(Courtesy of Linsux.org)
If there is a moral in the 1994 film “Dumb and Dumber” at all, then it is simply that you can be both stupid and annoying – with capital “S” and “A” – at the same time.
You are hereby introduced to Ken Hess, a columnist for daniweb.com and our ever-beloved Linux Magazine. Even if you don’t object his career as a Linux evangelist, you will still no doubt find his latest fluff piece questionable – if not downright moronic. Now, let’s cut the long story short and take a look at this journalistic abortion, shall we?
“Is it true that, if you speak up for GNU/Linux on the Desktop, you get flamed?”
So, is it true that some people just don’t know when to make themselves scarce even when the door hits their butts? I think Hess’ introduction answers this question pretty nicely.
“ I don’t think the Linux Community would take a stand against it. The Apple Community is too glazed over with iCrap to care what we do. But, there is one “community” that might take issue with Linux on the Desktop. Who could it be?”
If you guess that he is going to just continue his speculative drivel with the bog-standard PaidMicrosoftShill rhetorics, you are right.
“I’m having a little trouble coming up with the name, though I think it rhymes with Shmindows.”
“The problem is that over zealous fans of anything tend to be inflammatory when it comes to their favorite whatever it is. And, on top of that, these zealots feel as if they must comment on anything related to that favorite thing—often to the detriment of the entire project that they themselves defend. Unfortunately, the Internet provides everyone a virtual spray can with which they must “tag” their opinions on every virtual wall they find in opposition to their own narrow viewpoints.”
In a nutshell, this is the exact reason that people hate Linux with the passion, but if you think that Hess has the required intellectual capacity to understand the root cause of the issue, then you are strongly advised to lower your expectations before proceeding to the rest of the article.
“But, you have to ask the question, “Why come out so strongly against something that someone chooses to use just because you disagree?” If you don’t believe that it happens, just check out these two awesome [(by awesome, I mean that they suck)], intellectual [(by intellectual, I mean that they’re not intellectual)] rant sites: Linux Haters Blog and LinSux.”
One thing that this doofus never gets is the gaping difference between “choosing to use something” and “being pushy and overtly evangelical about it”. I am, however, quite disinclined to single Hess out in this regard given that this site is, after all, sourced from and exclusively dedicated to the many, many other clueless, misguided individuals just like him.
“It’s also awesome that these folks have so much free time on their hands that they aren’t contributing to society by volunteering or creating something for the good of all. But, they sure love to criticize those who do.”
Well, I consider bringing joy to many a contribution to the society. Misleading people into using some broken, spinning desktop cube, on the other hand…
“So what if you get some flaming for your dedication to something that you believe is right. The United States would not be the country it is today if those people back in the 1700s had feared criticism. Freedom of any kind comes at a cost.”
If your cause involves both the First Amendment right and computer software, then rest assured that there must be something really, really wrong about it.
“Just ask the people who pay for Apple products what the price of freedom is. $2,000 for a $600 computer. Now that’s the price of freedom.”
Wasting hours and hours that you can otherwise spend somewhere else on ConfigureMakeMakeInstall, EsotericWorkarounds, UpstreamsFault, BiannualForcedDeathMarch, StableKernelABINonsense, etc. That, too, is a price of “freedom”.
“Stand up and be proud of what you’ve done for Linux. Yes, you’ll draw your share of ire and fire but isn’t every great fight worth it for the freedom it brings to everyone?”
Oh, really? Now, can someone write a HOW-TO on using Linux to avoid political persecution under a totalitarian regime? No?
Comments
Somehow, there seems to exist a pattern: For every retarded article, the comments on it are certain to attact even more retarded people than the author himself is.
“Some vocal Windows enthusiasts seem to be deeply disturbed by Linux’ growing success. Over 95% of supercomputers, 44% of servers (equal to Windows), and a third of netbooks run Linux. Even the most pessimistic of claims shows Linux desktop usage still growing, if slowly, somewhere between 1.13% and 5% of the market. Linux is the fastest growing smartphone OS today between Android, webOS, and the upcoming Meego, and a wide variety of tablets were recently announced to ship with these Linux distros in the coming months.”
a) LinuxRunsOnSupercomputers™
b) IDC says that the unit share is more like 75.3% for Windows vs. 20.8% for Linux, but that’s ok, since IDC is rated 1/5 on BoycottNovell’s rating.
c) According to statcounter it’s not 5% but more like 0.82%
“Of course, software patents can put an end to freedom if we don’t eventually eliminate them ( http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story…15-39-OP-MS-SW “Watch Microsoft megatrolls monopolize Linux” )”
Yes, you guessed right if you expected that link to be entitled “Mono is a disease. Why spread it?” or something equivalent.
“I’ve noticed that even among Apple users (excluding those brushed-aluminum worshipers and adepts of the secret cult of the Church of Stevus the free world use to call “fanboys”) [...]”
What we see here is an answer to: How to make yourself to appear as moron in 0.62 seconds?
“I dumped DOS and installed this new OS and found it lacking many things. However, I saw an opportunity to learn more and see where this new OS would go, and of course the new OS is LINUX.”
Apparently, Windows still runs on DOS.
WindowsRunsOnDOS™?
To quote the Reverend Queefer (in his guise as Anonymous):
“You may call him an idiot but Ken Hess has done more for the cause of freedom than you can even imagine doing. Go back to giving logical head.”
Says it all, really.
... and you’ve missed out LinuxHateIsMicrosoftLove™. More than ever appropriate, I feel.
I love it. They absolutely can’t stand that there might be folks out there who don’t buy Linux and FOSS propaganda and it really burns their arses. Whenever that happens, they slink into a pseudo-political-philosophical defense about “freedom” and persecution, along with the usual “you’re an m$ fanboy” and “ur 2 dum 4 linux” accusations.
Honestly, is it so hard to acknowledge:
1) Linux has flaws
2) Criticism is part of the natural process of evolution and refinement of a skill, art or product
3) A criticism is not necessarily motivated by an axe to grind?
But like any cult, emotional attachment causes them to respond to any criticism with attack.
Just added a perfectly reasonable comment and a gratuitous link to TMR. The timing of KH’s loontastic blog is interesting, however. He’s mentioned (by me) for the first time on LHB a few days ago, and this is the first time he’s noticed we exist? Hee hee. Time to out more freetards.
Another classic quote from the comments:
“Today I have Fedora 13 and I am very impressed with its ability to discover and install most of my peripherals.”
Most? And the others … well, YouDontNeedThat™
Thanks, btw. It’s not often I get to perform a Church Lady Dance on the rotting corpus callosum of a (insert cretin IT craze here) “evangelist.”
To be fair, Ken is pretty quick to respond. To be mildly critical, his responses do not inspire confidence in his mission.
Call me cynical, but none of these people are even pallid shadows of Guy Kawasaki, are they? There seems to be some huge pot of undiscriminating money that any pig-ignorant non-technical herd-follower with access to a web site can dip in to at will. Well, it’s not my money. Just one more small condemnation of Western Civilisation, I suppose.
Just tried to leave a long, elaborate comment for the OP to read.
The comment system truncated my message to the first 500 characters. At this rate, I’m wondering why they’re calling us out when their own team can’t create a simple form system to save their lives. This site is pretty small, but at least I can post a comment as long as I want the system won’t crap out 500 characters in.
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