Linux and the 'clssic' computing world

[Chuck Guzis]

My .02 on this is that the computing world has changed a lot since the
1990s.   Back when I was using RH 5, it was useful for server-side stuff
but as a general replacement for Windows desktops, it left a lot to be
desired.  On the other hand, it was pretty stable.   Eventually I moved
to an OpenBSD release--there was no need for a graphical desktop.  It
was pretty much a "get it running and leave it alone" affair.

When Win10 debuted and I was about to lose support for XP, I decided
that my direction and Microsoft's were going to be different.  I still
maintain a couple of systems with Win7 just in case, but by and large,
I've found that Debian or Ubuntu with XFCE desktop doesn't pose any "you
can't get there from here" situations, as was the case 20 years ago.

There may be a few old applications where I have to resort to a version
of Windows running in a Virtualbox session, but that situation is pretty
infrequent.  My development and EDA tools run just fine on Linux.

In summary, the situation isn't as black and white as it once was.   My
lovely wife even uses Linux on her desktop--and she's still using a
couple of old DOS applications for some things.

It's all good.

--Chuck