More Stories of Linux Adoptions
Walt Hucks has a few posts about both high-profile and everyday users leaving Windows in favor of Mac OS X and Linux.
He covers “influencers” in his first post on the subject: “James Robertson is giving up Windows at home, because of the administration load. He joins a growing chorus of people switching to Mac and some to Linux instead of quietly accepting the forced march to the Vista compound.”
Now he’s posted Giving Up On Vista, chronicling his own family and friends’ migrations to Linux and Mac OSes. Much of it comes from frustrations with using Vista, while other reasons include control over one’s own data, the time cost of Windows management, and, most important to me, the simple elegance of Mac and Linux systems today.
Hucks writes, “In some of my recent calls home, I learned that one of MJ’s friends, the one who has been the most pro-Vista, has decided that he wants to get rid of some of the six computers his family has (all except one running Vista) and replace them with Macs. MJ has decided that one of his two WinXP computers is going Ubuntu or Mint in the next week or two. The other one will probably be converted soon after, now that he sees that the family administrator is less and less willing to spend his evenings and weekends fighting Windows to make it obey the wishes of the computer’s owner…”
But Hucks doesn’t declare war, instead he simply calls for mutual respect: “Since FLOSS and free culture help to spread the benefits of software and arts and information to all of society, the continuing attacks on FLOSS from Redmond are attacks on consumers, citizens, and individuals, not just attacks on perceived competitors. I call upon the Softies to begin to respect us all by ceasing the anti-FLOSS initiatives.”
Sounds reasonable! The extremists and throwbacks may still be in the Windows camp, but the pragmatists and those who just want to get work done efficiently and without hassle are jumping into the Mac and Linux waters. And if you’re ready to buy a new Linux box, check out ZaReason, a great Ubuntu-based PC retailer.