“Two weeks ago I wrote a column on Linux and said, “Linux
distributions are like rock’n’roll bands: Everyone has a favorite
one, with reasons that are more emotional than anything else.” My
basic point was that Linux distributions are fragmenting and that
the trend might not be good for the world of open source, a world I
find exciting and provocative.”
“As you might expect of any column on the Web that didn’t claim
that everything in open source is perfect and everything in the
world of Windows-centric software was terrible, evil and about to
disappear, I quickly found myself lost under an avalanche of
e-mail, more than 90 percent of it negative. This week, I’ll share
some of the printable e-mails and respond to them….”
“Now that Linux has supplanted the Macintosh OS as the
favorite operating system for people who hate Microsoft, many of
the same attitudes expressed by the Mac Marines have been picked up
by a group I’ll call the Penguinheads. Most of them don’t
argue facts (and I love arguing facts, guys); they argue against my
right to express a point of view….”