I learned to love the mockup that I had prepared with
the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) last month

TEREOTYPES are hard to fight, but logical inclinations are even harder to change. Everyone wishes to push away the enemy, whatever or whoever that enemy may be. First they ignore, then they ridicule and laugh at the enemy. Finally, they fight, before inevitably conceding and losing (attribution: Ghandi was among some people to use this 4-step breakdown, but he was not necessarily the first).

What point am I approaching here? Nobody likes foreseeing change. Change can leave one behind. Windows-defending ‘Internet trolls’ , and Windows advocates alike, fear becoming newbies so they will utter “Linux is terrible, hard, not ready for the desktop and so forth”. Maybe if they push it hard enough, they believe, one can win time for Microsoft to catch up, yet they most probably will not. This commotion has the adverse effect. The sooner people upgrade to Linux, the better. The world is heading towards open standards, Open Source, and one vocation that is opened by such migration — the Free Open Source: GNU/Linux.

As I said once in the past, I do not perceive myself as a typical, largely-ridiculed ‘Linux fanboy’. What I do appears to be constructive and beneficial for society’s computing infrastructure, as well as for quicker innovation in science and technology.

In recent months I have had the pleasure of sending Pamela Jones some news items on a daily basis. What a nice person she is! This morning I decided to learn a little more about her (non-personal) background and the following interview caught my mind (only a fragment appears beneath). I believe it supports the main point that I address above, as well as my previous post from yesterday.

(PJ:) They were always getting viruses and other malware, and eventually I learned why and how and what to do (not that they cooperated much), and one day I realized, “I really love this stuff.” When I discovered dual booting or a Knoppix CD meant you could see what went wrong on the Windows side, it changed my life. Eventually, I couldn’t enjoy Windows any more, partly because I saw finally there really was no way to secure a Windows 98 box no matter what you do, and partly because upgrading beyond Windows 2000 meant licenses to choke on, a lot because of privacy concerns, and also because I started resenting typing in numbers to prove I had paid for the software and feeling like I was being treated like I was criminally-inclined. The difference in how I felt using the two OSs was striking.

One day, I realized that this difference was “It”. Proprietary software and all the laws that back it up are designed to enforce restrictions on users. And that’s just what it felt like. For personal pleasure, I always turned to GNU/Linux, which felt like breathing clean air. No restrictions.

Linux with KDE in its Baghira glory

Penguiniator expained this rather nicely in news:comp.os.linux.advocacy only days ago.

No anxiety over spyware in the form of “critical updates” that phones home to verify that your copy is legit. No danger that your software is tied to a company’s fortunes. No clandestine third party programs that disable your hardware when you “misuse” “their” music CD’s. No malware that turns your computer into an email zombie or that harvests contacts from your address book. No mysterious changes in your computer’s settings. No extra charges for bug fixes that are labelled as upgrades. No help files that are sprinkled liberally with marketting drivel. No need to reboot every time a new program is installed or updated. No artificial limitations placed on what you can do with your software, such as automating tasks, giving away your software, installing it on as many computers as you want, using it for commercial and non-commercial purposes. No need to relearn everything you knew about computers when your software vendor decides to replace the user interface with one that it promises will make you a more efficient user. No need to upgrade your applications just because you decide to upgrade your operating system. No need to upgrade your operating system just because you decide to upgrade your applications. And no need to look over your shoulder while you desperately try to stay ahead of rapidly approaching hardware obsolescence in the process.

When you learn a program, that knowledge remains valid for a very long time. File formats and communications protocols are open. Competition between developers is usually friendly and benefits everyone, especially end users. Availability of software is limited less by the financial resources of the user than with proprietary software. Users have direct access to developers and can influence the future development of their software. Technical support is more accessible and better organized than with proprietary counterparts via FAQ’s, how-to’s, Usenet, Web forums, wiki’s, IRC channels and email. Help files are more honest about a program’s shortcomings, listing known bugs and work-arounds for them. And it’s fun.

Stereotypical images in people’s prejudiced minds

N elaborate and lateral analysis of a potentially-offensive advertisement has gotten my attention. It perpetuates the myths and confusion over hacker/cracker fallacies and scapegoating. Check out the original post in its full context or get an idea from the snippet below.

Am I nuts, or is this ad really offensive? First of all, the implication that geeks are somehow a threat. The whole tone of the ad is that you need their excellent insurance because the world is swarming with nerds and geeks who are going to break into your business systems and steal from you. So buy our insurance.

Second. What is this, high school? With the bullies who fail all their classes have such an inferiority complex they have to make fun of the geeks? If this is high school, Travelers is the neanderthal jock beating up geeks for their lunch money. “Protection” money.