...

In any case, I think the learning curve of GIMP and Blender will never be as steep as keeping a Windows machine virus free. Why? This is because the latter is close to impossible. Moreover customers do not appreciate going to a cyber cafe just to plug in their floppy or

pendrive and have a virus remove all their precious data.

Oh give me a break and be practical for once.

Bad joke.

I've not had a single virus or spyware on my Windows box for over 3 years. We've had Rony on the list who had to reinstalled Windows after a considerable amount of time. If you use it properly, its pretty manageable. Yeah every customer in the cafe might not,

Out of the whole crowd of Windows users, how many qualify into the category you are talking about?

but then in the cafe I converted, the owner would run anti-spyware and anti-virus scans thoroughly every night before he left. He hadn't had a problem even once.

Dream on. I've seen that happening. A couple of the people having webcam sessions and a few others playing Counter Strike online simultaneously on a 512K line. Then again, the cafe soon switched to a very affordable 1M connection.

How many is 'a couple and few others'?

You'll lose even more users rather than gaining them if you try this. Trying to pull out people from their comfort zone is a bad idea if tried aggressively. Have patience and go gradually.

Asking people to use Firefox is pulling them out of their comfort zone? And who asked you to try aggressively? And who did not have patience? You would do well to read a mail properly before replying.

And seriously, NO ONE is interested in freedom. They aren't interested in learning about it either.

Is it? Then why don't they pay the tax or fee and get on with it? Freedom is not about understanding patent and copyright laws, it is about knowing that you can legally copy and distribute the software.

Seriously, get out of your self spunfreedom cocoon and be practical.

*sigh*

...

Moreover it would be nice to have the cyber cafe association issue a press release expressing their preference towards free software wherever feasible. It would be an excellant oppurtunity to let the comman man taste free software.

LMAO!

You might end up laughing with a naked arse.

P.S. And btw, next time you reply to this thread, try to make sure that you've actually done something about this issue.

I do not have a cyber cafe anywhere with 4km of where I have been living for the past 4 years. The only place that is mainly used for Internet and Web browsing is my institute's computer centre, where every machine runs Ubuntu. The centre has always been haunted by first year guys who do not have a computer of their own, and there has been no decrease in this trend. Not a single soul had to be trained to use Firefox on Ubuntu.

Want some proof? Here it is: http://glug-nith.org/~spectre/?article=20070129-0108-NITH-Takeover

God save you, Debarshi