Natch I know better than to argue Doze lore with a Jediaded Master, and if you are speaking of the whole range of arduos aps (PhotoShop, dev, gaming, multiple behemoth aps etc.) -- doubtless you are right; even I accept the scuttlebutt that 2K is more "stable" than 9.x - and XP > 2K. That said,

I place minimal demands (for my own use); it is easy for me to treat it as the glass-fragile POS it pretty much is. Ditto re owner of this box, who would have trouble dealing with the added complexity of even 2K. Whether due to the original dejunking of 98-lite, or via regular culling of Reg. crap, etc .. I've never had to reload since my careful install on e-Machine, in 7/01. (Nor does 98 suffer the creeping internal molasses reputed of many MErde installs)
V. rare non-Moz-related crashes, and quite few of those.

So I'll go with a familiar POS, stripped naked - to the spy-prone latest; rely upon firewall to keep it from the daily cruelties of a million packets of Billy-aimed malice.



Ashton
would prefer a Cisitalia to a Maybach, too ;-)

{sigh}
Hey.. had my best efforts to dejunk 98 proved futile.. I'd have had no choice, 2 years ago and with the then state/art of maybe-installs amongst the unwashed.
(Though when that G-4 showed up last year..)

Similar reasons for not even attempting to grok W2K Server (with its NT-core, myriad of services, many to be stopped; infinitely non-synergistic nested menus - with an illogic only Billy's droids could invent). In that case too, the early question "..and if I grok this fully - of what future Use shall it avail moi?" answered itself.

In fact I do boot Knoppix periodically, absorb a bit more arcanery, when in a masochistic mood. It IS impressive. Will follow with periodic interest, a friend's adventures with a recent Mandrake distro (noting if/when he drops the training wheels and becomes Debianized: the clear Mensch-model of logical niceness and, I'm betting - longevity of org ;-)

Hey.. he's got networking pretty much working, despite many blank spots in the Why department: Good Sign. (In fact - I used Knoppix to ID some stuff in this Dell, which Doze weaseled on, with familiar refrain, Unknown Device cha cha cha.)

I know it sounds dumbthish, not to go with the Obv. superior mode - but, for *your* mien and also daily bread earner: the arcanery remains still er fascinating - thus you don't even notice the vastness of material you have adsorbed, in order to reach your max typing-speed, at the cli. I OTOH merely toyed with assembly language.. and rarely from fascination.
(But I have done that trip several times, only just not ever \ufffd-related. My enthusiasms lie elsewhere.)

Ex: just acquired a couple specimens of a v-fast pulse generator (Tek 284) made in '70s and using a rather hi-current [24 mA] TD (tunnel diode: today pure Unobtainium, as the fabs no longer exist). It does mind-numbing clever things.. both in the mechanical layout incorporating a small waveguide, and in the use of reflections (VSWR) to synergistically steepen the Risetime: to under 70 PICOseconds! Software is .. well .. Different, y'know?

Look: *nix is no less complex in the guts than Doze, just smarter, more stable, more logical to pursue to its roots: all while nicely open to the inquisitive.

I'll likely settle for some Pro install magic [now if.. I owned this Dell box], help with certain choices - and cookbook the weekly ap-get (so many useful switches, there) for maintenance.

When I have all the few functions I need, minimal or 0 networking: Then! I shall be elated to finally crush the Billyboxen, ceremoniously immolating same with a few hydrocarbons added. With pix against the night sky / full moon.

Maybe with remote monitor and the sucker 'running': note at what temp it blue-screens < blank. Get a Reporter over, put it in the local Kenwood Gazette. (They run Apple, there.. ;-)


HTH to explain that quality often called *reluctance* (or sloth)


Ashton
Gooo ---> Debian;
Me watch a bit more