I admit, I troll the front page quite a bit. I'm always curious how people with deep beliefs react in an essentially anonymous forum with community based censorship. I don't feel bad for doing it - the way I see it, if nothing else I'm sharpening people's arguments.

So, for the sake of having this on record, I'm going to list my honest opinions on some of Slashdot's favorite topics.

Microsoft
A strong business. Very competitive, beyond what most companies even now seem to expect. Not so hot in the software department, at least from a technical point of view. From a business point of view, master of the "good enough" school of thought. Probably in for bad times if and when Bill Gates steps down - no one else has the right feel for what he's built.

The jokes are old. Seriously. At least come up with something new. Calling Ballmer a chair-throwing monkey for the sixteen millionth time just isn't cutting it. Spelling it M$ never cut it.

Linux
A decent OS. It had problems that kept me from using it early on, but that's pretty much licked now. My prediction (based on nothing concrete, but I have a good track record in these matters) is that it will be the dominant desktop in 8 years. It's there from both technical and usability standpoints. All that's left is marketing it to people. Too bad that the part the community finds distasteful. It will happen, though. The advantages are too strong.

RMS
I admit it, the man is a genius. He's a little extreme for my taste, but he's committed to his cause so that's forgivable. In my opinion, history will hold him in higher regard than anyone else computer related, because the GNU project and its associated offspring will be the foundation for all software in the future. Yes, I truly believe that. Software is the first human product that evolves over long periods of time in a continuing fashion, and the GPL is what makes that possible.

Apple
Great technology, so long as you want to do what Apple decided you could do. Great design, period. They make prettier devices than anyone on the planet. I don't like the cult that surrounds the company. When Steve Jobs steps down/dies, the company is fucked. Ultimately, they will be a footnote, but their influence will live on forever.

RIAA
A dying relic. In 10 years they'll be gone, replaced with nothing. The Internet will allow artists to self-publish, and the labels comprising the RIAA will fade.

MPAA
An entity under siege, unfairly lumped in with the RIAA. Face it, everyone likes movies. Even the people who complain that nothing good is made anymore. Movies cost a lot to make. They will continue to cost a lot to make, and frankly, the profits of the studios aren't all that obscene anyway. They will fight piracy forever, probably unsuccessfully, because people will always want something for nothing.

Pirates
Okay, I really think these people are mostly dirtbags. Sure, it's awful you have to pay for music. Christ, why do you have a right to be entertained? I'm not trolling about this one, it baffles me. Just because you aren't stealing doesn't mean you aren't doing something wrong. You can realize this about yourself (if you pirate) by how twisted the logic in your justifications gets. My current favorite: The formats made available aren't convenient for me.

There is an interesting sense of entitlement that seems to run through people's desire to be entertained. A surprising amount of mental energy is devoted to creating and maintaining elaborate threads of thought to justify piracy of copyrighted content, be it movies, music, or game software. Most of these justifications rely on the basis that if the company won't make something available in the way a consumer wants, then they have every reason to take the content under their own terms (which surprisingly never involve paying anybody for what is taken.)

My question is this: what developed this sense of entitlement? Why do people believe they have a right to be entertained, on their own terms nonetheless? This mindset is completely foreign to me, so any insight that could be lent is appreciated.

There, I just wasted some bandwidth. Die, bits, die.

Wow, reading these comments makes me realize why no one likes nerds. I've said it before, but good god - you people have all the social graces of a frightened skunk on LSD. Check yourself and see - do you snort-laugh while you touch your face in some awkward manner? I bet you do.

And what passes for jokes around here - fuck does it hurt my head. I guess peer acceptance is still a huge driving factor, even for people that intellectually know they'll never achieve it.

I only come here to see the dipshitathon in liberal land. I always thought it was just stereotyping - surely not all liberals are utterly clueless dumbfucks who are out to bind their groupthink tighter and tighter through a solid regime of pseudo-intellectual false self superiority, said I. I was wrong. They are, and they've got the mod points to prove it.

Oh well, the bitchfighting is fun to watch.

Watch Arrested Development.