“How do you tell others that you’ve discovered Linux? Do you
“preach the gospel of Linux” or apologize for your choice of
operating system? How you tell others about Linux can make a big
impression on how they perceive Linux. As a long time advocate
for an often bashed, orphaned operating system (C64/128), I’ve
dealt with operating system “prejudice” for many years, and have a
few thoughts on how to share your enthusiasm without causing riots
or total disinterest.”
“Every now and again with my other favourite platform someone
will come along and ask “Why bother?” (usually followed by a snide
remark or two). If the comment seems to be of genuine interest,
I’ll answer. I do the same when dealing with prejudice with the
Linux platform. What I don’t do is give my time to the defense of
something I like, enjoy and prefer to use. I don’t mind spending
time when it comes to helping to inform someone about what we can
do with our systems (Commodore or Linux), but I don’t see any point
in having a long drawn out argument with someone closed minded. I
have better things to do with my time, and I’ve found that these
remarks are often made to see how much of a rise they can get.”
“It’s one thing to have a preference for what we like, it’s
quite another when we start arguing with others over which is
better. This is something that seems deeply ingrained in our
psyche–people argue over Republicans vs Democrats, Vi vs Emacs,
KDE vs Gnome, Linux vs Windows. Having a choice is important;
forcing your choice onto others isn’t.”