A Snow Penguin is off topic, but this intense exposure of sociological ignorance isn't?
Well, if it were an intense exposure of sociological ignorance, this might be a valid point. But it isn't. The thread is entirely ON-topic, being a wide-ranging discussion centered on Linux as a complex social, political, and philosophical force in the world.
Windows sells because Windows works. Most of the time, for most people, who need it specifically for one thing or another. Linux can be made to work better if a) you're very lucky or b) you are or have access to a Linux guru.
Actually, it's the other way around. Windows works because Windows sells. You see, we have very strong laws and social ethics protecting the consumer from fraud in the United States. I firmly believe that this is the reason Windows works -- because the logic which drives any marketing-driven strategy is simply not sufficient to explain their technical ability.
In other words, it is true that Microsoft has actual technical ability. But a deeper analysis of this fact reveals that its technical competence comes by a very different path than Linux.
Microsoft is composed of micro-meritocracies operating within a larger purely capitalistic hierarchy. Linux is a meritocracy attracting both micro-meritocracies and micro-capitalists. All are welcome, even those who lumber around telling people they're not welcome. :)
To be brief, Microsoft is marketing-driven, and Linux is tech-driven, and the two strategies are fundamentally different in origin and destination, even when to outward appearances they may manifest similar attributes because they are targeting the same audience.
You write "Linux can be made to work better if you are lucky or a guru." So become a guru. This would be a valid criticism if it were difficult to become a Linux guru. It just takes time and curiousity. You see, as long as Linux remains wide open, you're finding fault with the great strength of Linux, not its weakness.
My dad tried Linux - I think it was a Knoppix disk I sent him - and he couldn't get his printer to work. That's a deal killer - and probably a permanent loss of a potential user. Not everybody would have an easier time using a Linux computer, even one running Gnome.
Any user who stops using Knoppix because his printer doesn't work, ought to be using Windows anyway. Windows caters to the consumer because of the strong ethic against fraud, whereas Linux caters to the user who is curious, and became a programmer to fix things. One is driven by a carrot and a stick, and the other is driven by a carrot alone.
There's a reason there isn't a "College of Conservative Arts".
Yes. The College of Conservative Arts is everything that is not organized within the College of Liberal Arts, and they're being modest about it.
-Jared