On Fri, 02 May 2003 12:39:33 -0500 yyixi001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: >I see an ebay offer for Linux Mandrake 9 for $20, but >when I asked them >if it would run with AdSubtract banner blocker, >TextAssist 4, >MailWasher, and a few other things, they never even >bothered to reply. Linux is not Windows and WILL NOT run Windows programs. Linux is a UNIX-like operating system, and is totally different from Windows in every regard. Mandrake is a name for a particular flavor of Linux that features a graphical interface similar to Windows, but that is where the similarity ends. Now to be complete in my answer, there is at least one program for Linux that emulates Windows and lets you run SOME Windows programs under SOME conditions under Linux. However, AFAIK they are still far, far, away from being able to run ALL Windows programs (even excluding games) with anything even approaching 100% reliability. I don't count that kind of scenario when I say that "Linux can't run Windows programs" because it is so unreliable and restrictive as to be meaningless for most people at this point. There is an unfortunate and rather unwarrented and unfair snobbery toward Windows by many Linux users. Linux definitely has some advantages over Windows, but Windows is, by far, easier to use and has the most software available for it, so it has some advantages over Linux. Which is "better" is more a matter of, among other things, taste. However, that is probably why they did not respond, they did not see it as worthy of a response. Interestingly, to me anyway, is the fact that the Mandrake graphical interface is basically a shell that opeartes over the standard command-line Linux environment. Back in the Windows 3.x and 95 days, all of the Linux people howled and jeered at Windows because it was a "shell over DOS, and not a TRUE operating system". Now we have the same basic situation with Mandrake and other Linux distributions, but the Linux people aren't making fun of that. HTH, Ron For a web-based membership management utility and information on list policies, please see http://nibec.com/24hoursupport/ To unsubscribe, send a blank email to 24hoursupport-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" (without quotes) in the subject.