by Tom Duffy
I would like to start by saying that I have made a lot of posts in the past that rip on Windows and M$ products. That being said, my perspective has started to change in regards to this. I personally prefer Linux and BSD over Windows or OSX (yes, I know that OSX is based on BSD), but that doesn’t make Linux and BSD BETTER. If you are a reader of my blog then you no doubt understand that I LOVE Linux and that I LOVE freedom. But what exactly is freedom? To me, freedom is the ability to make choices. If nothing were left but Linux, would we truly be free?
I feel very strongly that M$ products serve a very important role in today’s society. Businesses all over the world would stop working if they suddenly didn’t have Windows. Graphic designers who depend on Photoshop and Illustrator wouldn’t be able to do their jobs without OSX or Windows. I know that these apps can run under Wine, but let’s face it, they don’t run very well!
The role that Linux is currently playing is the right role. A combination of geeks, programmers, scientists, thrifty students, and adventurous folks all get to enjoy Linux. Do I think that Linux will one day rise above M$ in market share? Probably not. But the point is that we have a variety of choices! This is what freedom is all about. My drive in the past years has been to tell everyone I know that Linux is better. Not anymore. I feel I’m doing the Linux community a disservice by doing that. My new drive is to tell everyone I know that there are options. Choices to make. “Sure, you are using Windows now, but have you checked out Fedora?” Or the flip side of that, “Well, if you are having so much trouble playing games under Ubuntu, have you tried other distros? If you’ve tried other distros and you are still unhappy, maybe you should try Windows!”
This new mentality seems fresher to me. Gone are the days of Linux fanboy. Let’s be critical thinkers here! If everyone I know started using Linux, a LOT of them would have trouble and would be very confused. The fanboy mentality often makes the Linux community seem immature, egotistical, elitist, and annoying. As Linux users we should merely SUGGEST the option of Linux rather than “Preach the Gospel of Linux”. So let’s go out there and raise awareness of the choices that we have in this technological society! Open mindedness is essential to any campaign to raise awareness. And here’s an idea…Let’s learn everything we can about Windows so that when we come across someone who’s struggling with Linux, we can offer the choice of Windows!
“There is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt to investigation.”
-Herbert Spencer
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