ZDNet: OS holy wars redux

[ Thanks to Matt Williams for
this link. ]

“My colleague in cyber punditry, PC Week’s John Taschek, is
taking it on the chin for a Monday column he wrote challenging the
conventional wisdom about the state of the open-source software
movement. …Something about this debate reminds me of the stale
controversies about the relative merits of OS/2, Windows and the
Mac. In those operating systems holy wars of yesteryear, supposedly
sane people checked their manners at the door and then turned into
sundry cyber Mr. Hydes, letting loose with the kind of stuff that
could have easily qualified for inclusion in the next edition of
“2001 Best Insults.”

“Fast forward to the Year 2000; the names and products may have
changed, but the rip ‘n’ rage reactions from some people to
opinions they don’t like remain the common coin of public
discourse. The advent of the Internet and e-mail compresses the
reaction cycle that much more.”

“If it were something serious, like war, abortion or baseball, I
could understand the bloodlust. Folks, we’re talking about
operating systems and software, for Pete’s sake. My two cents: Kick
back with a Coke and chill out. It’s time to get a life.”

Complete
Story