Just what do you say to the Windows Weenie

Now okay the term "Windows Weenie" is somewhat pejorative, I'll admit, but what else do you call them? Potential Free Software Users? Proprietary Software Fans? The Unenlightened? Sheep? Whatever you call them, they're the people you meet who are actively pro-proprietary software or veremently anti-free software. I've met quite a few who have reacted in very different ways ...

Now okay the term “Windows Weenie” is somewhat pejorative, I’ll admit, but what else do you call them?

Potential Free Software Users?
Proprietary Software Fans?
The Unenlightened?
Sheep?

Whatever you call them, they’re the people you meet who are actively pro-proprietary software or veremently anti-free software. I’ve met quite a few who have reacted in very different ways when they see/hear/learn I’m a fan of free and open source software. I’ve had all of the following:-

“Yeah, but there’s no software for it”

This one makes me laugh. Given a blank windows machine – well an OEM supplied one that comes with some cut-down or time-limited copy of Microsoft Works or Office you have to work a fair bit to go and get all the software you want/need to install. With my Ubuntu machine I can use the software that’s already installed such as Mozilla Firefox, Evolution (mail client), OpenOffice.org (productivity) or GAIM (instant messenger) or choose Applications –> Add/Remove and then use a nice gui to select from a fairly comprehensive list of additional applications to use.

When Windows users say that to me I think what they’re really saying is “There’s this one that I have used for years and I hear it’s not available for or wont run on Linux therefore I hereby dismiss the thousands of other applications that are available out of hand”. That’s what they often mean anyway. Maybe they mean “I tried Linux years ago and there was no software for it then, and as we all know the computing industry is a static animal and there can’t possibly be any new software that has been developed for it since then can there!?”. Well, really, I just don’t know what to say to these blinkered people. Maybe just shove an Ubuntu Live CD in their hands and ask them to have a look at that.

“Yeah, but you can’t run games on it”

You certainly can’t run every game on Linux that you can for other platforms, that’s true. It’s a shame really that the Linux Operating System doesn’t get targetted by games developers. There are projects on the go though to port games over to Linux or make them work through compatibility layers such as WINE and Cedega. I generally concede this point, but also point out I have a few consoles for games playing when I feel the need

“Ugh, you use the command line!?”

Only when I have to or want to. Just because there have been tools devised to make life easier for us, they don’t suit every possible situation. Take for example the blender in my kitchen. It’s clearly easier to use than the knife when chopping an onion – a basic task that I perform frequently. But when I want to delicately trim a tomato for decorative purposes it’s no good at all. I’d end up with tomato puree when I wanted a half a tomato cut in an elaborate way.

Sometimes the most basic tools like the command line are the best/fastest/easiest way to get a job done. Yes it might be great if there was a GUI for every possible task that you might ever want to achieve on a computer, but there isn’t, get over it. Even if there was it would likely be massively complex, difficult to use and there will always be those edge-cases where it doesn’t quite fit the task in hand. Don’t be scared of the command line, countless computer users have trodden that road before you, and many will after you are dust, don’t think you’re somehow special because you don’t need the command line, you’re in a minority.

“I don’t want to have to learn a whole load of new stuff”

I have a mouse mat on my desk. It has a picture of Homer Simpson saying “Every time I learn something new it pushes some old stuff out of my brain!”. Your brain is not a computer with a finite amount of storage. Learning new stuff is good for you, it exercises your brain and makes you a more valuable person to society. Yes it’s time consuming to learn something new, but what the hell else are you going to do with your time, watch another episode of Lost?

“It’s free, it must be rubbish”

That free newspaper you get on the train, read it do you? Many do. Just because something is free of cost to you doesn’t immediately mean it has no intrinsic value, or is any way lower quality than something you personally paid for.

People created this free software stuff, real people. It doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. I find it somewhat rude to dismiss it out of hand as poor-quality. The people who craft this stuff really want it to work for them and other people. They feel so passionately that they want it to work that they are willing to give the stuff away so others can help them make it better. To me it sounds wrong that the vendors of proprietary software can effectively say “pay us more money for this stuff and we will make it better” when the humble free software author says “I have done my best but I can make this better with the help of others, help me and we can make this better together”.

Of course some proprietary software is indeed better than the free counterpart. Many proprietary software vendors have huge offices with large teams of programmers, artists, project managers and others who craft the stuff for an honest days wage. Most free software projects are quite small (although many aren’t) with teams spread all over the world, often never even meeting eachother, whilst coding in their spare time. It’s therefore not surprising that a lot of proprietary software is rated above free software counterparts. This is something that only the free software “industry” can address.

Bah, is it worth even trying to convert people who so clearly don’t want to be converted?