Can't we all just get along?

[mdlbear]

I'm always surprised at how emotional some people can get about my choice of software. I get ad-hominem attacks when I mention that I prefer Emacs and LaTeX to somebody's favorite WYSIWYG word processor. I stopped allowing anonymous comments after somebody literally accused me of "child abuse" (those words, exactly) when I mentioned that my kids sometimes used Linux. I continually get snide comments whenever I mention that, as a visual illiterate and long-time X user, I find the Mac user interface unuseable. (And I'm not saying that Windows is much better, but nobody sends me hate mail when I criticize Windows.)

Seriously, I get fewer flames when I mention that I'm an agnostic Druid. In fact, I don't think anyone has flamed me about my religion recently.

I'm not asking for tolerance, exactly. Or maybe I am. At least until Linux achieves its goal of world domination. Then we'll see who...

Oh. Right. Sorry about that.

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling.

I've used pretty much every OS around, but these days run three or four different ones as standard. Oddly I get the most negativity from people who've standardised on one...

To be honest, I'll respect anyone's choices - and I'll defend their right to use whatever tools they want.

After all, that's what they are. Tools.

[mdlbear]

Yes -- it's all about choice, and being free to choose the right tool for both the user and the job.

I currently use OpenOffice on Linux for business cards and address labels, Emacs for almost everything else, a Mac laptop for viewing Quicktime movies, Windows 98 for my taxes; basically whatever works. And I'm buying my Mom a Mac -- probably a 17" iMac -- for her 86th birthday this year. My older daughter has both a Macbook and an HP mostly-windows box, and reads her email in pine over ssh.

Did I mention that we're a cross-platform household?