Subject: "Religious" or "Holy" Wars

From: "Uri Even-Chen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:41:02 +0300

In relation to "religious" or "holy" wars in computers, I would like
to mention the two major world wars: PC vs. Macintosh and Windows vs.
Linux (and of course, all other versions of OS).  I would like to
relate to the second world war: Windows vs. Linux.  Although I like
very much the concept of Open Source Free Software, and I hate very
much the concepts of proprietary software, copyrights, software
license, closed source software and software monopolies, I personally
find it very difficult to switch from Windows to any version of Linux
I tried.  And when I think about most of the people I know who use
computers, I think it's almost impossible for them to stop using
Windows.  They are used to Windows, it's easy to use, all their
friends use it (so they can always share their knowledge with them)
and they can even get it for free (without paying) although it's not
always legal but nobody cares.  People want the work to be done.  And
as long as it's easier and/or takes less time to do the work with
Windows, that's what they will do.  I have seen computers in many
places - homes, offices, public places and also in other countries.
They all use Windows.  Most people use computers for surfing the web,
using e-mail and sometimes programs such as Word and Excel.  They
don't need anything more than a basic computer with Windows has.  So
with all the respect I have (and I have) for Free Software, I just
can't see how most of the population will stop using Windows and
switch to anything else.

The only way I can see people will do it, is if there will be an OS
which is 100% compatible with Windows, looks like Windows and people
would not feel any difference when using it.  Then nobody would object
it to be Free and Open Source.  But if people need to switch to
something new, something they don't know, while all their friends are
still using Windows, I don't see any chance that most of the
population will do it.  It's like driving on either the left or the
right side of the street.  The change is so big, so nobody wants to
change.  People keep driving on the same side they are used to.

I want all of you to have Shana Tova Umetuka - sweet and happy new
year to you and your family.  I wish you to learn new things, meet new
people and go to places you haven't been there before, and also come
back to loved places where you have been and meet again people you
know.

Best Regards,
Uri Even-Chen

On 9/2/07, Omer Zak <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
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>
>
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> This is off-topic to the topic which I raised, and to which people
> answered only by replying to someone else, who had different issues.
>
> However, the topic of religious (or holy) wars in this context is an
> interesting topic to explore at its own right, so I'm accepting the
> challenge.
>
> It seems to me that religious wars are about choice between two (or
> more) approaches, which are more or less equivalent - but require some
> time investment to switch from one to the other.
>
> The famous example of vi vs. emacs religious war illustrates this point.
> Both editors are powerful text editors, and both have some sort of
> scripting capabilities. However, to switch from one to the other
> requires some time investment - to learn the other editor, to cultivate
> different mental habits, to re-create one's personal list of scripts,
> tips, riffs and shortcuts.
>
> However, people typically do not defend their editor choices by invoking
> the expense of conversion to the other editor. They prefer to invent
> all kinds of arguments to justify their original editor choice, made 10
> years ago.
>
> --- Omer
>
> On Sun, 2007-09-02 at 08:43 -0700, Omer Shapira wrote:
> > Is this a holy war?
> >
> > On 8/26/07, Omer Zak <[email-masked]> wrote:
> > Currently I use emacs and makefiles to develop code in
> > projects, which
> > use C++, Python and PHP.
> > I am considering whether to switch to a "true" IDE, such as
> > KDevelop or
> > Eclipse.
> >
> > What is the community's opinion about IDEs?
> > Any other Free Software IDEs I overlooked?
> > Which IDE is, in your opinion, better and for which
> > language/s?
>
> --
> My Commodore 64 is suffering from slowness and insufficiency of memory;
> and its display device is grievously short of pixels. Can anyone help?
> My own blog is at http://www.zak.co.il/tddpirate/
>
> My opinions, as expressed in this E-mail message, are mine alone.
> They do not represent the official policy of any organization with which
> I may be affiliated in any way.
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>
>