Christmas Shopping at Robert Pogson

I shopped mostly for groceries this Christmas as my Northern Store in the bush has few good deals: bananas and pizza were OK. I did check out some prices in retail IT, though:

Office 2007 (you know, the one with “the ribbon” gimmick) $750 for “ultimate” whatever
“7″ Home Premium $128

Isn’t it amazing that businesses will offer for sale such stuff? They are selling software at a higher price than my whole system cost and they are not including nearly as much stuff. One DVD. I get 3 DVDs with Debian GNU/Linux and it is stuff that I actually use. The same outfit will sell a PC box for $350 to which you can add monitor, keyboard and mouse for a total price about half what they are selling software from M$. What is a wise shopper going to do? I would buy two. Get one and give one if I were going to spend that kind of money.

For those who actually need a PC with guts, you can buy this stuff:

AMD64 X2 CPU AM3 – $75
motherboard AM3 with graphics – $100
RAM 8gB DDR3 – $300
Storage 500gB X 4 – $300
Beautiful case – $100
Debian GNU/Linux – $0
Keyboard and mouse – $25
Monitor – $125
Total – $1025

There it is, a complete system for about what the software costs with that other OS. FLOSS is one of life’s little bargains.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.