It's an idealistic rant, and as with most idealistic rants you should listen, remember a few points, and then go back to what you were doing. If you get all nutty and won't touch anything but Linux, for example, then you're just hurting yourself. Look at it this way, over 50% of homes in the United States (don't know about other countries) now have PCs, and 95+ percent of them are running Windows. That's a big, big, big market. Getting all high and mighty doesn't make that go away.
"Getting all high and mighty doesn't make that go away."
No, but sticking to one's principles does. Imagine all the things down through history (including OSS) that would have never happened, if they had all said: "The majority is too powerful, let's give up"?
Progress is as much an excercise in overcoming social inertia as it is in solving technical problems.
No, but sticking to one's principles does. Imagine all the things down through history (including OSS) that would have never happened, if they had all said: "The majority is too powerful, let's give up"?
But we're essentially talking about _operating systems_, something that geeks get all hot about but no one else cares. And it isn't even all that easy to explain to someone--even a technical someone--why Linux is "superior" to Windows. Many, many intelligent programmers use Windows for software development, not because they have to, but because they prefer it. So what it all comes down to is that "principles" in this case are pretty thin, like "Which is better, Buffy or X-Files?"
Most people don't care what operating system they're using. They care that they can edit photos or play games or write books or whatever.
No body cares, but I feel it is my job to enlighten them and make them care.
I am what you would call Microsoft worst nightmare simply because I show people the alternative which often impresses them.
Just the other day I bought my aunt a PC prepackaged with Lindows and she was pretty excited about it. Showed here the basics and she was off and running.
The world doesn't change overnight...it changes once person at a time.
Some people are talking about operating systems, true.
Others, however, are talking about the illegitimacy of intellectual property. That's what free software is all about, when it comes down to it. Yes, it's a vapid gesture to "stick to your guns" when the "holy war" is about *operating systems.* But, it isn't.
X-Files just throws together all the weird shit that Chris Carter can think of to make a big pile of random crap. It doesn't tell us anything about life, other than that science is wrong, a decidedly dubious message.
Buffy, on the hand, carefully uses weird shit in a humorus and satirical way. It has the best script of any TV show, strong metaphors for American life, and a pretty interesting message about the nature of good and evil.
I, for example, still use win2k for my desktop. I also use it for a proxy just because the free proxomitron is so easy to use, flexible, and adds many useful features without requiring me to read a fucking tome on squid or some such.
On my desktop I use mozilla for browsing the web, zoom player for videos, winamp for music, irfanview for pictures and flash movies, mozilla (again) for mail, Agent and powergrab for newsgroups, and PGP disk to keep it all together and organized (rather than use "partitions" fo
Unix is the worst operating system; except for all others.
-- Berry Kercheval
Don't take it too seriously (Score:5, Insightful)
Minority waves a white flag. (Score:0)
No, but sticking to one's principles does. Imagine all the things down through history (including OSS) that would have never happened, if they had all said: "The majority is too powerful, let's give up"?
Progress is as much an excercise in overcoming social inertia as it is in solving technical problems.
Re:Minority waves a white flag. (Score:5, Insightful)
But we're essentially talking about _operating systems_, something that geeks get all hot about but no one else cares. And it isn't even all that easy to explain to someone--even a technical someone--why Linux is "superior" to Windows. Many, many intelligent programmers use Windows for software development, not because they have to, but because they prefer it. So what it all comes down to is that "principles" in this case are pretty thin, like "Which is better, Buffy or X-Files?"
Most people don't care what operating system they're using. They care that they can edit photos or play games or write books or whatever.
Re:Minority waves a white flag. (Score:3, Interesting)
I am what you would call Microsoft worst nightmare simply because I show people the alternative which often impresses them.
Just the other day I bought my aunt a PC prepackaged with Lindows and she was pretty excited about it. Showed here the basics and she was off and running.
The world doesn't change overnight...it changes once person at a time.
Re:Minority waves a white flag. (Score:0)
Re:Minority waves a white flag. (Score:2)
Actually, I have my parents living in the depth of MY basement.
Point is, I have minions at my command and those minions are very obedient since they don't even know what the hell a desktop is.
Re:Minority waves a white flag. (Score:0)
Not about technology; about liberty. (Score:0)
Others, however, are talking about the illegitimacy of intellectual property. That's what free software is all about, when it comes down to it. Yes, it's a vapid gesture to "stick to your guns" when the "holy war" is about *operating systems.* But, it isn't.
Buffy is better than X-Files (Score:0)
Buffy, on the hand, carefully uses weird shit in a humorus and satirical way. It has the best script of any TV show, strong metaphors for American life, and a pretty interesting message about the nature of good and evil.
I find you ideas fascinating, and I'd like (Score:-1)
Exactly (Score:2)
On my desktop I use mozilla for browsing the web, zoom player for videos, winamp for music, irfanview for pictures and flash movies, mozilla (again) for mail, Agent and powergrab for newsgroups, and PGP disk to keep it all together and organized (rather than use "partitions" fo