"4. Rancid Fan Base - I know that the fan base isn't part of Linux but goodness some of these people are absolutely mouth-foaming and borderline crazy. Even a longtime Linux fan and semi-expert like myself, will receive hate mail about something I said. It's incredible how many "experts" (who have vehemently opposing opinions) I run into when giving my analysis of something Linux-related. I don't mind when people comment intelligently but all too often I just get weird and rancid commentary. People who think of things like Linux as a religion bring a certain 'extremist' flavor to the mix. It turns off a lot of people, not just me.
"5. Linus Worship - Many of the fans mentioned in #4 above fall into this category as well. People assume that Linus Torvalds created free software and that Linux was all his idea. What they (and possibly you) fail to realize is that ideas are built upon by many people over time. Linus used Minix as a template in developing Linux though he decided to use a monolithic kernel instead of the microkernel architecture of Minix--he still had a head start by using it as a design "go by." It was actually Richard Stallman who first came up with the idea of a GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) operating system based on all free software while Linus was still in diapers. This is one reason why Stallman insists on Linux being called GNU+Linux."
