OSes They Are A-Changin’

By Abhijeet Chavan

[Adapted from and sung to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Times They
Are A-Changin”.]

Come gather ’round users
Wherever you groan
And admit that Windows
has bloated and grown
And accept it that soon
It’ll bleed you to the bone.
If your time and money
Is worth savin’
Then you better install Linux
Or keep crashing like a stone
For the OSes they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who influence with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t spread your FUD
The antitrust case is in spin
And there’s no mistakin’
who it’s blamin’
For the “alternative” now
Will be later to win
For the OSes they are a-changin’

Come IT Managers
Don’t reboot or reinstall
Don’t upgrade every few months
Don’t watch your computers crawl
For the businesses that get hurt
Will be those whose computers have stalled
There’s a battle outside ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your Windows
And reduce your support calls
For the OSes they are a-changin’

Come Software Companies
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
The Open Source programmers
Are beyond your command
Your proprietary model
Is rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the way
If you can’t lend a hand
For the OSes they are a-changin’

The Source is now Open
The spell it is cast
The slow 486
Can now be fast
As your monopoly now
Will later be past
The users are
Rapidly switchin’.
And your large market share
Will never last
For the OSes they are a-changin’.

[Abject apologies to Bob Dylan :)]