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From: ericm@kirk.ee.mcgill.ca (Eric Masson)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Date: 17 Jan 1995 10:44:10 -0500
Organization: McGill University - MACS Laboratory, Montreal, CANADA.
Lines: 50
Message-ID: <3fgoka$irk@kirk.ee.mcgill.ca>
References: <950116203411@lambada> <3fgihv$ob4@dagny.galt.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: kirk.ee.mcgill.ca

In article <3fgihv$ob4@dagny.galt.com>,
alex wetmore <alex@pc.cc.cmu.edu> wrote:
>I'd agree with this.  Like Amiga users there are some Linux users who are
>so excited about Linux for some reason that they fail to see anything
>else in the world.  They tend to say that Linux is the solution to everything
>when it really isn't the solution to a lot of things.  Amiga users
>tend to be exactly the same way.

I've used Macs, Apples II's, PETs, VIC20, Amigas, DOS, Windows, C64s, etc.
and you find people like that in all user bases. They are usually guided by
the fear of having to learn yet another system after having spent 
considerable time becoming a semi-expert on their OS of choice. They are
interesting to listen to because they know exactly all the pros of their
operating systems and the worst cons of others.  The truth is that most
companies must catch up with the others' technology if they want to survive
and thus in the end you can always stick with a single companies product
unless it goes bankrupt. 

But Linux and Amigas users are not King of the Hill in this respect. 
They are just labelled as heretics because their numbers are seen as
insignificant. Their pros are much  ore solid than some of the other OSs.
If you want widespread arrogance then go and look at DOS users. They
were the ones chanting "who needs multitasking?", "who needs color?", etc.
when their OS did not provide such features. It is so widespread that 
most of the PC industry's magazines have become nterily subjective.
PC magazine is now a joke. Do you remember that issue where they compared
DOS to just about everything else available ? What a joke... the Mac
was long in the tooth (when the PC still can't do all it does), the
Suns where Pizza Boxes, etc. Even Byte magazine, the once multiplatform 
magazine, has now become PC oriented to the core.  DOS finds its strength
in numbers. If more people would have jumped off the PC bandwagon for the
more evolved OS then I am convinced that would be using superior products
today. DOS in my view is equivalent to the middle ages in Europe: it kept
us in the darkness.

As for Mac users they also have religious fervor when they defend their OS. 
I've rarely managed to convince a Mac fan of anything despite seeing them go
through repeated crashes of their OS. At least Amiga and Linux users are
very likely to have tried other OSes before they start making comparisons.
With PC and Mac users they rarely step on the other side to see the
difference.

Salut,

Eric

-- 
=================================================================
  Eric Masson - ericm@finnegan.ee.mcgill.ca - FAX: 514 398 4470
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