[ Thanks to Mike
Johnson for this link. ]
“There was just no way I was going to get my step
daughter a Windows netbook for Christmas. No way, no how. I
couldn’t find a good way to articulate why, and so for a couple
weeks I was just responding, “No Windows!” to my wife’s questions.
I hadn’t expected it to be controversial but I did eventually have
to explain myself.“Even after disregarding all of the security issues and the lame
attempts at fixing administrative access, it was mainly an issue of
freedom. Windows is proprietary and I was determined that her first
computer would be more educational than a dumb terminal for
homework.“I got my validation yesterday. Not more than an hour after
she’d ripped off the gift wrap and screamed in delight, she was
showing off a drawing in a program that I’d never seen before. I’ve
been using Linux for ten years and she’d already managed to show me
something new. She’d found it all on her own. (It sure wasn’t me.
The only time I’d been allowed to touch the netbook was to type the
wireless password.)”