There's a faction of Linux users that like Linux because they hate Microsoft. (Tip: if you use "M$", you're it!) Most of the aforementioned "clever" group, while they might prefer Linux for various reasons (open standards, open source, etc), don't hate Windows. There is a time and a
I use Linux, freebsd, and open software in general because it gives me freedom. Freedom to understand, and sometimes 'hack' software as far as my limited programming abilities allow. Freedom from the costs and licencing issues of propriatory software; I don't have a lot of money, what I do have I'd rather spend on hardware, and using pirated software makes me feel 'dirty'. II would be happy to ignore Microsoft, except that they are hell-bent on destroying FOSS, and this interferes with my freedom. ANd I try not to be a zealot; I'm sorry if I come off that way. I would like the rest of the world to be aware that Free Software exists, and that a lot of it is very good quality, for a number of reasons. I'll start with the selfish ones. I get a lot of spam. I know that most of it is being relayed via compromised home computers, and that the spammers were able to do this because one company, who's OS still comes pre-installed on almost every computer sold, designed that OS and it's co-mingled mail client in a way that makes attached programs easy to run and, once run, makes it easy for a malicious program to take control of the computer. If there were less compromised home computers available to relay spam and DDoS anti-spam websites, I would have less of a spam problem. New hardware is not always well supported under Linux. If Linux occupied a more significant fration of the 'desktop' market, Manufacturers would be more serious about releasing specs or developing drivers for Linux. And finally, it just -frustrates- me to see people wasting so much time (and in some categories spending money) on virus scanners, firewall software, spyware removal, popup-blocking, "random, unexplained software failure", yada yada yada, on a computer that they only use for email, web, WP. Trivial stuff that I know they could easily learn to do under Linux or using some of the more solid FOSS software under Windows. I don't want to force anyone to use Linux. I just want them to seriously consider it and not decide it's "too hard" or "not ready" because someone like Didio or Enderle said so.