Verily I say unto thee, that The Ghost In The Machine spake thusly:
> Some of these prejudices are fairly obvious.
>
> [1] Arcanity. Linux is characterized by some as being abstruse,
> arcane, requiring typing in of very odd command sequences that look
> like chicken scratchings.
Arcane?
Like the requirement to use floppy disks to install RAID adaptor drivers
during Windows setup? Then having to go out and *buy* a FDD because you
haven't even seen one in years, much less used one.
Or having a 10 user connection limit?
Or having to resort to something even more basic than BusyBox (recovery
console) to repair a corrupt configuration file (Registry)?
Or still not having an (official) LiveCD for Windows?
> [2] Slow. For various reasons some think other solutions are faster.
Like taking literally centuries to copy a file?:
http://techxpress.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/vista-slow-file-copydeletemove-vista-the-woe-starts-now/
Or the system being reduced to a crawl because of anti-virus during
start up?
Or having a scheduler that can't deal with playing music and copying
files over the network at the same time?
> [3] Lacking in applications.
I'll console myself with the meagre 20,000 applications I have available
for Fedora.
> [4] Cannot support devices.
Wait a minute, is this Linux or Vista we're talking about?
> [5] Cannot support users.
I hear Microsoft takes ten years to answer support calls ;)
Seriously, people pay for Windows support because that is the only
support route they have. When you have access to the source, the only
support you need is a Web browser.
> [6] Is not as good as that other solution.
A.k.a. Fanboyism.
Yes, I remember what that was like, after all I used to be a die-hard
Amigan, and they don't come much more fanatical than that. And the Amiga
was a *proprietary* system after all, so yes I can understand people who
evangelise proprietary systems. However, Commodore may have been called
many things, but I don't think "evil" was ever one of them. So I suppose
that my disbelief, that anyone could support Microsoft, is based less on
their proprietary-ism, and more on their corruption.
So, can a Linux advocate be a "fanboy"?
Hmm. A "fan" of *whom*?
I'm not really a fan of Linus, although I obviously appreciate his work.
I *am* a fan of Stallman, but then I don't strictly think of the FSF
every time I write/use a piece of GNU/Linux software. I am a fan of Red
Hat, and more recently Fedora. Well their you go then, I must be a Red
Hat fanboy ... except that I also like Debian, Slackware, Mandriva,
ELive, Sabayon, DSL, and LFS. A true fanboy would never be so disloyal.
How about the GPL? Well yes, I am kind of a GPL fanboy, except IMHO it
doesn't really go far enough (although GPLv3 is a slight improvement). I
suppose the only thing I am really a "fan" of is Freedom, but since
Freedom is neither a platform, a hardware architecture, nor a company, I
don't really think the term "fanboy" is applicable. Can one who merely
follows a political ideal, be accurately referred to as a "fanboy"?
> Make of all this what one will, but Wintrools come by often.
Yes, but why? Is it because:
. They're lonely, and want someone to talk to?
. They become disenchanted with Windows, but are reluctant to admit it?
. They've been hired by Microsoft to sabotage the group?
. They're scared that GNU/Linux might destroy their future employment?
. They are just naturally disruptive anarchist, without a cause?
. They are all escapees from a mental asylum?
. They are part of a right-wing conspiracy, fighting Unamericanism?
. They are part of a religious cult who worship Ballmer the Impaler?
. All of the above?
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to
| make sure that you don't make any money, either." - Bob Cringely.
| - http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
22:17:00 up 26 days, 19:52, 3 users, load average: 0.09, 0.13, 0.09
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