On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 10:12 PM, Jason Hsu <jhsu802701 at jasonhsu.com> wrote: > In contrast to the open source world, the world of Microsoft Windows, Office, and other products is just a Communist > country governed by Microsoft. Instead of smoke-belching Trabants, Microsoft puts out bloated, insecure, unstable, > and uneconomical software and operating systems. A few people at the top benefit at the expense of the people. First off, well said, Yaron. Now, Jason: While I think we all enjoy partaking in a bit of Microsoft bashing every now and again, it is statements like the above that do absolutely no good to anyone. In fact, they oftentimes harm the F/OSS community due to the elitism and arrogance portrayed. As Yaron said, there are some times when Microsoft has the right solution to a problem, just as there are some times when a F/OSS solution is the right answer. I will concede that Microsoft's operating systems are horribly bloated. That said, Windows 7 and its server variant Server 2008 R2 are actually *very* stable and *very* secure. As part of my day job, I maintain 30 or 40 Windows Server systems, some of which are being used by thousands of people per day and hundreds of people simultaneously in a campus LAN environment. I have no more issues with those systems than I do with the 60 linux servers I maintain. No offense Jason, but it sounds like you haven't had much experience administrating Windows systems, at least not recently anyway. As is the case with any system, Windows, Linux, *BSD, or otherwise, the system is only as secure as its administrator is competent and the applications thereon are secure. The best thing we can do for Linux and the rest of F/OSS is stay positive and stay passionate about Linux. Recognize that Linux has a lot of strengths, but it is not the be-all and end-all to computing systems. Be willing and able to use and interact with other technologies when necessary. If we start "going off the deep end" in the other direction too far (dare I say RMS?), we will only succeed in alienating others. Regarding linux GUIs: what are those? Just gimme a shell and I'm more than happy. :) -Erik P.S. I just uncovered an oldish (read: slow) MiniITX system I had sitting around and I'll likely be kicking the Swift Linux tires on it shortly. Typically I'm an Ubuntu guy, but I think performance would be sub-par on this 5-year-old system.