Linux Zealots
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I quite often think of Linux zealots as somewhat like Mormons. The Mormons come knocking on my door at the most inconvenient times (usually Sunday morning when I have a raging hangover). Then they usually take the liberty of informing me “that its not to late to be saved.” It seems to me (being the ignorant oaf that I will undoubtedly be branded); that Linux zealots have an analogous fixation. They insist upon joining newsgroups and forums that they know are populated by those that frequently use Microsoft based technologies, and presume to tell everyone about how great open source is. Or how fantastically robust, and extensible the average Linux “distro” really is. Once upon a time I used to argue with these people and point out the many flaws in their arguments, but usually to no avail. It would undoubtedly descend into a slanging match and they would blindly repeat a mantra something along the lines of “Windows is inferior”. Put simply I realised that you cannot argue with fanatics. What none of these open source, Linux supporting, Billy G. hating, Linus acolytes seems to understand is that I don’t care! I don’t care “how many millions I stand to make once I turn to the light and embrace open-source software”. I don’t care that the “inherently evil Windows” empire dominates the world. I don’t care that I am missing out on the “next big thing”. I am comfortable with my set of skills and its domain, (for the most part C++ on windows platforms). I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the .NET development environment. I even appreciate the new look of Windows XP. *GASP* I don’t want to see the light. If that means I go straight to hell with Bill Gates and crew, when the toil of Linus finally comes to fruition then so be it. All I ask is that you take your fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause your're cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! ;P Matt ------ Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
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I quite often think of Linux zealots as somewhat like Mormons. The Mormons come knocking on my door at the most inconvenient times (usually Sunday morning when I have a raging hangover). Then they usually take the liberty of informing me “that its not to late to be saved.” It seems to me (being the ignorant oaf that I will undoubtedly be branded); that Linux zealots have an analogous fixation. They insist upon joining newsgroups and forums that they know are populated by those that frequently use Microsoft based technologies, and presume to tell everyone about how great open source is. Or how fantastically robust, and extensible the average Linux “distro” really is. Once upon a time I used to argue with these people and point out the many flaws in their arguments, but usually to no avail. It would undoubtedly descend into a slanging match and they would blindly repeat a mantra something along the lines of “Windows is inferior”. Put simply I realised that you cannot argue with fanatics. What none of these open source, Linux supporting, Billy G. hating, Linus acolytes seems to understand is that I don’t care! I don’t care “how many millions I stand to make once I turn to the light and embrace open-source software”. I don’t care that the “inherently evil Windows” empire dominates the world. I don’t care that I am missing out on the “next big thing”. I am comfortable with my set of skills and its domain, (for the most part C++ on windows platforms). I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the .NET development environment. I even appreciate the new look of Windows XP. *GASP* I don’t want to see the light. If that means I go straight to hell with Bill Gates and crew, when the toil of Linus finally comes to fruition then so be it. All I ask is that you take your fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause your're cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! ;P Matt ------ Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
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I quite often think of Linux zealots as somewhat like Mormons. The Mormons come knocking on my door at the most inconvenient times (usually Sunday morning when I have a raging hangover). Then they usually take the liberty of informing me “that its not to late to be saved.” It seems to me (being the ignorant oaf that I will undoubtedly be branded); that Linux zealots have an analogous fixation. They insist upon joining newsgroups and forums that they know are populated by those that frequently use Microsoft based technologies, and presume to tell everyone about how great open source is. Or how fantastically robust, and extensible the average Linux “distro” really is. Once upon a time I used to argue with these people and point out the many flaws in their arguments, but usually to no avail. It would undoubtedly descend into a slanging match and they would blindly repeat a mantra something along the lines of “Windows is inferior”. Put simply I realised that you cannot argue with fanatics. What none of these open source, Linux supporting, Billy G. hating, Linus acolytes seems to understand is that I don’t care! I don’t care “how many millions I stand to make once I turn to the light and embrace open-source software”. I don’t care that the “inherently evil Windows” empire dominates the world. I don’t care that I am missing out on the “next big thing”. I am comfortable with my set of skills and its domain, (for the most part C++ on windows platforms). I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the .NET development environment. I even appreciate the new look of Windows XP. *GASP* I don’t want to see the light. If that means I go straight to hell with Bill Gates and crew, when the toil of Linus finally comes to fruition then so be it. All I ask is that you take your fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause your're cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! ;P Matt ------ Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
All I ask is take you fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause you cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! You'll notice I only start these topics during the weekend, so as not to disrupt the normal use of the lounge during the week. But that asside, I actually think it's quite important that we argue about these things, as they inevitably bring out facts and opinions that we would otherise not come accross. Besides which, if you start a thread like the ones weve seen the past day or two somewhere appropriate (like Slashdot"), they will either majically disappear if they ahve any real weight to them, or they will be voted so low as to effectively disappear anyway. It's a loose loose situation. David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
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You sound like a pretty good fanatic yourself. Eg. "I don’t care...", "I don’t want to see the light", "If that means I go straight to hell (...) so be it". Both Unix and Windows zealots are equally blind even to notice their fanatism.
I don't think Windows has so many zealots. Zealots are produced generally by the losing team, people using a successful platofrm ( for example ) have no insecurity to cover up with excessive blind zeal. I *know* Windows has problems, but I doubt that Linux is close to the panacea it is presented as, especially if I want to a/ find the software I need and b/ make money writing it. Besides, I remember being an Amiga zealot, so I know what it's like... Christian As I learn the innermost secrets of the around me, they reward me in many ways to keep quiet. Men with pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought Jewellery.
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I don't think Windows has so many zealots. Zealots are produced generally by the losing team, people using a successful platofrm ( for example ) have no insecurity to cover up with excessive blind zeal. I *know* Windows has problems, but I doubt that Linux is close to the panacea it is presented as, especially if I want to a/ find the software I need and b/ make money writing it. Besides, I remember being an Amiga zealot, so I know what it's like... Christian As I learn the innermost secrets of the around me, they reward me in many ways to keep quiet. Men with pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought Jewellery.
>I don't think Windows has so many zealots. Could be, that is why I am not trying to generalize and simply reply to the post instead of using a "group responsibilty" tactics. In fact, Unix/Linux doesn't have that many zealots either - it's just that zealots tend to make a lot of noise around them so they are showing somehow more than other, "normal" and greater part of the population. I notice that Unix developers tend to look at windows crowd the way a C++ programmer looks at VB programmer. They know they are working on the superior platform, even if they are out-numbered by "unwashed masses". ;)
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I quite often think of Linux zealots as somewhat like Mormons. The Mormons come knocking on my door at the most inconvenient times (usually Sunday morning when I have a raging hangover). Then they usually take the liberty of informing me “that its not to late to be saved.” It seems to me (being the ignorant oaf that I will undoubtedly be branded); that Linux zealots have an analogous fixation. They insist upon joining newsgroups and forums that they know are populated by those that frequently use Microsoft based technologies, and presume to tell everyone about how great open source is. Or how fantastically robust, and extensible the average Linux “distro” really is. Once upon a time I used to argue with these people and point out the many flaws in their arguments, but usually to no avail. It would undoubtedly descend into a slanging match and they would blindly repeat a mantra something along the lines of “Windows is inferior”. Put simply I realised that you cannot argue with fanatics. What none of these open source, Linux supporting, Billy G. hating, Linus acolytes seems to understand is that I don’t care! I don’t care “how many millions I stand to make once I turn to the light and embrace open-source software”. I don’t care that the “inherently evil Windows” empire dominates the world. I don’t care that I am missing out on the “next big thing”. I am comfortable with my set of skills and its domain, (for the most part C++ on windows platforms). I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the .NET development environment. I even appreciate the new look of Windows XP. *GASP* I don’t want to see the light. If that means I go straight to hell with Bill Gates and crew, when the toil of Linus finally comes to fruition then so be it. All I ask is that you take your fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause your're cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! ;P Matt ------ Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
You know calling them names isn't a good way to keep them quiet. Fact of the matter is we need both OS's. Each can do certain things better than the other.
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I quite often think of Linux zealots as somewhat like Mormons. The Mormons come knocking on my door at the most inconvenient times (usually Sunday morning when I have a raging hangover). Then they usually take the liberty of informing me “that its not to late to be saved.” It seems to me (being the ignorant oaf that I will undoubtedly be branded); that Linux zealots have an analogous fixation. They insist upon joining newsgroups and forums that they know are populated by those that frequently use Microsoft based technologies, and presume to tell everyone about how great open source is. Or how fantastically robust, and extensible the average Linux “distro” really is. Once upon a time I used to argue with these people and point out the many flaws in their arguments, but usually to no avail. It would undoubtedly descend into a slanging match and they would blindly repeat a mantra something along the lines of “Windows is inferior”. Put simply I realised that you cannot argue with fanatics. What none of these open source, Linux supporting, Billy G. hating, Linus acolytes seems to understand is that I don’t care! I don’t care “how many millions I stand to make once I turn to the light and embrace open-source software”. I don’t care that the “inherently evil Windows” empire dominates the world. I don’t care that I am missing out on the “next big thing”. I am comfortable with my set of skills and its domain, (for the most part C++ on windows platforms). I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the .NET development environment. I even appreciate the new look of Windows XP. *GASP* I don’t want to see the light. If that means I go straight to hell with Bill Gates and crew, when the toil of Linus finally comes to fruition then so be it. All I ask is that you take your fanatical views to a place where somebody cares, ‘cause your're cluttering up the forum with the blabbering! ;P Matt ------ Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
...but otherwise I agree with you 100%. Once I sent a message to a linux forum, claiming that Windows 2000 is a better OS than Linux. The day after, there was a ton of angry messages, the most polite: "You are a complete idiot". Now, I can understand that people who invested 5 years of their lives learning vi, emacs X| , grep X| , awk X| , makefile X| , and similar "powerful" tools, would not like to admit that all that time and effort was for nothing. But claiming that Linux is superior platform than Windows 2k can only make me laugh ;P ;P ;P ;P ;P I vote pro drink :beer:
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I don't think Windows has so many zealots. Zealots are produced generally by the losing team, people using a successful platofrm ( for example ) have no insecurity to cover up with excessive blind zeal. I *know* Windows has problems, but I doubt that Linux is close to the panacea it is presented as, especially if I want to a/ find the software I need and b/ make money writing it. Besides, I remember being an Amiga zealot, so I know what it's like... Christian As I learn the innermost secrets of the around me, they reward me in many ways to keep quiet. Men with pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought Jewellery.
An Amiga Zealot? And also a Pentecostal zealot? Christian, you need to listen to less Bon Jovi!
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An Amiga Zealot? And also a Pentecostal zealot? Christian, you need to listen to less Bon Jovi!
*grin* Now THAT'S funny. You're saying that Bon Jovi was the start of my road to ruin ? ;) Christian As I learn the innermost secrets of the around me, they reward me in many ways to keep quiet. Men with pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought Jewellery.
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...but otherwise I agree with you 100%. Once I sent a message to a linux forum, claiming that Windows 2000 is a better OS than Linux. The day after, there was a ton of angry messages, the most polite: "You are a complete idiot". Now, I can understand that people who invested 5 years of their lives learning vi, emacs X| , grep X| , awk X| , makefile X| , and similar "powerful" tools, would not like to admit that all that time and effort was for nothing. But claiming that Linux is superior platform than Windows 2k can only make me laugh ;P ;P ;P ;P ;P I vote pro drink :beer:
Maybe they look down on you because they know that they can do all the crap you can and additionally they can work confortably with those "powerfull tools"? Personally, I think that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, they certainly learned much more than just the vi keystrokes along they way during the 5 years. Knowledge is power. Any knowledge. Learn anything you can, that can only make you smarter. Also, worth to note that vi is a way better tool than it's windows counterpart notepad. Emacs beats notepad to death. Also, from the OS point of view, Linux IS superior. For example it's got 64 bits support for some time now while Windows 2k is not, and even Win XP is only "partially" 64 bits. Not to mention that as usual a lot of that 64 bit support on windows is actually a 32 bit (just like before 16 bits laying around Win32 in various places).
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Maybe they look down on you because they know that they can do all the crap you can and additionally they can work confortably with those "powerfull tools"? Personally, I think that ignorance is nothing to be proud of, they certainly learned much more than just the vi keystrokes along they way during the 5 years. Knowledge is power. Any knowledge. Learn anything you can, that can only make you smarter. Also, worth to note that vi is a way better tool than it's windows counterpart notepad. Emacs beats notepad to death. Also, from the OS point of view, Linux IS superior. For example it's got 64 bits support for some time now while Windows 2k is not, and even Win XP is only "partially" 64 bits. Not to mention that as usual a lot of that 64 bit support on windows is actually a 32 bit (just like before 16 bits laying around Win32 in various places).
Personally, I wouldn't use notepad to judge an OS by. It just isn't representative of the rest of the OS. Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
(andy.metcalfe@lineone.net)
http://www.resorg.co.uk"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."
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Personally, I wouldn't use notepad to judge an OS by. It just isn't representative of the rest of the OS. Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
(andy.metcalfe@lineone.net)
http://www.resorg.co.uk"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down."
True, however it's a good example of what you can expect. Did you notice that notepad has a problems opening files bigger than 64kB on all of Win9x OSes? Also, it took them up until w2k to add a Ctrl+S and other standard shortcuts. It actually gives a good picture of the whole lot... ;)
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True, however it's a good example of what you can expect. Did you notice that notepad has a problems opening files bigger than 64kB on all of Win9x OSes? Also, it took them up until w2k to add a Ctrl+S and other standard shortcuts. It actually gives a good picture of the whole lot... ;)
I have to say I don't agree. I do think however that simple apps like notepad are very likely to benefit from the Open Source treatment. After all, anyone can write one (and many do - there are at least 2 notepad replacements available as samples on the Visual C++ CD-ROM for a start...). And yep, I know about the 64k limit. That was something that made me mad for a while... In other areas of the OS such as the UI, I don't believe that such collaborative development is going to produce results as well or quickly as the incentive of huge profits from ripping off the customer (don't get me started on that. We'll be here all week :mad: ) Whether we love them or hate them, Microsoft do know where they want to get and are good at getting there. Others (IBM and Sun spring to mind) are or have been equally aggressive. They just didn't stay the course (and I have to say I'm rather glad about that). Personally, I always liked Digital Research... ;) Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd
(andy.metcalfe@lineone.net)
http://www.resorg.co.uk"Be yourself, not what others want you to be."