How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

[olembe]

Slightly off-topic, but I just wanted to share a blog post about switching to Kubuntu and changing razor at the same time, and what I learnt from both.

It's only a short article

[lmilano]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

Hi,

Thanks for the post. My overall reaction is of disagreement (not that I think you are wrong, but that we have different opinions).

First: to me, Linux is about Free as in Libre, not Free as in Beer.

Second: my discontent with MS isn't technical, but philosophical. And again, it has to do with them locking me out of my hardware, getting between me and my freedom. And monopolistic commercial practices that I profoundly dislike.

Having said that, I am not sure Windows is good enough for most people. Most people I know lose all their emails every 2 years, they get viruses and need to restart from scratch every once in a while and what not. But hey, that's not my problem, I am happy with my Kubuntu. I'll gladly lend a hand if they want to come to the freedom side and I have a little time to spare, but it's up to them.

Anyway, thanks for the good read! Cheers!

[olembe]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

Thanks for those interesting thoughts. I did think about exploring the other side of 'freedom' - I can sharpen the blade how I like, etc., without some corporation deciding for me how it should be sharpened - but thought that might be going too far!

As for the 'good enough', I think we probably have to say that losing all your emails every 2 years and putting up with the risk of viruses probably is 'good enough' for most people: just look at how happy they are to tolerate it. You could possibly argue that many people view these as acceptable prices to pay for the high level of support they get with Windows, and the freedom from having to learn something new.

[aged hippy]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

Losing all my emails isn't good enough for me, Tbird keeps a copy on the HD and Gmail keeps a copy on its server. :P

[olembe]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

And that's why you're on a Kubuntu forum, whereas most people aren't!

[aged hippy]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

And that's why you're on a Kubuntu forum, whereas most people aren't!

8)

[lmilano]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

And that's why you're on a Kubuntu forum, whereas most people aren't!

Well, no, this argument is fallacious IMHO. MS started a monopoly by exerting illegal and illegitimate corporate practices, and as a result when you buy a personal computer it "comes with windows", you don't decide to use it.

Of course, one can say that most users are not bothered enough to install something else although excellent alternatives are available for free, as you correctly mentioned in your article, but this does not mean that "Windows is good enough" IMHO. It rather means "It's not bad enough", not a compliment to anyone if you ask me

[olembe]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

Ah, I'll happily concede that that is an equally valid interpretation!

[lmilano]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

I think you pinned it down. The fact is one and irrefutable: Windows users tend to keep Windows in the machines they buy. The rest, as you rightly say, is interpretation.

There was something that bothered me a bit while reading your article, and now I realized what it was. It is the fact that it's not clear in the article that people don't choose windows. They get windows as a necessary attachment to the hardware they buy. Then, they decide to keep it

One more thing: we are missing here a LARGE majority who would never install _any_ operating system on their own hardware (out of being scared, not tech savvy, etc). That's what makes me incline for my interpretation: any preinstalled OS would need to be incredibly, unimaginably bad for most users to bother changing it, IMHO. Again, that's my belief based on the people I know

I guess I am chatty today! Thanks for stirring up an interesting conversation!

[GreyGeek]

Re: How changing razor made me appreciate Microsoft more...

And it was just the same with the operating system. It was only after switching to Linux, and seeing just how difficult it is for the people who write an operating system to make it work with the thousands of different computers that exist, that I realized just what a clever job the folks at Apple and - particularly - Microsoft have done. Windows isn't perfect. It doesn't shave as close as Linux, to push the metaphor too far, but it does a really quite impressive job, considering. It works just fine for a lot of people. There are better things out there, but why would most people need to look for them?

The big problem with this "metaphor" is that most folks don't realize that Microsoft has throttled most of the PC peripheral manufacturers into keeping their specs secret so that only Microsoft has the "inside" information to make their code work perfectly with the sound card, or video card, or what ever. Linux kernel and other coders have to reverse engineer the device and then test, test, test (thank goodness for all the Penguin volunteers who help out!) Some, like Intel, release a Linux driver, but not the specs to the Linux developers. And, when a PC OEM adds an Intel chip to their mobo they may implement the electronics slightly different so that the Linux driver will work better with one PC but not another. So, when a problem with a particular machine arises with a Linux user that user has to post a bug report detailing the problem to the xorg bugzilla. Then it may be 6 months or more before a developer figures out a fix and more months before it filters down to the user. This isn't the fault of Linux, it is the result of a corrupt market and legal system.

And while Apple's OS X only runs on Apple hardware, and Windows only runs on the x86, netbooks, and cellphones, Linux operates on all those platforms plus a dozen more.

The other thing that "metaphor" didn't mention is that the Windows "Safety" razer isn't safe at all. While a safety razor may make the process of shaving easier and safer than a straight edge, Linux isn't a straight edge. It is the TRUE safety razor because it is hygienically made (Windows is not) and it stays clean and doesn't get infected during use, like Windows does.

So, the "cleverness"of the metaphor actually works against Windows, nor for it like the author thought.