Please forgive me for feeding the trolls...

>You should always use the best application for the job you have to
>do. And if that application demands the use of Windoze, then
>Windoze is what you should use.

Curious about your take on something rm. What makes something "the
best" application? When I look at apps to install, I see a
multidimensional space of price, familiarity, security, stability, ease
of admin, and compatibility that is different in virtually every
situation I encounter. Granted there are a few jobs that are
painfully obvious, for instance, internet video telephony with a
previously installed base of hardware; running particular games that
require particular OS's and video hardware, or running a $15,000
scanner that has operating software specific to a type and version of
an OS, etc. But most aren't anywhere near as clear.

I solve this for myself with a cluster of CPU's hooked up to an 8 port
KVM switch; but for most users that's way beyond the comfort zone.

College kid with $600 to spend on a computer... What could he get?
Here's some things I can think of.
1. Older IBM Thinkpad off ebay running Win2K, install AVG, Gimp &
Open Office;
max out the RAM and upgrade the hard drive to 60 gb.
2. New CPU with 512mb, 40 gb drive, and 17" crt. Linux, gimp. open
office, x suite.
netscape/mozilla,/etc.

Small comany, office space with 5 trained workers, all already
comfortable with Microsoft Office 2000.
1. Newest, fastest CPUS, with as much RAM as will fit and 300gb
drives, running
XP Pro (to make them feel cool, as much as anything) and five
licenses of
Office 2000, traced down from any legitimate source I can lay
my hands on.

Plus 1 Linux server with samba, apache, mysql, sshd, and
rsyncd.


Now, perhaps to your way of thinking, the restricted budget buyer isn't
worth considering, and if one is mostly interested in business and
market share, I don't necessarily disagree. However, from a usenet
discussion point of view, the library in Mozambique with a thousand
bucks to spend on five computers and a printer gets the same import as
some sophisticated IT department head rolling out 500 new computers to
City X Central Office. In reality, most of us are somewhere in
between, businesses that would rather sit on a dozen Pentium II Win95
machines running Office 95 for as long as they can keep them running
are not aberations; they are typical.