Venting frustration.

Be warned, this post will be very tech related so many of you may not be interested.


Today, I decided to modify the UI on my netbook, which runs linux. I did a search on Google so I could find out what the filenames are for everything to modify on this specific distro of Linux, and found a blog post giving a very good step by step guide for people new to linux.

I read the whole post, then read the comments. The latest one (at the time) gave a link to a blog post on another blog. I followed it and started to read it.

This is when my frustration hit.


The blog opens up by bashing Linux and it's users and states things which are false, such as Linux users always saying that "Windows is some maimed and dysfunctional computing ecosystem..."

The author then mentions that he stumbled across the original post (the step by step guide) and his first comment on it is:

"Oh joy. Not only do we get to see how easy it is to change appearances of the interface, we get a healthy dose of “can’t do this in Windows” bullshit."

Now, I read the original post fully, and at no point did it say that Windows couldn't do what was in the post.

He then compares the problems of the Windows XP version of the Acer Aspire One to the Linux version of the Acer Aspire one. He points out the most common problems but what he doesn't mention is that these problems are mostly encountered by people that have replaced the default OS with Ubuntu, not the default OS.

After that, he says "And if people really want Linux, how the hell do you explain the higher return rates for Linux netbooks or how Windows XP has so thoroughly eclipsed Linux on netbooks sold?"

Windows XP netbooks are selling better than Linux ones because the majority of the people buying them are already used to Windows XP so they head for an operating system they are comfortable with. The reason why the returns are higher with Linux netbooks is because there are some people that buy it without getting a demonstration and then find that they don't know how to use the OS very well, so they take it back so they can get something they're comfortable with.

The rest of the post is just basically bashing Linux without any research into it.


I personally use both Windows XP (on my desktop) and Linux (on my netbook). The reason why I use Windows XP on my desktop is because I play games, and some of (not all) these games do not work on Linux. The reason why I use Linux on my netbook is because I only use that for browsing the internet, which is what netbooks are pretty much made for.


Now, if I didn't play games on my computer, I would be running Linux on it. Yes, the majority of the things I can do on Linux I can also do on Windows but the cheapest I could find Windows XP for a little over £100. Why would I spend that when I can get a free OS that does just what I need?


The original post.
The second blog.