Linux 2: The Rejoinder

Have had a few angry Emails today from people who seem to have taken my decision to use an open source operating systems and applications, badly. There were also a great many insulting comments made on the blog. Happily WordPress allows me to screen those so they will never be seen by another living or dead soul.

This is a very strange situation for me to be in. It didn’t occur to me that people would take my announcement as a personal insult. After all one operating system is very much like another, they all allow you to do stuff on your computer.

One correspondent suggested that I “Dump that pile of shit and buy a Mac.” In reply to this pithy epigram let say that Macs cost a fortune and that I could only afford to buy one if I sold all of my internal organs. This would mean I would have a Mac but would be empty and dead. Another reason if there really needs to be one is that software for the Mac is also, very expensive. Frankly no word processing package is worth over a hundred pounds. Especially when you are producing a million copies a year. Computer software should be priced like antiques. The more rare the application, the more expensive it should be. This would be a much better way of doing business. In such a world, a specialist package used only by film companies to make little green men would cost a million pounds and a copy of Microsoft Office only ten pounds.

Anyway the whole reason for doing this is so I don’t need to spend hundreds of pound on software packages. You may argue that I could easily torrent these applications for free. But in doing so I would be breaking the law and this would go completely against my new principals.

In the past I downloaded MP3s, software and other applications from P2P networks and other sites. But one day I thought “why am I doing this?” After that I resolved to only use only software I’d purchased or given free legally. So I purged my computer of anything pirated or ripped off and had a shopping spree. Later I bought an iPod and using iTunes I was able to replace all of my dodgy downloaded albums.

Now this is beginning to sound like something written by a born again Christian. Let me make this clear I am not a Linux fanatic. I have met such people and they believe that if it’s not difficult to use a computer then you’re not doing it properly.

No I like Linux. I like the fact that people put their heart and soul into the application for little or no remuneration. I like the fact it’s not as slick or pretty as Apple’s OSX or Microsoft’s Vista. It’s something else, it’s home made, it’s like the yummy food your Grandma used to make.

Before I descend into a world of fancy, let me address another comment. “You hippy cunt you should use a decent OS like Vista it shits on Linux.” This is going to be a short rejoinder. To begin with allow me to refer this correspondent to my comments of some moments ago regarding expensive software. Then let me say this. I have been using Vista since it was first made available to buy. It’s like an old car and requires constant maintenance to keep it from crawling to halt. It was a clean install on a brand new computer built by yours truly and when I got it I really liked it. However it is now time to say goodbye. Though I do still have a copy on one of my secondary hard drives and on my Laptop. The reason for this is that one particular software provider is being stubborn and refusing to produce a Linux version of their product. That product is:

Yep,the product that got me on the straight and narrow, and stopped me from downloading music illegally, is the only one that I can’t run on Linux. So let me end today’s blog by asking Apple to pull their collective finger out and to the corresponds who abused me. Get a life.