...but rather target the iPhone...

Well, certainly not the iPhone. Maybe Android or the Pre, or if you really want a head start (e.g., a long time with no paycheck), Chrome.

But custom corporate software is where much of the professional money is made nowadays.

Didn't Stallman and friends reimplement the commercial Unix libraries as free (GPL) software?

Gnu's Not Unix. I read that somewhere...

Wasn't he potentially violating patents?

All software implementations potentially violate patents. Mono just happens to likely violate those of a convicted monopolist who has called the GPL a "cancer" and claimed Linux violates hundreds of unspecified patents in order to FUD the credulous into paying Microsoft for inferior software.

Do the commercial Unix vendors holding those patents behave any differently than Microsoft (ahem SCO)?

Welcome to the 21st century. SCO does not own Unix; Novell does.

Mono is ... a very nice easy path for the majority of all developers in the world (WINDOWS Developers) to make the transition to Linux and GNU

Don't be silly. Mono is a very nice path to ensure that free software is dependent on real Microsoft patents, as opposed to the imaginary ones that Ballmer is always ranting about between chair tosses. It's the equivalent of George Bailey taking a job with Mr. Potter because "you won, George... you've beaten me". But Microsoft "sits around here and spins your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't, Mr. Ballmer. In the whole vast configuration of things, I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider. And... [turning to his aide, Miguel de Icaza] And that goes for you, too!"

If you're a Windows developer looking to make the transition to Linux and GNU, try something that's actually innovative. QT4 comes to mind at random. Or Python for quick IT apps (it works for Google). Or Android for phones. Now, welcome to freedom.

Oddly, I've had the opposite experience. It's the BSD zealots that keep insisting that their software is "more free" than GPL, because you can even make it non-free (and they believe that is a good thing, because it means more people may use their software). Most of the GPL zealots tend more toward "we don't care who uses our software, because it's freedom that's important, not popularity". This comes across (to me, at least) as much less strident, not to mention more convincing.

Like all anecdotal evidence, of course, this proves nothing - but it is my experience nonetheless.

focusing on ethics as a primary argument with most people quite simply is not going to work

Focusing on ethics is likely to work if your goal is to promote ethical software. It's kind of hard to imagine anything else working, actually.

Hate to break the news, but the nice police officer lied through his teeth to you. That law was overturned 30 years ago.

The current laws are quite different in Texas.

Texas doesn't even have a stop-and-identify law. Not only can you provide identity information verbally in Texas, as in most other states, you only have to provide it after you've been arrested.

So what IDE do you use for Python? I've used Eclipse and SPE with good success; we most frequently use Komodo at work. At PyCon last month, though, I won a 3-OS license for Wing, and have been really impressed at its introspection (much more challenging on a dynamic language than mere Java). Of course, it's not open source, but I'm not a purist.

nd I don't want to have to answer nine billion technical questions just to get it installed.

I'm sure someone can verify it, but I don't think Ubuntu asks more questions than XP. If you're a professional, you solve this problem by getting it preinstalled [dell.com].

I can. I can install the current Ubuntu in 3 questions flat: time zone, keyboard, and default or custom partitioning (or wubi if Windows is on the disk). I can even try the system before installing it, use the system while installing it, and keep using it after installing it - no reboots required.

With Windows, it's 9 questions and 2 reboots - and you get to watch a bunch of freaking ads while it installs. You can't try it before installing it. And you have the joy of typing in 40 random characters repeatedly until you get them right, to "prove" you're not a "pirate". Oh, and if you change the computer significantly, you get to call Microsoft and see if they'll let you keep using that copy, or make you buy another and start over. Hope you enjoyed it the first time.

No question - Ubuntu (and indeed, every mainstream Linux such as Fedora or Suse) is far easier to install than Windows.

But buy it pre-installed anyway. Nothing beats pre-installed for ease of installation. ;-)

I have been a Mac, a Microsoft AND and OS2. NEVER has customer service EVER helped with my problems.

In fairness to IBM (am I really posting this?), when I tried OS/2 Warp (was that version 2.0? they years they pass quickly), it worked great.

Except... about once a day, it would crash. Just crater big-time. No warning, no symptoms. Freeze.

I called IBM, and the nice technical rep spent a solid hour debugging my system. Not the usual script-reader ("Are you sure the power switch is on?") - we went through system logs, did various experiments, and swapped in and out drivers trying to find the cause.

It was almost like following an active thread in a good Linux forum... except the person worked for IBM, and we never did solve the problem. I was so impressed by the effort, though, that I refused the offered refund.

So your "collegue" is trying to drive a nail into an oak board using a Sears screwdriver - and complaining that a less expensive screwdriver from Walmart shatters when abused that way. Have either of you ever heard of a freaking hammer!

"How many times dijja have to tell ya - the right tool for the job, Laddie!" - Lt. Cmdr. Scott

Although you're speaking facetiously, I'll answer your question honestly.

1. Americans have experienced the severe negative effects of air pollution. It would be unkind not to warn the world's largest democracy to avoid our mistake.
2. Technology molds society. After 70 years, American society cannot simply "stop driving". It will take a generation or more to transform American society into something compatible with less personal transportation - like, say, virtual living.
3. Not everyone in this forum has "talked down" to the developing world. Of those who have, not all "drive big Ford trucks". I drive a small Ford economy car, and power my house with 100% wind energy. So do I have your permission to warn Indians of the risk they are facing, and how they might avoid the worst effects?

I understand the point you are intending, but consider whether your bashing 300,000,000 people with such a broad bat isn't the moral equivalent of those who "talk down" to the developing world.

This silly assertion deserves its own post. The short answer is because "We lived through it, we didn't read about it on some fantasy revisionist websites".

Here's what really happened.

In January 1980, when Reagan took office, inflation was 14%. A home mortgage at 20% was "normal" (this was a rate for someone with excellent credit). The budget deficit was running about 2% of the GDP - more than it should be, but not yet serious. And the prior president had blamed the American people for the "national malaise" that was perpetuating the crisis.

Reagan was re-elected by one of the largest landslides in history in 1984 because of the success of his policies - and very rapid success at that. In 1984, inflation was a mere 3%, interest rates on mortgages had dropped to around 12%, and the deficit had climbed to about 5% of GDP - a bit worrisome, but nothing like Obama's rapid increase from 6% to 9% already this year.

Reagan wasn't eligible for re-election in 1988, which was lucky for Bush I. By now, these "disastrous" policies (say you) had resulted in a 3% inflation rate, mortgage rates down to 7%, and the budget deficit had fallen to just 3% of the GDP.

By the time Clinton took office (which I'm guessing is when you started paying attention in real life), inflation had dropped to only 2.6%, mortgage rates were down to 5%, and the deficit was around 4%. The good news continued through Clinton's 2 very successful terms (ignoring that whole impeachment thing) - almost a 3% of GDP surplus (which regrettably we spent rather than use to pay down the debt), with stable inflation and interest rates similar to what was achieved by Reagan.

Claiming now, 30 years later, that Reagan was a "disaster" is so foolish on its face to anyone who enjoyed the "Reagan Revolution" that you'll have to excuse my laughter. You've experienced the Bush II economic disaster, and actually think Reagan must have been similar.

You simply have no idea what you're talking about.

Read it for yourself:

• Inflation Data
• Interest Rate Data
• Deficit Data

Your capacity to make excuses for any and all Democratic failings, including misquoting me repeatedly and "fixed that for you" childishness to avoid responding to points with an actual argument, and to even blame last week's retroactive tripling of the annual budget deficit (not "national debt") to over 1 trillion dollars on Republicans despite the Democrat's total domination of the national legislative and executive branch this year, should clue you in on how completely you've lost political perspective.

But I suspect it won't.

Perhaps with more schooling, you'll learn some critical thinking skills. Perhaps you'll realize that both the R's and D's are about acquiring and keeping power - which is why the current push for such a huge expansion of government power into the lives of Americans is such a real threat.

Until then, enjoy your hazy worship of all things D. Blaming R's can only last for a year or two (well, 30 and counting with you, but most Americans aren't nearly so brainwashed).

...and that Obama is proposing today, which is what started this fascinating discussion. Not so hypothetical. :-)

Excellent! I'll grant your strikes and addition of Nixon. So we've agreed the top three issues are split between a Democrat and two Republicans. And my point was that privacy violations is a bipartisan sport. I rest my case.