Morons to the Left, *nix to the right... CHARGE IT (Score 0)

*groan* I do not care how idealistic you are... you have to eat. You have to pay the bills. You have to keep a roof over your head. These 'idealists' got screwed because they let themselves get screwed. If an employer said "sorry, we are out of capital and reserve monies... we cannot pay you this week." I would be immediately out the door, with some of the companies property underarm in the value of my paycheck, and woe onto the management weenie that thinks they can stop me or tries to pick up the phone to use it against me. Hell, if they shorted me one day's pay I would be the same way. See, this is what scares me most about Linux. Loki, for all of it's 'good' intent in spurring on the Linux dev cycle and getting it into the hands of the average joe user (games/entertainment being one of the key points Linux just can't do right now for average joe at home) was a failure. You can point to the positives in their business model, but it was a failure. Now you have the biggest and brightest hope for Linux on the desktop dead. Without some viable, and quite public (not that Loki was that well known) push by Linux to actualy become as or more user friendly than MS desktop OS's (and even Mac OSs), you have just seen the digging of the linux hole that much deeper. People in the know will sneer and laugh, discounting Linux for home use for years to come, while those in the know miss out even more thanks to the failing sof Loki and how it let down a small, geeky community that is ardently committed to their hobbiest OS. This breeds hopelessness, which brings further fanatasicm and obscurity. You have a bunch of broke employees who have little future in the IT industry. These are people who failed to make software work on their platform... their careers and training are centered on Linux and games, and this combo does not work thanks to the grand demonstration that was Loki. Now they are broke, meaning they can't get decent retraining. Now they are broke, demonstrating a lack of certain intelligence and smarts. Now they are broke and show the world in some cases that they are dedicated, but most will regard them as fanatical hobbiest who stupidly supported a failed experiment. Now they are broke and hungry and no better for their time at Loki. You have numerous companies who are no-doubtedly out of large sums of monies thanks to Loki. This in itself is criminal, IMHO, and reflects bad on the Linux 'community'. No coming back easily from that if you are a future Linux related start up... it will effect your potential investors, suppliers, etc. Just another nail in the coffin of Linux and any other *nix at home. Sure, you hobbiests will use it at home, with it's limited and difficult interface/functionality... you are fanatics, what can be said. But, Linux at home as a movement and market force is dead today, and maybe forever given the hole Loki has dug you. *nix may survive and prosper even (as maybe it should) in the behind the scenes server market, all the little hobbiest server gnomes scurrying about in the darkened server rooms speaking their little geeky haxor k3rn4l language to each other (then again this image surely dooms them to obscurity and ignomanity that will certainly ensure the demise of the OS...). But, it will not step beyond the darkness of server havens and into the consumers' home PC... Loki saw to that.