Reply #33: Indeed ... [View All]

I was just thinking I need to bookmark this thread and trot it out the next time someone goes off on an anti-corporate rant that devolves into claiming the problem is anyone other than ourselves.

Boycotts are all well and good ... as long as no one is inconvenienced in the process.

There are many legitimate reasons for a person to stay with Windows or OSX or whatever they want to use. I'm not a crusader fanboy who seeks to convert everyone to my way of thinking about computers. However, some of the reasons people come up with for sticking with Windows are really rather silly, and the disdain some of these people heap on those who aren't afraid of change, trying something new, etc. is more than a little insulting. People claim Linux people are obnoxious, and to be frank, some of them are. But some of what's perceived as obnoxiousness is simply frustration at being cast aside as "one of those people" when all you're really trying to do is help. Got no budget, sick of being screwed over by a corporation with a very poor customer service record, tried of daily cleaning spyware? Give Linux a try.

Sheesh ... what's so bad about that.

I converted to Linux initially because I was fed up with Microsoft, and to be honest I had more than a few problems unlearning the things Microsoft had taught me. (That, btw, is what the learning curve is ... unlearning behaviors that are required to use Windows. As a formerly long-time Windows user, I have the same kinds of problems using an Apple.) I did do that unlearning and I have re-learned a lot of things and learned new things. Linux is Not Windows. I'm really rather sick of the comparisons that are built on the premise that they are or that one should mimic the other in every way. Will all my Windows software run on Linux? Probably not. It's not Windows. But give me half a minute, and I can assure you that the for the vast majority of what most people use computers for, I can find you a Linux equivalent that may well even be superior.

My Linux machines do more than my Windows box ever thought about doing, and they do it more easily with orders of magnitude less expense. My Windows machine does some things my Linux box won't do very well, e.g. FPS games based on DirectX. And so and so and so and so ... the game isn't zero-sum.