[human_v2]

I don't think we needed Windows 7 to let us know Microsoft was a ripoff. Perhaps that's just me though. I'll take FOSS over Microsoft any day, but I also don't mind getting into the nitty gritty to make my *nix distro the way I want. I'm convinced that people only buy Microsoft products because they are unaware of FOSS. To them, the only other alternative is to buy a Mac (which is a step in the right direction, but imo, Apple reeks of Microsoft cologne these days)

[edit: my apologies for using 'M$'. no hate intended]

[daeken]

1) M$ on HN? Really? Come on, make your point without the silly name.

2) I buy MS products because I prefer them in many cases. I'm buying Windows 7 because it works great, and I want to move from Win2k8. I use free operating systems every day (and work on my own), but for day-to-day tasks on my local machines, I prefer Windows.

[human_v2]

1) sorry, was habit/laziness. I fixed.

2) To each his own, but I think the community support for linux vastly outshines windows support because you're probably talking directly to some sort of developer on *nix forums. Also, I prefer linux from an ideological standpoint. If the machine on my desk is doing something, I want to know exactly why it's doing it. Attempts to do that in windows violate your EULA.

[daeken]

If Linux does what you need it to do, then that's all well and good, but saying "I'm convinced that people only buy Microsoft products because they are unaware of FOSS." is just silly. There are plenty of good reasons to use Windows just like there are plenty of good reasons to use Linux. Use the right tool for the job, and don't make it a religious issue.

[human_v2]

Ok, you've certainly proven your wisdom to me, but I still don't agree. When it comes to most normal computers users - old people like my parents, kids that aren't computer geeks - they want internet and email and word processing. Windows does this. Linux does this. Mac does this. Windows - buy my OS. Mac - buy my shiny computer, we'll give you an OS for cheap. Linux - buy a cheap computer, install this free OS. ... Why on earth would you pay more for something? Any logical person would not. As a web dev, I find that MS does things their own way, regardless of what people want. IE writes their own standards, which is unacceptable. MS doesn't bother fixing things in a timely fashion because their friends at the AV companies like that MS is exploitable (could be FUD, but sounds right to me).

I'm just saying that, all things equal, people will choose the cheapest one, and they aren't doing this because they don't know any alternatives.

... Though I am pretty irritated that Adobe STILL won't make a good flash plugin for linux. sick of choppy video. Windows has me there.