@Yeti – MS Office Home and Student 2007 can be had for ~ $90 for a three license copy. Granted, I’d rather it be cheaper, but I don’t use office software too much (and thus don’t use MS Office or Open Office much if at all).

“Either you use all FOSS or you’re ignorant.”

People like that should be shot, along with people who write negative garbage on their blogs.

I just find it funny that when someone shows me Open Office, or any other free office suite, and they have this feeling of betrayal when I say “I’ll stick with Microsoft Office.”

Office 2007 is much better than Open office without question or doubt. I will continue to use OpenOffice at home simply because I can’t afford Word, and even though it’s a good product it’s made by a company with extremely questionable business practices, so by principal I will never pay a cent for it.

You can also say what you want about OSS fanatics, but alot of them have churned out some excellent software(that judging by your comments, you may be using). If only for that, you owe them some respect, instead of lumping them in with people who make half assed comments on articles about Mac clones written by pea brained journalists who suddenly gave way to objectivity because now they have “blogs”.

Wow, did you read my blog post and comments, or skimmed and assumed?

I love OSS for when it is practical. I’ve contributed to open source projects, I’ve given feedback, I’ve helped with bugs, and the list goes on. What I hate is the “all or nothing” approach many people take. “Either you use all FOSS or you’re ignorant.” If you would have read the entire blog entry you would have notices several occasions where I praise FOSS and what it does. My whole blog post was not how “FOSS sucks” but the type of users you are.

You read my post and start to insult my intelligence because that is your only argument: ‘Since you don’t use FOSS, you must be ignorant and stupid.’ Trust me, I’ve probably used Linux and other FOSS software. I’ve probably have spent a lot more time than you probably have given me credit. I have lots of open source software right now on my windows machine because it makes my life better.

I do think that users should become attracted by free software, and not forced into it, but in the bigger picture there are a great number of users that don’t choose at all, because they don’t know that they can.

I’m all for educating users. I just find it funny that when someone shows me Open Office, or any other free office suite, and they have this feeling of betrayal when I say “I’ll stick with Microsoft Office.”

Given your example of Amaya, I downloaded it and tried it out. It was pretty good, I was actually impressed, but it didn’t have intellisense for CSS, which is a deal breaker for me. I didn’t care for the interface much either, which is a personal preference.

Now, if I was the type of FOSS user that I’m talking about in this blog entry, except I was pro-proprietary software, I would ensue to explain how you are ignorant for using Amaya instead of Dreamweaver for the lack of features, poor interface, etc. But no, I don’t do that because that is just stupid. If someone likes Amaya, then use Amaya. If someone likes Dreamweaver, use Dreamweaver. Bother users can be educated about the existence of each other, but one user being fan boyish and bashing the other just because of their personal beliefs and preferences is pointless.

What people like you do is write a pointless blog about how OSS is insufficient for their needs but you don’t go to the relevent project’s pages and give feedback about what you want in that software and how it can be improved for you. Open source is alot like having your own personal programmer, granted that there is enough interest in your specific need.

Correction: some OSS solutions don’t meet my needs. There is a big difference. If I want to pay for a better solution for my personal preferences and needs, then its like having my own personal programmer. Only I pay them to ensure quality.

I’m not going to spend anymore time replying to your comments. I don’t feel like wasting the time.

Translation: “business principles don’t line up with the rest of the world.”

They get bored of not being able to do all the things they used to and re-install windows

Translation: They get bored of being in a productive well built environment, and are unable to play the latest gamez.

So you can call me stupid all you want, but being able to do everything I do, compared to being limited to what linux desktop can do, Linux doesn’t make sense.

Translation: I am actually stupid. Ignore me.

It is a total crime for a business to abuse open source licenses, however its okay to for users to abuse business’s licenses.

Translation: It’s okay for mike tyson to beat up a baby, but its not okay if the baby bleeds on him.

Your taking the wrong side of the David vs. Goliath argument and your being on the counter productive side of the argument. Open source advocates are being hurt by the fact that many of them are forced to use Windows/Mac at work. Now that may not be such a hassle for you, writing this rather biased blog, but for people who truly try to change the world it makes a difference. It’s not “your choice” that’s making open source advocates sour, but rather the effect that your choice contributes to robbing everyone else of theirs.

I do think that users should become attracted by free software, and not forced into it, but in the bigger picture there are a great number of users that don’t choose at all, because they don’t know that they can.
You may think thats okay for them, but the truth is that many of them are suffering under license fees which they cannot actually afford.

What people like you do is write a pointless blog about how OSS is insufficient for their needs but you don’t go to the relevent project’s pages and give feedback about what you want in that software and how it can be improved for you. Open source is alot like having your own personal programmer, granted that there is enough interest in your specific need.

I guess if you were a little quicker on the uptake you would know that W3c has an HTML editor that works on Linux(Amaya). Krita looks like a promising photo editor, Open office is not the only office suite anymore(Lotus Symphony, KOffice)

The ability to program requires certain mental abilities and sets a programmer apart from a “normal, real user.”

Not all programmers are good at user interface design, but thats an inexcusable generilasation. Many of my interface designs have been applauded for usability, contextual help/consistebcy/good validation etc… Also saying that programmers don’t know what real users want is bullshit. OSS Programmers start any application for themselves, from the perspective of a user.

Stallman is an insane zealot and so are all his hardcore followers, but that doesn’t give you a right to bash OSS. I actually think you should be charged for software, because you don’t deserve to get it for free.

You are not wrong or evil, you are just stupid. Nothing wrong with that, I make a living from stupid people.

You’re right, if I wanted a secondary PC around the house for just the basics, linux would work for me. However, hrm, what about for my main machine?

Programs That Won’t Work With Linux:

Ventrilo
xcode
Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft Office (I’m going to call BS on the OpenOffice being the best. While its good for free, I feel much more productive with Office 07)
Mail.app (I use Thunderbird on my main machine, but Mail.app is by far better than Thunderbird. The search and indexing alone is very good. Usually when I can’t find an email on Thunderbird or Outlook, I use Mail.app and find it very quick.)
Any Fun Video Game
Photoshop (sorry, but I like the interface better with Photoshop than gimp)
Dreamweaver (who else am I going to use? nvu? Please)
Flash Pro (I know I can view flash on linux, but not create flash movies)

The list goes on and on after that. I use a lot of open source products day to day, but I need Windows and OS X to run the programs I make a living with. I can make enough in one day to pay for my windows license easy. Plus having an OS that all the major software vendors design for is nice.

I help people which wreck their windows or macox and I do that a lot because unix I install once and then after five years I throw the installation away because the system is too old.

I’m also going to call your bluff on this one. I’ve had many friends “go linux” before. I can tell you exactly what happens:

1) The install an OS
2) They like it for like 2-3 discovering new things and playing around with it
3) They realize all the other distros out there and re-install a few more to check them out.
4) They spend days trying out tricks and tips on how to do “cool” things with Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, or which ever distro.
5) After they have their fill of customizing and tweaking their OS, they spend a day actually using it.
6) They get bored of not being able to do all the things they used to and re-install windows.

I have had a dozen friends do this. I even have a friend who goes through the cycle about every 2-3 months. He loves just tinkering, but eventually returns to windows. I’ve never had a virus problem with vista. I’ve never had a performance problem with vista. I have had problems getting linux to work on my powerful machines. The only time you install linux once and leave it is with servers. I love linux for servers. I don’t care for it for my primary desktop.

So you can call me stupid all you want, but being able to do everything I do, compared to being limited to what linux desktop can do, Linux doesn’t make sense.

Of course recently the strong FSF adherents don’t believe you should have to pay to see a movie either.

All

Great thread

What is the most used software today?

Browser
Mail
Office
Mediaplayer

What is the best software for the job?

Firefox
Thunderbird
Openoffice
VLC

Why exactly should I run those on MacOx?