Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb) [LWN.net]

Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb)

Posted Jul 31, 2003 19:20 UTC (Thu) by lnx3733t (guest, #13532)
In reply to: Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb) by ccchips
Parent article: Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb)

amen ccchips!

i believe that microsoft is tring to gain too much of the marketshare. they already have too much money and are being more and more greedy everyday. i refuse to use a microsoft product myself(i however build systems that use them) linux is good for so many things nowadays and it's desktop is evolving making it easier to use. i suggest to anyone who is serious about boycotting M$ download one of thoes cd distro's and when you go somewhere that doesn't use linux pop it in and show people what they're missing. M$ shouldn't be allowed to kill all of their competition which is what they are tring.

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Microsoft Takes Linux For A Test Drive (TechWeb)

Posted Aug 3, 2003 1:10 UTC (Sun) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

Bad mouthing M$ is easy fun but it's not going to change anything.

If you present GNU/Linux just as an alternative to Windows, you will be told:
0. the lack of M$ Word format is too much of an inconvenience
1. people don't want to relearn software
2. people don't want to lose their configuration settings
3. etc.

To bring people from the dark side, they have to be shown why GNU/Linux is infinitely better than Windows (or MacOS, or Unix). Tell them about Free Software.

They'll say: "but I'm not a programmer, what good is source code to me?"
You can say: "It's not important that YOU have the freedom to change the code, it's that EVERYONE has the freedom to change the code. Proprietary software is engineered to be Just Good Enough that you will buy it but it must leave you wanting to buy more. In contrast, Free Software developers have to make their software as good and useful as possible so that someone else won't just make a more popular fork."

The lack of M$ compatibility is a small problem really, most office formats are supported by OpenOffice (especially the upcoming 1.2 release). This slight shortcoming is greatly outweighed by the number and variety of applications you get with Free Software distros.

Ciaran O'Riordan