[crispinb]

See other comment here on the Ikea effect. That's part of it anyway. I think the other part is humans can get fetishistic about almost anything. It seems to be part of our nature. Unsurprisingly, it's shaped around computers for HN types. Add into the mix that the organisations which make the alternatives (Apple, Microsoft) really are bloody horrible, so that adds an ethical angle. If there's anything people like more than fondling their fetishes, it's finger-pointing at others for doing wrong.

So yes it's silly, but it's fairly strongly motivated silliness.