Or use Amazon (I’m guilty), or shop at Walmart (sometimes guilty, but not often), or shop at Target, use Tiktok, use Facebook (reunion coordination only - but still guilty, I guess), use PayPal (very guilty), use LinkdIn, use Google (guilty).

It’s really difficult to live a modern life, without being guilty of using anything exploitative of something. Of course, all the things (and many more) mentioned above are made to make people reliant on them by design.

Amazon operated in the red for over 7 years, before turning any profit, often selling and shipping items for a lower cost than they purchased the items for. But after that 7 years, they’d driven much of their competition out of business. Now there are fewer choices with regard to finding some items, because Amazon drove everyone out of business. The cheaper prices on Amazon? Nothing like what they used to be - they don’t have to compete.

How many small towns have Walmart as virtually the only place to shop and/or the only employer?

It’s very important in our modern, separated society, for people to return to basics…get to know your neighbors, stick together, become friends, and help one another out. Reddit used to really drive me nuts, in the work-related subreddits, where everyone used to say, “Your co-workers are not your friends.” I wondered if many people ever looked past that, to ask if that’s how HR wants things. How do you ever achieve solidarity in the workplace, when you walk in with that attitude? I’ve certainly had my share of hated co-workers, but much more often, I have been friends with many of them. Co-workers are a great resource to vent, problem solve, find out what’s going on behind the scenes, and if there are problems - a great co-worker can be honest and let me know if I might be the problem, or not.

But, separated and isolated within our own little tribes/families, too busy working too many hours, for too little money, trying to keep up with too many financial obligations, is exactly how they get us exactly where they want us.

Soon to be seen on the battlefield: Reinforced, armored attack-Ladas, with turrets mounted on the roof.

If the US government believes if everyone is an asshole, nobody will be an asshole.

Oh, you can set up a dual boot system, so you don’t have to completely jump ship. They also have setups that run entirely on a thumb drive now.

I did dual boot for a little bit when I want into business 14 years ago. While I liked Linux, I wasn’t sure I could run a business without Windows, but soon discovered that everything would be just fine without Windows, and got rid of it.

I’m in my mid-50s. I play Warzone 2100 and BOS wars on my computer. I’ve has Steam for several years, and have a game there…I think it’s “World of Goo.” I like to stick to games that serve as stress relievers, and take no more than about an hour. Between owning a business, 2 teens, 3 schools, 4 sports, a wife, a house that would love to fall apart if I’d only let it, a lawn to mow, and 2 antique cars I love to keep driving, I don’t have much more time to let myself be sucked in to some of the really cool stuff I see.

I recently bought a replacement PS2 though…the old one broke, and I’m still in love with GTA Vice City. I usually just steal a cop car and do vigilante mode until I’m killed though.

Oh, I don’t discourage them from using/learning Microsoft products at all - they just don’t happen to be in our home, because as consumers, my wife and I don’t spend our money in Microsofts direction. While I can’t say it with accuracy anymore, because it’s been 20 years since my switch, one of the selling points with the Linux distributions was that some of them looked and felt like either Mac or Windows. My Ubuntu distribution looks pretty similar to my wife’s Mac, and the initial installation of Linux Mint, several years ago was made to look and feel like Windows XP. Honestly, the last time I touched Windows was before retiring from the US Navy, where the Submarine LAN was run on Windown NT - but I retired in 2009.

If my kids came home with a Windows PC, or the cheaper option, wanted to turn one of my laptops into a dual-boot machine, I wouldn’t care…more exposure to (that bad word) diversity in operating systems. I don’t think they’re missing out on not having Microsoft in our home though. Microsoft Word in the Tux world is Open Office, Microsofts Excel is Calc, etc…if you know one, you’ll be able to work on the other.

Boomer: What?! Just walk into the building, go up to the receptionist or bossman, and demand to be interviewed for a job, and fill out an application form. Refuse to leave without a job offer. They’ll be so impressed by your dedication, they can’t do anything else, but to hire you! What are you waiting for?

My 1st desktop had Windows 95 on it. It worked OK. A few years later, I bought a laptop pc with WindowsME (Millennium Edition), and it became the last Windows product I’ve owned. A work colleague installed Windows 2000 on that laptop, and it worked for a couple months, until I got my “blue screen of death.”

At that time, they started selling the ePC notebooks, available with WindowsXP or Linux (the XanderOS) I stepped out of my comfort zone, and got the XanderOS variant, and have had Linux computers since. I’m currently using Mint on an old Panasonic CF-30, and Ubuntu on 2 laptops built by System 76.

My wife likes Mac, but I’m not a fan. My kids get a pretty rounded experience, between using their moms Mac, their dads 2 variants of Linux, and their Chromebooks at school.