to Linux. When you bring up a Mac in OS X, you see windows that are the same as MS Windows and many of the keys are used in exactly the same way as those on my IBM. The screen opens with a series of icons on the right side, and you click or double click to bring up a word processor or a spreadsheet or whatever. Now, I use a mail program called PINE. The University Network and the Freenet Network have Pine available, and I have been using it for so long I am used to it. To use Pine, I need to telnet to either the USF network or the Freenet. Now in MS Windows, you use telnet directly. But in the Mac, you use the secure version of telnet called ssh. It took me months to learn how to use ssh. I went to the Apple store at the new shopping center near the airport, and I went to various computer user group meetings, but no one seemed interested in using telnet, so I had to read books to find out how it works. A friend from Johns Hopkins came over and showed me how to use "Better Telnet" a program that runs under OS 9, but I wanted to stay with OS X as that is why I bought the Apple Mac. Most programs run just as they do on MS Windows.

Those are the things that went through my mind, and that is what I have been doing. I am sure you are doing more interesting things, and so your articles would be more appropriate than mine. I have three computers on my desk. One is exclusively Mac, one is exclusively Windows, and the last is exclusively Linux. It is very simple to turn on one or the other as they all work with exactly the same functions. The Mac is now sold with OS X on every computer. This should give you an idea of where the industry is going.

Let’s see-how many years did IBM supply the TPCUG with a beautiful place to hold our meetings? In 1982 I bought an IBM PC because there was no other PC. Since that time IBM has kept me informed of so much information about my computers, I couldn't list all that help. IBM invited me and my wife to the Yacht Club at Disney. The things we were given there are fabulous. There are many other things I could say.

I prefer the command line for most of my work. I started using Pine many years ago at USF, and it is the mail system on the Freenet. I can do just about anything I want in PINE. Pine was written at the University of Washington, and I went out there to see several places, including the U of W. Pine is a free and open mail program. I have never had a problem with it.

I use telnet so I can get to the command line at USF. Also on the Freenet. I can use UNIX programming from there to read much info I can't get any other way. If I were to want to connect to a friend’s computer, I can easily run it from a telnet connection. Telnet simply means connect my computer to that one. You can easily use pass through and have several computers around the world at your finger tips at once.

Here is what came today-A story from the press about Microsoft being forced to make changes in Windows XP. They are forced to open up the operating system so that OEM's may put in a different browser or change other things they don't like. MICROSOFT HAD TO BE FORCED BY COURT ACTION TO DO THAT!

Not long ago, Bill Gates and Steve Balmer made a video tape to be presented in court in the suit by the DOJ and some states. Government attorney Boies showed the court the lies that were contained in the tapes. Bill Gates and Steve Balmer would be in jail for contempt of court if they were not able to buy their way out.

Not long ago, we had a Presidential election. One Supreme Court which was mostly Democrats voted for Gore and another Supreme Court, mostly Republicans, voted for Bush.

That is why I believe that money will buy the verdicts and the delays that Microsoft has enjoyed. I could continue to list reasons that I do not like Microsoft and its ways, but let’s go to zdnet and read about many businesses that have switched to Linux because they want to get away from Microsoft and its overcharges. Star Office is now actively seeking to outdo Microsoft Word. The Federal government has started to use Star Office. I think anyone who reads about what is going on in the computer industry recognizes that the way Microsoft operates and charges is why people are turning away from Microsoft, as I have. u