[kwlug disc.] How to drive Linux people nuts on ZDNet

[Warrick Wilson]

This is either the dumbest guy going, or an amazing troll to get people
irate. Either way, it's a hilarious posting... It's from the ZDnet.com
forums. I saw it referenced on a different Linux list....

-----
Why Linux will not displace Windows 
TalkBack 82 of 202: 

It wont happen 
I dont see how this will happen at all.

Vista is far more powerful than windows XP, and runs twice as fast. It is
also much harder to pirate, and this point more than anything else has the
Linux crowd in a panic.

It wont be long until Windows XP is no longer supported, and when that
happens, what is Linux going to do ?

Linux will have to find a way to work under Vista from here on, since it
wont be able to rely on XP being readily available anymore.

Linux may seem like a good alternative to Office, but all that is happening
in linux is that the windows interface is cleverly hidden away. It still
needs the drivers and software services in order to run, and in most cases -
that happens WITHOUT a valid windows licence.

This is just plain piracy.

Vista will finally put an end to this blatant abuse of intellectual
property, and linux should decline, taking the pirates with it. 

Anyone that supports the continuation of Windows XP in place of Vista surely
has a hidden agenda .. and you will surely be caught out. 
Posted by: jerryleecooper Posted on: 03/13/07 

-----
Which gets a pile of comments about Linux, to which he replies... 

-----

TalkBack 85 of 202: 
  
You are kidding arent you ? 
Are you saying that this linux can run on a computer without windows
underneath it, at all ? As in, without a boot disk, without any drivers, and
without any services ?

That sounds preposterous to me. 

If it were true (and I doubt it), then companies would be selling computers
without a windows. This clearly is not happening, so there must be some
error in your calculations. I hope you realise that windows is more than
just Office ? Its a whole system that runs the computer from start to
finish, and that is a very difficult thing to acheive. A lot of people dont
realise this.

Microsoft just spent $9 billion and many years to create Vista, so it does
not sound reasonable that some new alternative could just snap into
existence overnight like that. It would take billions of dollars and a
massive effort to achieve. IBM tried, and spent a huge amount of money
developing OS/2 but could never keep up with Windows. Apple tried to create
their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel
and Microsoft. 

Its just not possible that a freeware like the Linux could be extended to
the point where it runs the entire computer fron start to finish, without
using some of the more critical parts of windows. Not possible.

I think you need to re-examine your assumptions. 
Posted by: jerryleecooper Posted on: 03/14/07 
-----

I suspect people will be replying to this for weeks...