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RE: Linux users who like Wiindows (was: Drafts and the larger leadershippicture)
Subject:RE: Linux users who like Wiindows (was: Drafts and the larger leadershippicture) From:"Gilger.John" <JGilger -at- acresgaming -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 27 Sep 2002 11:32:54 -0700
Well said, Bruce :)
When it comes to Windows, I prefer brand X ;)
John
-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Byfield [mailto:bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com]
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 11:19 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: TECHWR-L
Subject: Linux users who like Wiindows (was: Drafts and the larger
leadershippicture)
Andrew Plato wrote:
> Yeah, you're looking for la la land, that's two lights down past world peace and
> Linux users who like Windows.
Joke received.
However, since lack of an understanding of geek culture is a major
problem among tech-writers, I'd like to take the last five words
seriously for a moment.
Briefly, they're based on a widespread misunderstanding.Yes, there are
some Linux users who are rabidly anti-Microsoft. However, this group is
a minority, and many of its members aren't old enough to vote.
The majority of Linux users fall into one of several camps.
The first camp is the free software advocates, who are against any
proprietary software and won't use it, no matter whether the
manufacturer is Microsoft, Adobe, or anyone else.This group is probably
the smallest of the three.
The second camp is the open source advocates.This group uses Linux
because of its stability, and the belief that open source software is of
higher quality, has fewer bugs,and develops quicker than proprietary
software. This group may use proprietary software if no other tool is
available. For example, Linus Torvalds, for whom Linux is named, insists
on using a piece of proprietary software for kernel development (and has
come under attack for it).
The third camp consists of people who simply want to try something new.
This group has no strong feelings about Windows or any other
proprietary software one way or the other. This group is probably the
largest of the three, although the second is probably a close second.
I've listed these groups in order of their acceptence of proprietary
software in general and of Microsoft in particular. However, even the
free software advocates don't spend a lot of time thinking about
Windows. For many of them, Windows is mostly irrelevant. They may worry
about some of Microsoft's manoeuvers in the marketplace, and the second
and third group may keep Windows around to run an occasional program,
but that's about it.
For example, practically speaking I am in the second camp, although I
have strong philosophical sympathies with the first camp. Although I've
logged over forty hours on the computer this week, I haven't booted
Windows once.I think it's been about ten days since I used Windows at
all. In fact,these days, the only time I use Windows is when I need to
use FrameMaker, or when I want to play certain games (something I rarely
have time for anyway). Otherwise, I could live quite happily without it.
Windows just isn't a big part of my life, and I don't waste time
demonizing Bill Gates or Microsoft. Like any other computer user, I'm
just getting on with what I have to do.In this way, I'm fairly typical
of most Linux users.
"Looking back at the long years
All that happened this way and that
I think I liked most the rice and the salt."
- Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Years of Rice and Salt"
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