DeathByAThousandDownloads™

This is a fallacious argument frequently employed by Linux advocates that, as long as you offer something free of charge, people will invariably favor it over other competing products. Never mind the fact that despite the abundance of sea water, no one is going to turn off their faucets and start drinking it instead, or despite the low cost of dirt, families rich and poor are not going to serve it at the table rather than food.

There is no such thing as “free of cost”. Even if there is something that doesn’t cost you a penny to buy, it will still cost you time and resources to keep, maintain and dispose of. Arguing that Linux is a viable substitute for other desktop or even server operating systems on the basis of it being free for downloads is just like saying that living in a cave is somehow comparable to living in a luxurious condo, or that eating out at a fast food joint is somehow similar to fine-dining at a five-star hotel.

Forget about stable ABIs or the multitude of home/enterprise features that you would rather not give up. Just download that Kubabumboo Mumbling Moron ISO and hammer it into your two-thousand dollar Apple Mac or your millions of dollars worth of UltraSparc T2 infrastructures, and you will be guaranteed business as usual – minus the costs – in no time!