A rant about Linux haters

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I found this video on YouTube that's a parody of the Get a Mac ads that Apple puts out. The author of the video was trying to show the merits of Linux by making a "Hi, I'm a Mac", "Hi, I'm a PC", "And I'm Linux" sort of advertisement. You get the picture.

Anyway, I went through some of the comments on that video and there were a lot of Linux haters there. They had a lot of arguments against Linux. But did they attack its security? No. It's speed? No. It's power? Surely you jest. You want to know what they attacked? Linux users' personal lives. That is to say, most of the arguments were along the lines of "lynux uzers liv in there parents garaje and plai wit there computrs and thay never get layd. im kool. there nott."

I've seen this all over. Someone shows any talent or proficiency for something outside the standard beer/drugs/sex/partying range and they are automatically labeled a loser. I think what's really happening is that some people feel threatened by those who can accomplish what they themselves have no prayer of accomplishing, so they feel the need to attack qualities or failures of that person that are totally unrelated, be they realistic or not, to make themselves feel important.

I have a strong suspicion that these are the same people who make the assumption that anyone who expresses an apathetic attitude towards sex it really just sexually frustrated. I would turn that around and say to anyone who expresses a flippant attitude towards any geek or nerd subject, "You're just frustrated because you're too stupid to use Linux.", or whatever it may be.

Yeah, the internet is full of idiots.

Last edited by LordoftheMonkeys on 19 Mar 2010, 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

corrected to make it a much more accurate statement

Well, I think the internet gives stupid people more of a chance to get their voices heard. Before, if you wanted to say something, you either had to get on TV, or you had to write something and get it published, which required some amount of writing skill and original thought, and therefore intelligence. Now that we have Web 2.0 sites that everyone with a computer has access too, the idiots have spoken out. Power to the people!

Linux is used by an extremely small minority of people, unless you are talking about servers.

Its security and lack of viruses stem from the fact that around 1% of PC users have Linux, compared to 7% for Macs, and the rest are all Windows.

Most Linux users are angry and elitist and generally respond to newcomers' questions and pleas for help by spewing out dozens of lines of command-line code that you have to sit and tediously type into the terminal.

Again, that's fine in the server world, but anybody sitting with a distro of Linux on their personal computer is probably an angry person with a superiority complex.

This is a perfect example of what I was talking about: Attacking Unix by attacking the personalities of its users. By the way, how many Linux users have you actually met?

Yeah, that is pretty much it.

All this freedom, so yeah there are both good and bad sides to it.

but yeah, each OS has its advantages and disadvantages. I wont really go into detail on it, since another thread already has. But i can say from personal experience. Id prefer Windows XP for day to day use (for the more menial tasks anyways.). Apple OS (forget the current version) is perfectly fine for when I want to do photo/video work. LINUX and UNIX is nice for server operations. A lesser known OS, SOLARIS i think it is called (its based on UNIX though, so it may not really count) . I actually heard some good things about it, and it supports most, if not all, of the more scientific research type programs. (Last ive been to the penn state nanofab research lab, that is what they were using. I almost would have gone to penn state to study it, but I kinda screwed up on alot of the application stuff.)

Mainly businesses that use Linux as a platform for their servers, which I respect and understand. Only a couple of Linux enthusiasts who use it personally.

Now just look at the posts above: describing the entire human race as idiots.

That is angry and elitist by any objective standard.

Not really. I hate the human race for simply philosophical reasons, and the fact that people are just too stupid to get along. That isnt angry and elitist. It is just simply an opinion formed from an objective observation, well for me anyways.

back on topic. Most linux users ive known tend to be more helpful with computer issues. From my observations, ever OS has both a bas of reasonable users, and fanatical asshats.

I <3 my linux command line.

I think the best way to deal with ad personam arguments in this situation is just to rise above them. Why get het up about it? All it will do is make the windoze user more insistent that Linux users are arrogant/elitist/insert-adjective-here. I've found linux user and forums helpful, friendly and patient and when I've tried to help someone I've tried to model the same traits. Eventually the reality has to sink in.

Printed on paper is a prerequisite (but no guarantee) of serious opinion.

I have to agree with you there, anybody with some sort of skill or hobby not involving beer, drugs or sex is considered a failure at life, no exceptions. The image of a computer nerd sitting in his parents basement working on a computer is recognized by most people.





Actually no, when I ran Linux on my old laptop (before the screen broke) I wasn't angry nor did I think I was superior to people with other OS's.

Sounds like this is a slightly more refined version of the attacks on personal lives the OP was talking about.

I think the folk at IJ Studios like Linux, when ever they do a pc vs mac that has linux in it, linux pwns both

Same old rumors. Isn't Mac OSX a UNIX or a LINUX?

Try KNOPPIX for free. It boots and runs on the disc.
Even if you don't like it, it will backup your files
when crashed Windows won't even boot or won't stop rebooting.
It also looks like Windows and includes free versions of what many people use.
Firefox, Office, Solitaire, etc. (Probably even more software than you have.)
You don't have to use terminal any more than you have to use
DOS, run cmd, or "the C prompt" in Windows.

"Viruses: Not a bug , A feature" - Microsoft ... (Wow, I even heard them say it!)
Viruses are also known as "automatic software updates".
Anyway, its a scam. Machines are not alive, so they can't get sick.
If the TV weatherman coughs, will you catch a cold?
Why buy "sick" computers and "antiviral" medicine when healthy ones are free?
No good games? PCs always suk for games (except MAME for Windows or Linux).
If you want good games there are wiis and xboxs and playstations.

Notice how many versions of Linux there are (distrowatch) but they don't sell
Linux PCs. Thats because free software runs on free hardware. And
every week on trash day, more free hardware with broken Windows
is abducted by Penguins. How many PCs have you thrown away?
They are probably all living happily ever after, running Linux now.

Me too. ^^

Ouch. As I sit here with my perfectly running Linux box typing to you, not having to EVER open the command line... I feel I should be offended. But somehow I cannot bring myself to that level.

I've noticed that most people like you, the ones who 'diss' Linux without a second thought, have actually NEVER tried it themselves, or if they have, it was some ancient command based distro. There are versions of Linux for everyone. I'm running Ubuntu for the very reason you hate Linux users, because I'd rather get on my computer and do what I want, not what it 'needs' me to do to even think about running.