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Thread ID: 55390 2005-03-09 09:28:00 I'm a linux freak jcr1 (893) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
332283 2005-03-09 09:28:00 :@@:
I just had to share this one.
I've had a couple of outages, in the last few days, with my wireless broadband.
In the course of conversation with the Telecom helpdask person, the advantages of broadband was discussed and I mentioned I'd appreciate a 512 kbs service. The helpdesk person pointed out to me that for basic web surfing, e-mail etc 256kbs was probably good enough. I informed him that I liked to download software, in particular Linux OS's and update same. His response was oh oh, Linux freaks! I was kinda taken aback and a bit lost for words.
jcr1 (893)
332284 2005-03-09 10:19:00 Not too worry, I was recently on the phone to my ISP helpdesk over a ADSL issue and immediately after informing them my OS was Linux, I got told to open up Internet Explorer ... :rolleyes:

But you are not a freak, but a Linux Geek - stand tall and proud! :D
Jen (38)
332285 2005-03-09 10:55:00 :@@:
I just had to share this one.
I've had a couple of outages, in the last few days, with my wireless broadband.
In the course of conversation with the Telecom helpdask person, the advantages of broadband was discussed and I mentioned I'd appreciate a 512 kbs service. The helpdesk person pointed out to me that for basic web surfing, e-mail etc 256kbs was probably good enough. I informed him that I liked to download software, in particular Linux OS's and update same. His response was oh oh, Linux freaks! I was kinda taken aback and a bit lost for words.

Yeah you get that. I went into a hardware store a few months ago and the salesman treated me like the idiot that he is, when I inadvertantly mentioned that I run "BSD". "BSD? No no no!" he said, and speaking slowly and accentuating his words so that I would understand my grevious error: "It's XP! Microsoft XP! Not BSD. There is no such thing as Microsoft BSD!" So I tried a different tack. I said:"You know Linux?" The idiot was taken aback and looked like he undestood that he made a mistake. "Oh", he said. "BSD Linux? Never heard of that distro".

There is a classic scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil Fawlty gets so exasperated with Manuel that he beckons him over to say a private word to him, and pokes him in the eye. Good thing for that salesman that I am not a violent person.
vinref (6194)
332286 2005-03-09 11:05:00 The fact that "Linux freaks" is a term that is now used rather than "Whats Linux" shows that Linux is becoming a known thing...

Feel less freaky yet?

:-D
personthingy (1670)
332287 2005-03-09 19:36:00 Still gotta wonder when the Xtra helpdesk tell my mate to get rid of his spyware immediately after I told them I was running a Bootable LiveCD.

"Yeah yeah, I know the one, I saw something on the PCWorld CD a year ago, you've just gotta remove your spyware and your connection speeds should get sorted"
Im like "***? Spyware? Buddy not likely"
"We're sorry, he might want to try reformatting his WindowsXP in that case, that will solve it"

Becoming a known thing, but the impressive implications of its use such as no spyware/viruses etc are yet to be discovered by many ;)
Chilling_Silence (9)
332288 2005-03-09 19:43:00 Well!, I think the only problem here is that the poor sod has mistakenly qualified your affliction ;) Murray P (44)
332289 2005-03-10 00:14:00 But you'd need more bandwidth than that to keep up with the Microsoft rebugging packages. ;) Graham L (2)
332290 2005-03-10 06:33:00 But you are not a freak, but a Linux Geek - stand tall and proud! :D

Frankly, I'm not too worried about it, its more amusing than anything.

The only underlying factor about it is it could indicate a dismissive attitude by Telecom to anything different to Windows. Really not such a worry with the Linux community because they can figure things out for themselves and support each other and this forum is a classic example of that attitude.
If it wasn't for the support I received from people on Press F1 I wouldn't have got far with Gentoo (even though its documentation is excellent) :thumbs:
jcr1 (893)
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