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Wireless Networking Software Hardware Linux

America's Hams Embrace Linux 249

Posted by timothy from the not-a-huge-surprise dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "The current survey question over on the eham site shows that around 40% of Amateur Radio operators that responded to the survey are using Linux/Unix as an operating system in some form or other. Part of the ham radio charter is to 'experiment and innovate'...seems the tradition is alive and well in ham radio. Some of the comments are interesting as well ...What's Amateur/Ham Radio? See www.eham.net/newham/"
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America's Hams Embrace Linux More

America's Hams Embrace Linux

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  • America's Hams (Score:4, Funny)

    by DJCouchyCouch ( 622482 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:12PM (#6775632)
    It's funny without even trying :)

  • Bayesian radio (Score:5, Funny)

    by Baloo Ursidae ( 29355 ) <dead@address.com> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:13PM (#6775636) Journal
    So if Hams are linux users, does that means spams are Windows users?

    • Re:Bayesian radio (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rekkanoryo ( 676146 ) * <rekkanoryo AT rekkanoryo DOT org> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:17PM (#6775659) Homepage
      Most likely :)

      I'd be more willing to bet that the CBers are Windows users, though. (Yes, I know you were joking. I chose to ignore the humorous side.)

  • This is kinda cool... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rekkanoryo ( 676146 ) * <rekkanoryo AT rekkanoryo DOT org> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:15PM (#6775645) Homepage
    ...and it ties into a personal experience. A friend of my family's is a ham radio operator. He is experimenting with Linux and FreeBSD. So far it seems that he prefers Mandrake over FreeBSD. So maybe this type of thing could broaden the acceptance of UNIX/Linux substantially, which is always a good thing.
    • right, because all the cool kids are firing up their rigs and blasting the morse code while they hop their lowriders down the street.

      gimmie a break dude, what non-geeky person do you know that would consider hooking up a bunch of electronics so they can talk to people around the world at 5wpm? not to mention all the configuration necessary, tweaking the radio, the feedlines, the antenna...

      it really takes a special breed of person to be a HAM.

  • 40% ? (Score:5, Funny)

    by tealover ( 187148 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:15PM (#6775646)
    Quick, what's 40% of 100 ?

    • Re:40% ? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:03PM (#6775834)
      40.
    • It's 42 for sufficiently large values of 100, and possibly also in a bistro, where none of the normal rules of mathematics or physics quite work the same. Coincidentally, this is also the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Unfortunately, the question, smeared slightly by time, appears to be "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?"

  • Obligatory "-1, flamebait" (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The other 59.999999% use windows (and one person chose BSD, which is dying)

  • Stats might have been even higher (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:17PM (#6775661)
    Remember "linux/unix" also includes MacOS X, and there were quite a few comments about Macs on that page. They might have gotten even higher percentages, maybe even beyond 50%, if they'd put MacOS X in the survey. Ya know, not everyone runs Intel/AMD.
    • True. Some of us run ARM [openzaurus.org].
  • I love how you guys phrase these things.

    Yes, they embrace Linux. But that's 38% of them. 51% are still embracing Windows.

  • Nice wording (Score:1, Insightful)

    by soliaus ( 626912 )
    "America's Hams Embrace Linux"

    Oh come on now! Thats like saying "Americas Idiots Embrace Windows". Wait a sec...

  • I have a General class license. I use Windows XP.
    • When they say innovate, they don't mean the MS definition of inovation.
    • I use Windows XP.

      Blasphemer!

      Somebody hold him and I will get the "M$" branding iron heated up.

    • I have a Technician Class (KG4HVP) and I use Linux Mandrake 9.1

    • Well I have an Extra class (since 1981). I run Solaris 9. ;-)

  • Crystal ball (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nucleon500 ( 628631 ) <tcfelker@example.com> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:24PM (#6775699) Homepage
    I predict than in the next 6 hours, Linux usage among ham radio operators will jump to 75%.
    • THIS JUST IN TO CNN:

      According to recent reports from our sources it seems that a mass revolution is taking place in the ham radio world tonight. After a short article appeared on the popular Slashdot website the ham radio frequencies were flooded with new users bringing towers, repeaters, and other equipment arount the world to a virtual standstill.

      While we're still trying to determine if this could perhaps be the first radiowave based denial of service attack we were assured by knowledgable users that it

  • Great idea! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jennifer E. Elaan ( 463827 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:27PM (#6775707) Homepage
    What a wonderful idea! Let's poll a bunch of people who are, in large part, ELECTRONICS HOBBYESTS, and ask them what OS they prefer!

    HAM radio types are often some of the most technically knowledgable in the world. I'll bet that even the ones that still use Windows know enough Linux to survive. They may even have legit reasons for using Windows (like certain Windows-based EDA software still beats anything on Linux...)

    I have another great idea. Let's poll KERNEL HACKERS and ask what OS they run :P

    • Well, not quite the same thing (Score:5, Interesting)

      by The Tyro ( 247333 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:03PM (#6775836)
      Just because HAMs like myself tend to be hardware geeks does not necessarily mean we're software geeks too... though we probably pick it up a lot faster than the average joe. Just the tendency to tinker probably leads some HAMS to linux.

      I'm an amateur operator, and I run windows AND linux. I'll admit, Windows is primarily for gaming, but there are some HAM-type applications that just are not as robust under linux. Here's a good example:

      Winradio [winradio.com]is a wonderful piece of scanning equipment, whose software runs best under windows. Yes, I'm aware of Linradio [linradio.com]but the software is not as full-featured.

      I'm sure other amateurs can come up with other examples. Personally, I'd like to know how many amateur operators run completely SANS windows. I'd lay even money that Bruce Perens doesn't own a windows box, so there's one...

      • I'm a technician class ham and I've got two computers.

        Desktop is running Windows 98 (as default boot) and Lycoris 1.19 (Hardly ever use the desktop, unless I want to print something)
        Laptop is running Mandrake 9.1 (as default boot) with Windows XP. I only use Windows for.... hmmm..... yeah.... that's about it....

    • Sorry, but sarcasm and ignorance don't mix. There are much more operating systems than just Windows and Linux. It would be reasonable to expect electronics hobbists to try something else as well. The comments indicate that NetBSD was mentioned several times.

      Have you ever heard of KA9Q [ka9q.net]? It's an OS older than Linux and it was written by a Ham radio enthusiast Phil Karn. It's a shame it wasn't mentioned in the survey. I can imagine some people are still using it, but they probably don't have browsers to vote

      • Careful who you call ignorant there. I realize that there are plenty of other OS's out there. I use QNX once in a while for realtime development, and on my page you can find a bootable image of an OS that I'm writing myself. I had an old DOS machine for microcontroller stuff that I only recently migrated to Linux.

        Besides, I only once mentioned Linux specifically, and in passing. I mostly meant tinker-friendly systems in general.

        All that I'm saying is that the same spirit that founded Open/Free softw

    • This may be true to some degree, but I think you've overstated it quite a bit.

      But then, maybe you were being facetious and I'm too dense to see it (but since this has been modded "+5 Insightful," not "+5 Funny" I don't think I'm alone).

      Anyway, there's lots of different kinds of geeks around, let me tell you about one:

      He's had his Amateur Extra Ham license for well over 20 years now.

      He's been hobby programming for a good fifteen years.

      He's been working with Novell Networks for about ten years; he's Nove
      • I'm actually surprised that none of the moderators caught the fact that I was trying to make a joke. Oh well. Yes, I'm definately overstating it.

        Although I would still expect hardware hackers tend to have a bit of an interest in the kind of software that lets them tinker. I know I do.

  • Nothing can stop Linux now (Score:4, Funny)

    by evilempireinc ( 592230 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:27PM (#6775709)
    Thank God! With this powerful special interest group behind Linux, nothing can possibly oppose it!

  • That's all we need... (Score:4, Funny)

    by fuzzix ( 700457 ) <flippy@example.com> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:27PM (#6775711) Journal
    Ham radio enthusiasts using Linux could give the impression that it's some sort of marginal, nerd OS and that couldn't be further from the truth.

  • What's Easier (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:30PM (#6775726) Homepage
    If you want to expirament with radio connectivity between computers, protocalls for use over radio, and other such things, which is easier? Windows or Linux?
    • With Linux, you have full access to source code for the OS, and can EASILY add new protocalls, network interface like things, and other such things you may need for expiramenting. It's all very well documented too.
    • With Windows, you... um... good question. You COULD write drivers, but I don't know how you would get started. I'm sure there are a few books on the subject, and maybe some web pages, but the ease of information could hardly match Linux. I'd guess most things are implemented as programs rather than drivers.

    Add to the fact that many (most?) hams are technically minded, and the fact that Linux and such are free and come with compilers and other such things, and that Linux CAME FROM expiramentation, can we really be that suprised?

    MBCook -KC0QBP

    • Re:What's Easier (Score:4, Insightful)

      by 2short ( 466733 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:55PM (#6775949)

      "With Windows, you... um... good question. You COULD write drivers, but I don't know how you would get started. I'm sure there are a few books on the subject, and maybe some web pages"

      There are quite a few boks on the subject, and certainly some web pages. In particular MSDN comes to mind: all the docs and apis you need in one place. You don't know how you would get started, because you've never tried.

      If the abiltity tinker and experiment with your OS is a driving factor, go with Linux, absolutely. (I'd also go with linux based on various other things being your driving motivation) But if you're interested in extending MS lock-in, I mean, uh, writing Windows specific software, you'll find that MS is as helpful and friendly as you could ever hope for. They understand that as mammoth as they are, it's the many third-party developers writing Windows specific code that really make the monopoly thing work. If you want to (or have to) write such code, they really do make life pretty nice for you.

      In any case, I've got to agree "Ham radio operators use Linux more than the general population" is definitely a no-brainer. Why is this newsworthy? I mean it's obviously Ham-radio booster month here on Slashdot, but why exactly? Did one of the editors just get into ham radio? I don't dipute that ham radio is cool enough, or rather nerdy enough. Based on the Hams I've known it's got a bigger nerd factor than basically anything, but pace yourselves! This at-least-one-Ham-story-every-day just can't stay interesting. As evidenced by this article. Or even this post; I'm just rambling at this point, clearly. Insomnia will do that. Sigh. Why am I still awake?

    • Re:What's Easier (Score:2, Informative)

      by jargonCCNA ( 531779 )
      Linux CAME FROM [experimentation]

      Actually, Linux came out of Linus wishing he could have his own copy of Minix without having to pay for it. So, rather than resorting to outright piracy/theft (as in theft of the install disks from the university), he reverse-engineered it.

  • Hams? (Score:4, Funny)

    by volpe ( 58112 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:31PM (#6775732)
    So... William Shatner uses Linux?

  • Hams and Linux (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Lxy ( 80823 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:35PM (#6775746) Journal
    This is weird because I was asking a guy just today on why so many hams DON'T use linux. Most of them have at least heard of it, if not tried it.

    Hams are technically literate folks who don't pay for anything if they don't have to. If you can build it, why pay someone for it? I'm shocked that most of them can make a radio out of some wire and a resistor because it's cheap, yet choose to pay $200 for a Windows license.

    And as for the poll, I assume the same rules apply on eham.com as /., I quote::
    • This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.

    So whether or not we should put any stock into a poll on another website and make an article out of it makes me wonder.

    • Re:Hams and Linux (Score:3, Informative)

      by SuperQ ( 431 ) *
      yep.. I see this too. Many hams I know are not linux/unix users. I also have a hard time finding open source/etc solutions for ham problems. software like radio mobile, echolink, and other usefull ham apps are only available in windows.

      When it comes to packet radio, there is a lot more linux stuff going on.. mostly because packet started before windows existed, and the only OS that networked was UNIX.

    • Re:Hams and Linux (Score:4, Insightful)

      by KC7GR ( 473279 ) on Sunday August 24, 2003 @12:42AM (#6776065) Homepage Journal
      Lxy Writes...

      "Hams are technically literate folks who don't pay for anything if they don't have to. If you can build it, why pay someone for it? I'm shocked that most of them can make a radio out of some wire and a resistor because it's cheap, yet choose to pay $200 for a Windows license."

      Speaking as a long-term hamateur (I've been licensed nearly 26 years), I have some comments on your statements above.

      First, name me ANYone on this planet that doesn't pay for something if they don't "have" to. I can assure you with absolute confidence that this is not a trait that is limited to ham radio folk. ;-)

      Amateur radio, like other hobbies, gives back exactly what you put into it. If you just want to spend a minimal amount on a low-end radio for use on the local repeaters, and chat with others, fine. You'll get that, no problem.

      If, on the other wing, you want your signal to go halfway around the planet, bounce off the moon and land back on Earth at some distant point, or put up your own repeater or APRS station, you're going to need to invest significant $$ in the appropriate hardware (and software, if needed) to do it.

      Considering the high cost of some of that hardware, particularly specialized commercially-made antennas, is it any wonder that many hams (myself included) are tinkerers and kit-builders? Is it any wonder that we're opportunistic as all get-out when it comes to scrounging, and re-utilizing surplus parts to build our own stuff?

      As far as your comments on $200 or so for Windows goes, let me add this. Learning how to tinker properly with electronics, especially radio hardware, takes lots of time. It also takes, in most cases, a significant investment in test and measurement equipment, and many specialized hand and power tools. Oscilloscopes, signal generators, and spectrum analyzers are not cheap, even on the used market, any more than a good drill press or contact crimper is.

      Given that, and given the high degree of difficulty, and the equally high degree of skill, required to write a decent operating system or application software, I would certainly (heck, I did) choose to simply buy available products if they will meet my needs.

      Put it another way; I really don't have the time or skill to write my own OS and software, nor is it something that I would choose to learn. It's enough of a challenge keeping up with what I'm doing on the hardware side (which does, admittedly, include the occasional bit of assembly code for embedded microcontrollers). It's much more expedient, in many cases, to simply buy what is already made that can be adapted to serve my requirements.

      73 de KC7GR

  • The Ultimate (Score:5, Informative)

    by spoonist ( 32012 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:38PM (#6775754) Journal

    For the ultimate in merging Linux with radios:

    GNU Radio [gnu.org]

    From the FAQ:

    It does signal processing in free software. This means you can learn from it, and modify it to do new things. The big idea is to give ordinary software people easy access to 'hack' the electromagnetic spectrum, that is, to understand the radio spectrum and think of clever ways to use it.

  • Let's be honest (Score:5, Insightful)

    by $eRvmanIO ( 302817 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:38PM (#6775756)
    As a ham and a linux/windows/blah blah blah user, there are many reasons why hams gravitate to linux:

    1. Elitism - Yes, Linux users and Hams DO have something in common.
    2. Technical aspects - speaks for itself
    3. Cheapness - Combine used computer parts from Hamfests and free OS and you got the spirit of Ham Radio operators.

  • America's Hams? (Score:3, Funny)

    by FsG ( 648587 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:38PM (#6775757)
    Wouldn't this [slashdot.org] be a better icon for the story?
  • ... then you haven't spent time with a bunch of hams. Holy Moly. I got enough geek/nerd time in one hour to last me the whole weekend. Talk about a convention with no girlfriends in sight ...
  • Most of the 'hams' out there are not even on the internet. Wait until they die off (soon, I'm guessing), and the newerr generation takes over. Then we'll see some cool stuff again from hams.

    Currently, the ax25 stuff under linux works, but it's licences are lame (non-gpl). I had at one point a working version of tcpdump that worked with ax25 frames for ham/digital stuff, but it wasn't 'legal'.

    One of the big problems with ham 'warez' are that most of it is really lame windows shareware - - most of the c
    • I think you have had one blow to the head to many....

      The linux ax25 stuff is all gpl as its in the kernel... Secondly you don't need tcpdump at all to watch ax25 frames you simply use 'listen' which is part of the gpl'ed ax25 tools

      There are some packet programs that are not free but mostly they are monolithic shit ported from dos to work on a more modern os (linux)

      Jeroen

  • Linux Kernel Options (Score:3, Informative)

    by Student_Tech ( 66719 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @10:48PM (#6775787) Journal
    This shouldn't be too much of a surprise I think. The main menu for the Linux kernel has "Amateur Radio" options in it. So they have taken the time to add support for AX.25 (a variation of X.25 used for packet radio) and added it to the kernel as well as drivers for a bunch of interfaces.
    Last time I played with it (about kernel 2.2.12) it worked fine and connected to the rest of the packet users without any problems. Made it really easy to pass packets destined for the AMPR [ampr.org] out from my network at home.
  • Saying "40% use Linux" isn't very meaninful without some form of usage context. I'd be more interested if there were a follow-up poll in which asked what they were using it for...

    * Primary general-use computer
    * Non-primary general-use computer
    * Exclusively for Ham work
    * Saw picture of penguin on back page of my Linksys router or Tivo manual
  • Yes, I believe that they call us "nerds".

  • Starting Out... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MrEnigma ( 194020 )
    I know there has been tons of Ham Radio stuff posted to /. recently...

    My question, is there a beginners FAQ or anything written up? I'd love to get into it, get my callsign/license and then some equipment, problem is I don't know exactly what all there is to get, or what I need....

    Kind of like *NIX needs a better way to promote itself, sounds like Hams could use this also...

    • Re:Starting Out... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Atilla ( 64444 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:28PM (#6775882) Homepage
      Besides looking on eham.net and arrl.org web sites, you might try to find out where your local ham club is... the best resource for amateur radio information are the amateur radio operators!

      you might be able to find a good starter radio on ebay for under 100 bucks.

      the technician class license is really easy to get, and you don't even have to know morse code to get licensed (general and extra classes require 5 words per minute proficiency). It helps if you have some electronics background, though.

    • If you head to your local Radio Shack, they should have the stuff. They'll have a little booklet you can buy to help prep you for the test. And make it a point to go to a few hamfests.

      This is the book [radioshack.com]. The Beginner's Handbook of Amateur Radio, 4th Edition. I believe this is the right book.....

  • Why, then... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by pongo000 ( 97357 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:26PM (#6775877)
    ...was the most recent Linux ham radio HOW-TO [radio.org] last updated over 7 years ago?

  • Hams & Linux: Not quite yet. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Teeja ( 701014 ) on Saturday August 23, 2003 @11:41PM (#6775919)
    As a ham, I have experimented with Mandrake & Red Hat, but I don't believe the average Amateur Radio Operator will be making the switch to any form of Linux soon. Why? Because hams love radio and are primarily interested in computing as a tool to extend their abilities within radio experimentation.

    Yes, more hams are getting into Linux, mainly because experimentation is in their blood... but the question is "what are hams passionate about?"-- answer: ham radio, not necessarily computing, although integration of the two is occuring at a faster pace now.

    As a ham, I want my tools to work and work well. I want to spend my time on my hobby (radio) and not that much time figuring out how to use or configure my tools (OS's).

    IMHO, linux will begin to rule when it:

    1. Has a more intuitive GUI/Menu with descriptive application names that tell me what the app does.
    2. Has an application installation procedure that my wife can figure out.
    3. When lunatic-fringe linux geeks stop bashing "windoze" simply because it's easy to use.

    What am I running right now? XP
    Why?
    It gives me what I need with the least amount of effort on my part. Call me an "appliance operator" or whatever, but I'm spending more time on what I enjoy: ham radio.

  • Elecraft open sources DSP code (Score:4, Interesting)

    by niko9 ( 315647 ) on Sunday August 24, 2003 @01:00AM (#6776109)
    I was interested in building a kit radio and had heard of a company called Elecraft [elecraft.com]. After checking their page today, seems they have open sourced their DSP source code used in some of their HF rigs. Users are free to modify the code and post to web site to share with other users.

    They and TenTec [tentec.com] are the last of American made and assmebled hame radio equipment makers left.

    Wonder how this will spur interest in custom DSP desgined radios. There's also a link from the elecraft page to a samll and inexpensive DSP development platform [tapr.org].

    73's

    N2PDB
  • I've been using Debian for more than a couple fo years, and I cant't remember when they didn't have a
    Ham Radio section [debian.org]

    I just think that's cool.

  • The Ham Ethos & Computing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by vergil ( 153818 ) <vergilb@@@gmail...com> on Sunday August 24, 2003 @01:16AM (#6776156) Journal
    This article (which I nearly passed over) caused me to think a bit about the parallels between computer users and their operating systems & radio operators and their use of equipment.



    I've always viewed my friends who are especially into Linux and ham radio (Rob Carlson [vees.net] -- radio callsign KC2AEI -- is one friend of mine who's fluent in both fields) as advanced hobbyists, the type of folks who might have scoured mall Radio Shacks for 6.5536 mhz crystals [s5.com] and dabbled in Heathkit [boulder.co.us]
    catelogues several decades ago. Tinkerers, in other words, passionate about tweaking the miniscule component constituents of their electronics to achieve a personal, customized result.



    On the other hand, the similarities between radio "consumers" and Windows users are too tempting not to make. Unlike the Linux/ham radio enthusiasts, these folks operate their store-bought PCs/radio receivers as black boxes, strictly according to the design intended by the devices' manufacturer and rarely cracking open cases out of curiousity. Of course, I'm painting w/ a broad metaphorical brush here, lumping swaths of individuals into overly generalized categories.

  • Alas, there's still no Linux version of Echolink [echolink.org], which is a pretty clever combination of ham radio and the Internet.
  • Recent operating system polls on the sites www.matrix.com and www.dunkindonuts.com also showed strong percentages for linux.

    Sadly, the commonest response in the OS poll taken on www.wideworldofsports.com was: "What's Linux?"
    The second-best response was: "What's an operating system?"

  • finally! (Score:4, Funny)

    by happystink ( 204158 ) on Sunday August 24, 2003 @02:03AM (#6776318)
    Now that ham radio enthusiasts are into linux, there is finally going to be an influx of hot women into the open source scene, awesome!

  • Search for "Ham" on this page:

    www.suse.de/en/private/products/suse_linux/i386/pa ckages_professional/index_group.html ...skip 2 false hits for an Intel HaM modem ;-)

    How does that list compare to other Linux
    (or BSD's, et al. for that matter)?
  • Anyone else read the headline as"American Hams Embarass Linux" ?
  • .... it the other part of the 60% - because at the last Hamfest I went to ...... A LOT of the dealers/users there used Macs. There is a lot of Ham Radio software and hard ware out there for the Apple platform:

    Elmer - teaches for the ham radio exam

    Antenna Master - helps design ham setups and antenna design

    MacTNC - terminal control for Ham radio

    Moonsked - ham radio moon bounce software

    All of these are available for all flavors of the Mac OS - even X
  • and I have found that hams often do not embrace free software to its fullest extent. They often choose proprietary software packages over free ones (logging programs and APRS, for example), and most people I hear talking about computers on local repeaters all use windows.

    Maybe this is because there is not much quality free software for ham applications out there. On top of this, I'm not so sure an informal poll on eham really means much anyway. The most heavily trafficked ham sites are probably QRZ.com
  • ..that one community composed entirely of geeks has strong similarities with another community composed also entirely of geeks.

    Sorry, am I missing something? :-D
  • America's Hams Embrace Linux

    I didn't realize Chevy Chase was such a techie.

  • Are still using their Commodore 64's.
  • Only 40% use Linux and that doesn't mean they prefer it. And even the site notes the skew in results once the /. crowd got a whiff of a good MS bashing opportunity.

    And fer cryin' out loud why put the political spin on this subject line? Have we sunk to the depths of the big bad corporations that we have to taint our news to suit our needs? Or is it that Open Source advocates simply resents MS because they envy its clout and money?

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