Microsoft wants you to "Get the Facts Straight"

[Fred Roller]

Michael Haney wrote:
> There's no easy way to say this, Windows has made the average computer
> user lazy and dumb.  It doesn't take much in the way of smarts to know
> how to defrag your hard drive, look up a website, or play an MP3 in
> Windows.  Some people, usually older people, think it takes a lot of
> smarts to do those things but it doesn't.
>
> This is what's really sad about the whole thing, because Windows has
> dumbed so many people down and Micro$oft has brainwashed most of them
> to believe Linux is so complicated that its an OS only for geeks and
> "computer nerds".  They think about the terminal and their minds lock
> up like a Windows BSOD.  Try to get them to try Linux and that's the
> first thing they complain about ... the Terminal ... or having to
> compile software in order to install it.  Micro$oft has been spreading
> so much FUD for so many years about Linux that the average user
> doesn't know any better.  They don't know the major evolutionary leaps
> which Linux has taken to get to where it is now.  They don't know that
> Linux distros like Ubuntu, Mandriva, and etc. are not only as easy or
> even easier to use than Windows but most are far more secure as well.
> But, they don't see it and they can't possibly comprehend that a an OS
> made by a community of developers instead of a company can possibly be
> as good as if not better than Windows.  Its this mentality inspired by
> outright lies directed at the average user which has held Linux
> adoption back for the past few years if not longer.
>
> Times are changing, the older generation is giving way to younger tech
> savvy users who can see through the cloud of FUD and lies and realize
> the truth.  Its this generation, the generation who grew up never
> knowing a time when the Internet and personal computers didn't exist
> who will change the status quo and finally give Linux the respect it
> so rightly deserves in the home computer market.
>
>   
M$ has dumbed the market down by selling the #1 commodity, convenience.  
User's; at least the ones I have talked to, glaze on the concept of 
contributing.  They think programming etc. until simpler concepts are 
explained like good technical writers helping with documentation, etc.  
Add to that being spoon fed solutions since PC's hit main stream.  If 
you take a look at M$'s pattern:

3.1 (great because it was relief from cli, despite the constant crashes),
95 (sucked like a vac),
98 (good release and a sigh of relief after 95),
ME (didn't last 30 days on my system),
XP (same as 98, consumers were relieved that it worked),
Vista (disaster, thankfully gave linux a boost in the market to start 
being noticed),
Window7 (I hear the sigh of relief echoing through the market now.)

The response of consumers has been paralleled to an abused spouse, hurts 
to be there but will defend them to the end.  I have had success with 
folks by letting them dd their current M$ to an .img to one of my 
external hdd and letting them try Linux, after trying a live cd of 
course.  I encourage them to try several distros to find one they feel 
most comfortable.  If in the end they don't like anything, dd their .img 
back to the hdd.  They grouse a bit (habit from M$ I guess ;)) about 
looks or this and that; minor stuff.  The most common response is simply 
silence, their system is working, they get things done, and the computer 
does not break.  For those on Ubuntu, I keep them on LTS for the higher 
stability.  The users just have to be convinced that it is safe to come 
out of the relationship with M$ if they want.

Also, keep in mind M$ is not about selling an OS or software, it's about 
control of information, in particular your spending habits, social 
habits, et al.  This information creates it's own economy.  When you 
thirst, what is the first beverage you think of?  Just my 2 cents.

-- 
Fred
www.fwrgallery.com

"Life is like linux, simple.  If you are fighting it you are doing something wrong."