[ale] OT: Google releases new OS browser - CHROME

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 11:39:44AM -0400, aaron wrote:
> 
> There is nothing in the universe that can make it worth while
> to run a Mafia$oft system. Windoze doesn't just invite disease,
> it IS the disease.  Your right, though, in that there is nothing
> more sorry and pathetic than a windoze victim.
> :-) 
> 

I understand that this is all in humor, but it is a bit childish.
Microsoft (and its Windows operating system) are bad enough all by
themselves, without us making ourselves look like we have nothing better
to do than find variants on Microsoft's name and trademarks to put it
down further.  Same for Apple's OS X.  It's better, but it's
proprietary, and while that's fine for some, it obviously isn't for some
others.  At least OS X is largely functional, from what I have seen of
it.

I know that there are a lot of people that think it is cool to call
Microsoft and Windows other things, or play on the spelling of the
words, or whatever.  It really isn't.  It just makes us look like
children that can't control our mouths.  The systems are cruddy enough
that they can put themselves down---and often do---without our help.
BSOD wouldn't be a nearly-household term otherwise.  Some people would
even stop reading at the first sign of putting Microsoft down with such
an attack (however deserved it may be) simply because it's childish, and
then they'll never go on to listen about anything further.  Is that
fair?  No, it's a stereotype.  But, it is how people work and think, and
users of Windows often use it just because it is there, not even
realizing that they have the power to make a choice of what operating
system and software runs on their PC.  They will feel that other
people---such as us users of GNU/Linux---are attacking _them_ (and in
this case, they'd feel somewhat justified in feeling that way), not
specifically their system, when we say things about the system they're
running.  They'll think that they must have made a stupid choice, even
though really they may not have realized that there was a choice at all.

Your posts are largely useful and informative and enjoyable reading.
Though, the poo-slinging towards other proprietary systems is really
just cruft.  Let the merit of each system speak for itself.  Once people
learn of choices, individually, if they refuse to change their choice,
or simply wish to let inertia carry them, well, that's _their_ deal.
Let MIcrosoft and Apple collect those people's money, after all, if a
person wants to pay 2 days or more worth of wages for an operating
system, that is their choice, isn't it?

And, if we'd like to air such opinions, it would seem that
comp.os.linux.advocacy would be a good place for it.  For as long as I
can remember, the group hasn't been about advocacy, but about sparring
between fans of various systems---both free and encumbered---and there
is a lot of this type of chatter there.  Better to join it and put that
type of stuff in its archives, I think, than to have this stuff be the
thing that people find when looking at ALE for the first time.

-- 
My sigfile ran away and is on hiatus.
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