Re: Winmodems

["A. J. Clark" <adam kinetix dynip com>]

On Tue, 9 Feb 1999, Joel NewKirk wrote:

> breaking the elitist "It's Winblows, so I'm too good to touch  it" attitude
> of some of the very skilled programmers in the Linux world, who could
> probably create such drivers fairly easily with the right information from
> the manufacturers, and possibly without it.  The simple fact is that such
> hardware is common, and to not support it is silly, regardless of its
> design, capabilities, and shortcomings.  To choose not to use it is each
> individual's prerogative, but to not be able to because of such attitudes
> is silly.

But Joel, do you understand why they call them WINmodems?  They don't work
in DOS even!  Winmodems are cheap piles of crap, and pretty much every
customer I've ever dealt with that has bought one has found that they're
extremely unreliable compared with modems that have real hardware built
into them.

Linux should not associate themselves with Winmodems, even for those poor
suckers that are switching from Windoze to Linux.  Let the unreliable,
proprietary pieces of crap stay with Windoze.  They're a good match.

Winmodems are a good lesson for those who figured spending $20 on a new
modem was a good idea.  New, good modems are so cheap now that it's not a
big burn to go buy something that will work with Linux.

*tiny rant mode off - I was tired long ago of people wasting my time with
these "I bought a piece of crap.  Now it smells, can you fix it?"
questions*

-Adam