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If Linux advocates are "Freetards", then please explain this...

  • Subject: If Linux advocates are "Freetards", then please explain this...
  • From: Homer <usenet@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:45:35 +0100
  • Bytes: 3478
  • Cancel-lock: sha1:/AIHw94W+y6EZNOxspBT6JWZViA=
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Openpgp: id=BF436EC9; url=http://slated.org/files/GPG-KEY-SLATED.asc
  • Organization: Slated.org
  • User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.19) Gecko/20090105 Fedora/2.0.0.19-1.fc9 Thunderbird/2.0.0.19 Mnenhy/0.7.6.666
  • Xref: ellandroad.demon.co.uk comp.os.linux.advocacy:779042
It's all about "not paying", right?

We all use GNU/Linux only because we can get it for free, right?

However, due to Microsoft's monopoly, it's almost impossible to buy a PC
without also paying for Windows. There are /some/ preinstalled GNU/Linux
systems available, but the choices are severely limited by the monopoly,
so most people who run GNU/Linux usually /start/ with a system that used
to run Windows.

IOW, most GNU/Linux users /pay/ for Windows then deliberately discard it
in favour of GNU/Linux, and all the reports I've heard on the subject of
"refunds" suggest that few even make the attempt, while those who do are
mostly unsuccessful (it's a package deal, or no deal).

So here's a question for the Linux-bashers: How does paying for software
that we'll never use (Windows) make us "Freetards", exactly?

In fact, this sort of behaviour seems like the exact /opposite/ of being
a "Freetard", since we're essentially being wasteful and extravagant (or
 rather Microsoft is /forcing/ us to be wasteful and extravagant).

Gotcha.

And here's another Gotcha: Those who go the self-build route pay through
the nose for the privilege, as they don't get the benefit of mass-volume
discounts like the OEMs, so even though they save on the OS, they end up
paying much more than they save overall.

So the "Freetards" who build their own systems to avoid the Windows tax,
still /pay/ more than they otherwise would if they'd just bit the bullet
and paid Microsoft.

Seems like an awful lot of effort just to avoid /paying/ for something -
especially since the end result is actually /more/ expensive.

Hmm.

Perhaps there's /another/ reason, beyond money-grubbing.

Ya think?

-- 
K.
http://slated.org

.----
| "The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which
| the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf
| denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty.
| Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of
| the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today
| among human creatures." ~ Abraham Lincoln
`----

Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.26.8-57.fc8
 01:44:58 up 22 days,  5:43,  4 users,  load average: 0.06, 0.07, 0.05

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