The [Main] 'Why did YOU choose Linux?' Thread

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by youngtomedison

(BTW, why are there banner ads for Microsoft all over this site?)

---

That's an FAQ. :) You'll get tons of in-depth explanations by searching the forums.

To make a long story short: Jupitermedia loans Justlinux ad space to some advertisement company. That company loans ad space on tech related sites. Microsoft wants to place ads on tech related sites. Therefore, Microsoft ends up placing ads on Justlinux. :)

Yes, those ads may be annoying, but there's probably no better place on Earth for MS to waste its money than in a Linux forum. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by youngtomedison

(BTW, why are there banner ads for Microsoft all over this site?)

---

This quesion comes up a lot. This site doesn't control the ads...they are from a feed of some sort. That's how they pay the bills... I for one am happy they're taking their money and using it to subvert their cause.
Anyway, there are firefox extensions,*cough* adblock plus *cough* Remove It Permanently (RIP) *cough*

I usually turn adblock off for sites i like... Just incase i see something I... "want to buy".

It looks like this is the thread to reveal how people got to where they are today, so here's my tale that leads up to the Debian Linux installation I just did.

In 1977, I took a job in a Radio Shack store on a dare. (a friend said I'd never last in retail). Over in the corner of the store, unplugged and dark, was a TRS-80 Model 1. The store manager tasked me with taking it home and learning how to use and sell it.

And with it's friendly book, I did just that, sitting for hours on end, typing in lines of basic, (really wish I'd taken typing in high school, as most of the time I was fixing typos) but that was the first exposure I ever had with a 'computer'. In later years as RS released MS-Dos, The Model II with it's 8" floppies, The Color Computer and Hand held, it was nice being able to test drive all this stuff in my own (by them) store.

When I left I went to work for a small computer store that specialized in on line Apples and Eagles (cp/m). When Apple pulled our license for using the word Mac a week before the infamous supebowl ad, that place went belly up, I was out of work with 2 babies in the dead of winter and have hated Apple since.

Jump ahead a little to ending up "as" the MIS department [only because I knew how to get around a pc a little], that grew into a billing job for about 1/2 million subscribers. My boys, now new parents themselves said, "Dad, you used to love DOS, why don't you try Linux.

And that, in a somewhat fat nutshell, is how I ended up here.

Some say I have that Linux look.. whatever that is.... :)

Why did I chose Linux?

Well, when I was in Junior High, when Windows 98 was comming out, and the school was upgrading from 3.11 to 95, I downloaded Red Hat. It wasn't Linux to me, it was Red Hat. I liked the name and I had no idea what I was doing. Someone mentioned Red Hat Linux and I had to have it. I think it was Red Hat 6 or something. I downloaded some ISOs and burnt it and was able to boot.

The system I had was a 386 with...16MB of RAM and a 2x CD-ROM. It was top of the line when it was new in 1980 something or other. It had a 4MB video card and I couldn't get Linux installed. After a week I gave up. Linux was lame. Then High School came around and it was time to give Red Hat 7 a try. Lucky number 7 right? RIGHT! I burned it and my mom had a Pentium 3 and I backed up all her pictures and she let me put Linux on...that lasted a week. Now my mom though Linux was lame. I couldn't get it working fast enough. What a stipple in my Linux education.

Then College, I had my _own_ computer. I had an Athlon XP 2200+ with 512MB of RAM and I had all the time in the world. So, I stole a copy of Windows XP. I used it for a while and then I saw a magazine in a newspaper shop. It was titled Linux Format. It had an entire OS on a disc. Slackware 8.1. I loved it, and hated it. It was so hard to get into the learning style of Linux but I got there.

Now I have...5 systems with Slackware 10.1, 10.2 and 11. One even has Fedora Core.

P2 - S11
K7 - FC
Athlon - S11
2 X Athlon XP - S10.1 & S10.2

I just realized I only have 1 Intel ( proc ) system and I only got it 3 months ago.

Now, I think back and it was the best thing I ever did! The only thing I don't like is that Firefox is so slow :( I'm workin. on it though.

My fondest memory was trying to port a MS-DOS game that I wrote in Visual Studio 6 with a lot of Windows libraries, to a system that I tried upgrading from Slackware 8.1 to 9.0

Quote:

---

Anyway, there are firefox extensions,*cough* adblock plus *cough* Remove It Permanently (RIP) *cough*

---

Hosts file *cough*

because i can and most stupid people can't use it......


I also use it because opensource is the way to go when you need to run stable servers......


and its stable , stable , stable.......


and because its close to UNIX which is computer history on its own........ !!!

I chose it because I couldn't pronounce BSD.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ions

This is the ONLY 'Why did you choose Linux?' on the forum now. Post here the myriad of reasons why you chose Linux. Whether it was to be 1337, licencing, or whatever reason, (cough)Windows sucks(/cough) share why here! :D

This is a popular topic and in the interest of providing info as clearly as possible on the topic we think one cetral thread is a good idea. So, all new threads that should have been posted in this thread will be locked from now on.

---

Way back when I started using computers in 1973, there was such a thing as a microprocessor, but microcomputers had not yet become common.

By the time I was nearing the end of my undergraduate university studies in the late seventies, microprocessors were beginning to come out in computers that were sold. Apple and Franklin computers were two of the popular ones. DEC also put its PDP-11 minicomputer on a chip and I got to use one in a Heathkit H-11 computer in one of my computer labs. That gave me more of an itch than the stuff I had used before, clunky teletypes with minicomputers, card readers with mainframes, and low speed acoustic couplers attached to green cathode ray tubes, remotely connected to some distant computer lab that I could not touch.

I wanted more.

By 1981, IBM saw the success of Franklin and Apple and wanted a bite for themselves. IBM took a research project to Boca Raton, Florida, way out of their usual New York and North Carolina digs, picked up a rebadged renegade operating system called QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) from a small software company who had experience with BASIC interpreters, a young, entreprenurial company called Microsoft, which rebadged this system as MS/DOS. IBM did not have cheap microprocessors, they had expensive, high end stuff, so they bought into another technology from a company bleeding red ink, an unknown called Intel. IBM put BOTH companies on the map for good.

In 1982, I was working at General Motors, and I had just stopped working for the telecommunications arm of the company and had joined an hourly personnel systems group. I did COBOL maintenance programming for eight months, then decided I'd had enough.

I found a cool position in a small R&D group, who were assessing the client/server model of computing, using minicomputers and microcomputers (now known as PCs). The PCs mostly ran MS/DOS, though some of the latest ones also ran XENIX - what people today know as SCO UNIX - XENIX was Microsoft UNIX, if you can believe it!

I liked the feel of the PCs but I liked the flexibility and performance of the minicomputers more, particularly those running a system I had been introduced to in a lab at Michigan Tech - the UNIX operating system.

I did not like the usability factor of UNIX - seemed powerful but clumsy. I did not like the lack of features and flexibility with MS/DOS, which was very limited in the early days - few applications, very weak scripting language, no multitasking, no hierarchical directories. Nah, I'd go with UNIX and work on improving the interfaces.

I ended up being the designer of some of the early gateways that connected UNIX Email systems to those of other systems. (I did not invent Sendmail, but when it finally came out, it sure helped my cause, as did the emerging popularity of TCP/IP networks, which put UUCP networks to bed in a hurry).

I was still looking for something better.

After nearly twenty years in the business, I came across it in 1995, a few years after it had first emerged - the Linux distribution of the Linux kernel, a collection of GNU utilities, and various other programs. The first Linux system I tried was familiar - Slackware, because it had packaging elements very similar to the BSD UNIX systems that I tended to use most often.

I loved it. At last a computer was useful enough that I would consider getting one for home use, something I had avoided for many years. Now I take it for granted.

Linux had the feel of the PC with the stability and features of UNIX. Out of the box, it was definitely a geek tool but I saw the potential. I decided to go to graduate school - twenty years after entering software - and started to expound upon the virtues of developing openly shared operating system kernels and utilities so that more interesting tools and components could be built upon them.

Nearly fifteen years later, the vision is STILL not fully realized. I'd like to see a whole new generation of computer appliances with a cheap, free, commodity kernel beneath, layers of efficient system interfaces tightly coupled on top of that, with interfaces to a full range of electronic devices - phones, cameras, radios, televisions, computers, heating and cooling, refrigerators and stoves, and whatever else can be dreamed up to be computer controlled, accessed, and monitored in controlled ways. Home security?

Of course, we STILL have to solve issues of SYSTEM security. Current systems have not been designed from the ground up with security in mind. Mainframe systems come closer. By default, you can't access anything on the mainframe; you need explicit permission. Computers and networks of the future need a reasonable compromise between that and wide open access.

Linux comes closer that Microsoft, though both have gotten better.

SELinux starts to implement the kind of access control that IBM mainframes running MVS (or whatever the current name of their general purpose multitasking mainframe OS is called), OpenVMS, with its multi-node clusters of tightly coupled systems with Access Control Lists and tightly threaded process management, or even the descendants of MULTICS - the "castrated" UNIX or the evolved Linux, which is probably getting closer to the original ideas that were in MULTICS than the early UNIX kernels were ever able to achieve.

So for me, Linux puts me on a course that is the closest I've seen to the model of computing I have always envisioned. I am not smart enough to BUILD it myself, but I am smart enough to have a vision of what it might become.

Meanwhile, desktop Linux is simply the most usable environment I can get at any price. It is more flexible than a Mac, even if only now approaching its sex appeal. It is more stable, flexible, and extensible, not to mention more secure, than any Windows OS, including Vista. It is much cheaper than UNIX systems and arguably just as flexible. Hardware vendors have resisted having Linux get too good, fearing loss of their cash cows. However, even high end features are creeping into Linux. IF the hardware vendors won't put the features there, others will and have done so. Linux runs some of the fastest supercomputer clusters in the world, used for weather prediction and oil exploration.

Linux runs on some of the smallest systems, including a futuristic "Dick Tracy-like" watch-computer, and certainly in miniature cell phone and PDA devices.

Linux runs well on desktop systems.

Linux runs well on server systems.

I envision Linux systems being the glue that allow us to connect all these different kinds of things together. That's why I use it - I like it very much, but I also see a future for it that we are only beginning to imagine - an environment that will scale WAY past anything Microsoft can do with their crippled QDOS, even if it HAS been rewritten.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Parcival

Umm, no. Unix (simply put) is the big father that started it all.

---

Actually, in the interactive, hierarchical, ASCII, evolved to UNICODE space, it was MULTICS, not UNIX, that started things off. UNIX is a castrated version of MULTICS. Modern Linux kernels actually have more of the features found in the original MULTICS kernel in terms of dynamic shared libraries, advanced virtual memory techniques, and job scheduling algorithms, than the original UNIX system did, but Linux is playing catchup with today's high end hardware because hardware vendors want to maintain their own cash cows for as long as they can do so.

But give credit to MULTICS for the vast majority of really cool innovations that were actually invented in the sixties by the MIT, AT&T, and GE joint research project. XEROX and IBM each had their own important contributions, too. Unfortunate that NONE of those companies knew what to do with them!

At least IBM is around to benefit somewhat, and has hopefully learned the value of the great work. Actually, of all of those companies, IBM has the best ratio of stuff that actually goes into products. They are great with memory, processor, and disk hardware innovations that actually become real products. Their virtual machine idea is what everyone uses for "virtualization" today - IBM had it years ago with VM/CMS, and they could run their monster OS on top of it. Today, they can run 1,000 instances of Linux in these monsters!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Mas

Way back when I started using computers in 1973...

I envision Linux systems being the glue that allow us to connect all these different kinds of things together. That's why I use it - I like it very much, but I also see a future for it that we are only beginning to imagine - an environment that will scale WAY past anything Microsoft can do with their crippled QDOS, even if it HAS been rewritten.

---

A very interesting and informative narrative...from the trenches, as it were.

Thank you for sharing this 'insider' view of history with us.

http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyimages/115.gif

I started looking at Linux a couple of years ago and was disappointed by it's refusal to accept most if not all of my hardware. ( Something I also hated windows for ). I've kept an eye on some of the free distros for a while and as they seem to be getting faster and more friendly, I've decided to have a serious look at them. It's a completely new ballgame for me which makes it quite a challenge and I'm looking forward to learning about Linux.

Its a hard job, but eventually M$ screws themselves with their own stupidity.

My chiropractor is not a computer savvy person. He knows how to surf the web, and read his emails, and a few months ago his XP Home system was grinding down to a halt, infected with spyware, malware and other garbage that was just making working impssible. So I backed up his data, re-installed his computer , restored his stuff and gave him a clean copy XP, that was pure like mountain spring water. After a few months of use, he called me asking me to check his computer. Same scenario, spyware, malware, trojans. I've scanned his system and there was 78 instances of some kind of malicious software.

I suggested he goes with Ubuntu. Not knowing anything about it, he OKed the decision. I've installed Feisty Fawn on his desktop, migrated all his data and now he's happy, and free of the BS that most computer users have to deal with. He loves linux and I've given him a bunch of PDFs about linux and ubuntu. He's now learning about computers! Something he didn't want to do cause he was affraid messing his XP, which he did anyway...

So why did HE choose Linux? He'll never need to worry about spware, malware, trojans or any of the nonsense windows users have to deal with.

It started when I first of it and decided to try it. Never worked for me. But that was about one or two maybe three years ago. Toward the beginning of the year, I had decided to download a 200mb ISO file of NimbleX over a dialup connection. Good thing I had all this planned out early. I had a download manager for Windows that let me pause my downloads. So I only downloaded at night. I burned it and started to explore it from the disk. I fell for it instantly. Couple days later, Windows XP refuses to be seen by my PC. So needles to say that I was stuck with Linux. I couldn't figure out how to install it 'till the guy that put NimbleX together created an installer module for it. I downloaded the installer a couple days ago and installed NimbleX to my HD. Worked well for me. Now I had to get on the net. Good thing my mom had a computer with Windows 98 SE on it. I looked around slax.org just to see if I could find any sort of module for a win-modem driver. I got extremely lucky. Now I'm using my PC to the fullest. Free is great. I only miss some of the cool games that ran only on Windows. But I used the internet more often.:D LINUX BRINGS ME FREE CONTROL OVER MY PC!:cool: Now I just need a new keyboard to replace the one I'm using. Damn keys are wearing down.:mad:

i chose linux because you get free software, and you have less security issues than you do in windows...plus it's open source...i started using linux only a cuple month ago...i am still young and hopefully after i mastered linux i will move on to learn about bsd's and openSolares.

I'm one of the rare users who didn't switch from Windows. At work I went straight from MSDOS to Linux. At home I had a QL running QDOS, like Linus. That gave way to a Q60, with QDOS and (very slow) Linux. Finally I built myself a PC and installed version 1 of Fedora. I just never had any reason to consider Windows.

Not that I would have considered giving my money to such a racket. Think about it. The Justice Department decides that Microsoft is to be broken up in the public interest. Then comes an election in which Microsoft is the largest single contributer to Geroge W's compaign fund. He wins. A judge pops up and quashes the breakup plans, and the Department make no appeal. Far be it from me to use the word bribe ...

P.S. I also love using it.

The main reason? Because it's a hell of a lot more interesting than Windows. I was dual booting (XP Pro, various distros - settled on Slackware), but got rid of XP last Wednesday. I ain't missing it at all.

I started using linux after a Windows crash on my computer, a few months ago. I've lost all my documents and settings - no backup - and I could not re-install Windows 98, which I still had on that computer, so I had to buy a brand new Windows XP cd. Very, very expensive and I paid for nothing, because it was too slow on my old computer. So I searched on the internet to see what linux was and if I could install it by myself. In the first time I downloaded Damn Small Linux embedded and I saw linux running for the first time. After that, linux made me learn a lot about computers and, even if I made a lot of mistakes - because of all my experiences, I could not give up linux and I know more even about my windows Xp system. I bought a new computer and I testes a lot of live cd's to see which distribution works best for me and now I have a few preferences: Mandriva, PCLinux, Ubuntu, Zenwalk and Puppy Linux.

I started using linux at the same time I started using windows... means... I came to know about Linux since I started using computer.. earlier I never understood that why people are so much afraid of linux.. but then I realized that thing which you know least... scares you most.

Anyways... Why I use linux is because.. with linux I know everything is under my control ...unlike windows.. where they tend to hide...

I switched to Linux four years ago from Windows 2K. I started with Suse and then tried Ubuntu to see what the hype was. Being a Musician I searched for the distro that would best suit the needs of a recording environment and finall settled on 64 Studio (which is debian based).

After almost two years of using 64 Studio and producing some pretty damn awesome tracks and songs with a Linux Based distro...I have NEVER looked back...My wife and son are now on linux and the house and security updates have never been so peaceful!! My Wife uses Ubuntu 7.10 with Crossover Office Pro for her ability to do docs from work and such..

Linux Rocks and I spend the word...People are growing tired of high priced software that just plains disappoints...Time for change and the world is catching on.

cheers MiCK

I had to learn HP-UX in order to complete my engineering course and so I was exposed to UNIX in the days before I had my own computer.

When I finally got my own computer (after university, once I had a job) I was keen to put something non-windows on it, having seen the difference between the well-set-up, secure, powerful, HP-UX system I used for working on engineering projects, and the rag-tag bunch of Windows NT boxes my college had in its computer room. (at Cambridge, you live in a college, and are taught in a separate department).

Anyway, one of my friends from Uni already used Debian and so had roughly explained to me that it was a UNIX-a-like, but free, so I gave it a go. I used Turbolinux, Debian, SuSE, Debian again, Ubuntu when I got myself a Mac Mini, and now back to Debian (Ubuntu have dropped official support for PPC).

I started with GNU/Linux and carry on using it because I want freedom and control and I don't mind a temporary sacrifice of ease-of-use if necessary. I like the fact that I can generally expect things not necessarily to "work-out-of-the-box", but more importantly, to BE POSSIBLE. Nowadays more things really are working "out-of-the-box", and that's great, but the best thing is that we are free to try stuff out for no charge. Things taken for granted in Linux that you can't get easily in windows:

* decent shell language comparable to bash and the other GNU tools
* remote log-in with ssh and all the tricks you can play with it
* ability to just act as a server for as many or few services as you like, no need to buy a special "server" edition or pay anything extra.
* a fine-grained method for installing exactly what you want and nothing more
* ability to back up and copy however the hell you like.

Anyway, freedom and control of what I do, that's why.

I have a passion towards unix when I was taught my course-co ordinator for my pg diploma course.

At that time windows (1995) windows was not available (though windows 95 released most systems were using dos). He told that while learning OS never compare with DOS as an operating system. He taught in detail what the operating system should be and the concepts.

From that time onwards, I am eagre to master(learn) unix. But unix was not available though windows pireted copies of 95 were available. Also perfect UPS system was mandatory for unix.

Years passed and I continued to use windows OS and concetned activities.

And now a days linux has come to the desktop world with the full features of OS - those like of Large Mainframe and super computers. And plenty of softwares.

Another success story

In my small office internet was supplied through (ADSL) modem through a windows xp gateway (a dual network card pc with internet sharing). Even though virus scanners were installed, it required that system was affected by viruses and other malwares and it negetively affected the system which caused interruption of inter net in the network. 6 months ago, I replaced the system with an old PIII system with debian installed. Till date, the internet is like a rock. It this gate way is on internet is ok. I have installed bind9 and it again increased some performance. which was not the case with a pentidum dual core machine with xp installed

Wow! Great job Sunils! I am sure that everyone else who works with you is happy that they have someone like you that can solve many of their problems with linux! Keep up the good work!

I have been using linux for a long time (since about 1997), but just as an end-user. I used other unix accounts on dummy terminals, then NeXT computers (very nice and powerful for the low hardware specifications!), and later Red Hat 5 linux boxes through one of my university departments. I remember feeling good when I could do simple things like adding a driver for my winmodem or working with kernel headers to get a wireless card driver working under linux. Other than some gaming that Wine has trouble with, linux is just so great!

I also admit that the "free as in beer" aspect of linux was a big motivation for a poor grad student LOL.

I have also noticed many of my friends run into problems with keyloggers and trojan problems on their window boxes, even though a good antivirus/anti-malware/spyware setup seems to catch pretty much everything (I think) on one windows box I use (again principally for gaming). It seems that linux's permissions/multi-user heritage and construction seems to render most of these non-problems by default, and that unfortunately, many windows aren't aware of how to fix these shortcomings on their computers.

Even on my windows computer, I have found myself going to the GNU windows ports for many nice "linux" apps.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OldAstrologer

I'm one of the rare users who didn't switch from Windows. At work I went straight from MSDOS to Linux.

---

Cool beans. :) I've never felt like I switched from Windows, since I've never used it by choice, but work requires it to this day. My story's already been told on this site, and my one regret is that I installed Windows 3.11 on the DOS partition of my first PC. I didn't use it, or replace it when I accidentally hosed the partition a few days later, but it means I can't quite claim never to have owned a box with Windows on it. :p

Windows has helped me a lot by using applications like Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, FL Studio, Cubase, AutoCAD, 3DS Max, etc... But you can never trust Windows for storing all you work into it, there will always be some problem like system crashing or BSOD.
So I choose Linux operating systems for storing all my work cause its very stable and sometimes for minor tasks its a lot simpler to use than Windows.

I started out with Mandrake Linux(it was given to me by a friend, he told me to try it). After I mastered Mandrake, I graduated to RedHat. Redhat lacked something, so i switched to SUSE. Now that was cool. When SUSE made an agreement with Microsoft, I dumped SUSE.

I WAS MAD!

Then I found Ubuntu! I thought Wow, this is cool. Then, to my dismay Ubuntu went with the Unity desktop. A friend of mine from New Zealand gave me the URL for LinuxMint. I was in heaven............Mint is the coolest I have ever seen. I now run Linux Mint 15,Debian Edition, 64 bit.

I'm happy with Mint. but I have been experimenting with Knoppix 7.2. I like it, but i have to do a little more experimenting.

Anyway, Any Linux Distro is better than MS Windows.

Speaking as someone who works in IT, I can tell you that 99% of my users have no idea what an operating system is. This includes the young ones. They've heard of Macs, but by and large nobody even grasps the concept of an operating system. The whole idea that they could run something that's not Windows is completely unknown to them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by suha52

Speaking as someone who works in IT, I can tell you that 99% of my users have no idea what an operating system is. This includes the young ones. They've heard of Macs, but by and large nobody even grasps the concept of an operating system. The whole idea that they could run something that's not Windows is completely unknown to them.

---

Most people think of (MS)Windows when they think of computers because that's all they have ever known. Not many places where you can buy a Linux computers pre-configured, but this is starting to change.

Unix tools work logically in my opinion -- I just get things done faster in unix
Linux lets me do things other operating systems do not.
Ethics:
3a) The current software monoculture is a Bad Thing and I want it to end -- so Microsoft is never high on my "preferred suppliers"-list
3b) I believe free software is a really Good Thing that'll be a boon for all of us -- my first choice is always free.

If you want to buy Linux Desktop Pre installed, there are a number of of good place you can buy one. ie, Sears and Wal-Mart sell them on their websites, HP and Del;l also sell them on their websites, plus there is System76,Penguin computing. And you can also u Chromebooks just about Anywhere(granted it's not Linux, but it is Linux based.)

I've always had better luck building my own boxes (Linux of course) from quality components. I'm typing this on an opteron box I build back in 2002. It's plenty powerful and looks to have a long way to go. *knock on wood*

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by je_fro

I've always had better luck building my own boxes (Linux of course) from quality components. I'm typing this on an opteron box I build back in 2002. It's plenty powerful and looks to have a long way to go. *knock on wood*

---

I always build my own boxes(since 1998) I got tired of all the bull from pre-configured boxes, especially Windoze. This way, I know I get the best Hardware and always run Linux and Linux software.

Amen brother!
These days I use Supermicro boards and hot graphics cards :)

I remember when I first tried Linux.. It was because I Had to.. I was running a pirated version of W-98.. WhooH! that registry crap was a nightmare.. I tried going into reg-edit, and deleting all the "@'s".. Cleaners weren't cleaners, they were messerupers and OS killers, and everything wanted all your money to pretend to make the OS safe and secure... Weird things happened to the OS from the internet.. There was this one time the OS got nuked, and ten weird icons showed up on the start page.. Ten viruses I presumed.. I took a photo of it..

I switched to Linux after the W-98 got slammed by a powerful multi-virus.. I was in the hotmail login page.. I scrolled down, and came upon a link that promised a guaranteed quick easy $1200.. I clicked link after link, and came upon a message box.. I typed in "This looks like an evolved illegal pyramid scam"..
Suddenly the screen flashed bright white, then blue, then red, then white again, then black, then soft purple, then the computer totally crashed...
I didn't lose much data because I had a good CD backup.. but I did lose the hard drive.. It got totally destroyed, but hard drives were cheap from garage sales... Got it up and going again.. A week later the OS got hit by the same thing, but this time I was ready for it.. I ripped out the power cord, and ran the antivirus.. It showed three nasty viruses in every file opened.. Two weeks later the new hard drive and OS got hit again.. I gave the three wrecked hard drives to a university lab.. They told me that the criminal signed its crime, but they weren't at liberty to tell me any more..
I switched to Fedora.. I gave them hundreds of new ideas to help them make Linux a public item.. Linux is built my way... The last fun idea I gave them was "Hey guys: Lets have a real time list of what's happening in the OS when it's installing and updating, for us to see what's happening in real time... They had it up'n running in a few months.. then out came Scientific Linux...

The third time that storm virus hit my W-98 I was ready for the demon.. When its attack starts, the screen loads with duplicates of the firewall's front page till the RAM runs out, thus the 'storm'.. Then the OS goes blue screen, and that's the end of the OS.. It's called 'Storm'.. There is no recovery from a storm hit... When someone who is real bad dies, its special secret computer will send Storm out onto the Internet, thereby destroying every net-connected windwoes computer that hour, plus all the forums, plus the internet.. It will destroy millions of business records, thereby crashing the poor peoples global economy, and will destroy millions of peoples private files.. Will be like 'kicking humanity in the nuts with a steel-toe boot with steel points on it'.. is why the whole world needs to switch to Linux ASAP... Dump that bludy windwoes before it erases all your private data.. Everyone running a windwoes OS should make a backup of everything tomorrow, and buy an old computer or secondary hard drive at a cheap store or a garage sale, and turn it into a Linux computer, and load all their files to it as a running backup before Storm kicks you in dee balz... A nice gesture for your good friends running windwoes would be to provide them with a hard drive with a Linux OS on it, and have them put all their files in it so they won't lose everything when the crappola hits the fan...
The third time the devil hit my W-98, he quickly opened several of my word files on the screen like its mouse was actually connected to my computer.. I quickly deleted a file's contents, and keyed-in 'GET PAMPERS!'.. The OS instantly crashed.. Reboot was blue screen.. I didn't lose anything but a hard drive, a copy of a sent note, and two downloaded nudie pix of purdy young ladies proudly displaying their lovely kichykitchycoo's, waggaboo's, and sasquatch's...

I saw 'Storm' evolving.. 15-years ago that devil tried to damage my Linux OS with a Linux version of its Storm bug.. but a reboot cleared it all... I can't run a windwoes OS on the net without it destroying it in a week.. It's still grumpy at me for me saying its pyramid scam looked like a pyramid scam.. I wonder if it ever got pampers..? Life for it must be a living hell nightmare to be existing with so much churning burning hate.. was probably the coke.. Coke melts ones brain, mind, spirit, soul, and love.. That deadly cocoa-leaf crap turns some people into cannibal zombies.. They even have their private elitist cannibal restaurants now... I wonder if they ever have nightmares of human babies screaming and crying, trying to crawl out of their mouths..? WhooH! Wouldn't want to them... Duh devil owns them...