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<p>My experience with the various iterations of NT…including NT4 with all service packs was so horrid that when the IT manager of the company at my second job was giving away NT4 Sp6a CDs and full licenses to employees…I didn’t join in. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I happily partook in his giveaways of SuSe, Slackware, and Redhat Linux CDs. Also, when the IT manager at the next company I worked for was giving away Win2k CDs with full licenses, I didn’t hesitate to snap up as many of them as I could.* If he was later doing the same for XP Pro or Windows 7 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate…ditto. </p>
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<li>Rock-hard stable and when given at least 64 MB RAM…is a surprisingly usable desktop even on old Pentium I machines for basic office and internet apps. </li>
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<p>Not sure about that based on my engineering/CS friends/colleagues’ experience…even those who graduated as little as 3 years ago. One common complaint I kept hearing from them was how the desktop/notebooks they brought with them/their non-techie parents got them ended up being too underpowered for their academic needs after two-three years.</p>
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<p>Not only CS majors, but also anyone working in the computer/technology industry. Have a few drawers of such free t-shirts myself…including some advertising versions of linux which no longer exist or worse…a company which later became regarded as more of a pariah in the Linux community than the “Evil Empire” itself.</p>