An e-mail from a reader:
“Often when I have problems with Internet connectivity the same issue keeps cropping up.
“The issue has been the same with several ISPs, to the point I feel it is a standard problem.
Usually it starts with instructions to go ping some IP address and I make a brief mention that I am on a Linux box. There is usually a pause and then they say, ‘We don’t support Linux.’ By this time we have usually established the problem is unlikely to be in my end of the system. Just what support do they think they are required to give me? Often it takes considerable wheeling and dealing to keep them working on the problem, even suggesting they tell me what they are trying to do and let me deal with how to use my computer to ping an address. As the problem has always been at their end, this insistence that I use Microsoft if I want connectivity is inappropriate and should stop.
“It would also be interesting to know the correct percentage of Linux users out there. Percentages based on sales mean nothing, as most suppliers insist that if one purchases their new PC with Microsoft installed, that’s what remains. By this method the four computers I have are all Microsoft, when in fact none of them are. When the percentage calculations are done there should be an allowance for the number of computers that are reinstalled with other operating systems after the initial purchase.
“It would be nice to see an article on these two topics.”
Maybe we will.
