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This was written in responce to a John C. Dvorak article that was written a few years back. PC Magazine expects me to pay to read the article, therefore I will not link to it.

And it goes full circle; most of his argument is about which is better; Linux or XP; and not about how a W32 Driver layer attached to Linux could corner the linux market.

Now, I’m nowhere close to an expert on the Linux Kernel; but I figure that rationally, a device pass-off to windows drivers is plausible; and having said that – it seems to be a great idea. It just seems to me that my biggest beef with Linux is it’s absolute lack of driver support; I know – the fanboys will stone me for saying this, but the driver support; especially for people who want to have upgraded systems, is practically non-existent. Hell, the last time I installed Fedora Core, It didn’t even support my old SoundBlaster Live Card.

Now, that puts me in a predicament; do I want to use this great, open source OS that doesn’t support some of my devices – devices that I bought for a reason… that doesn’t run the software I want it to run (see: video games) or do I run the native platform that practically everything I use is based on?

Practically every piece of software I use on a day to day basis is Windows Only… Desktop Sidebar, Microsoft Office, Winamp, Media Portal, Trillian, Doom III, Half Life 2… sure, some of them will work like crap with wine; and there are the open source alternatives… but that’s missing the point – I don’t want to use XMMS and Gaim, and setup a dual boot to play Doom III – that’s stupid… I want to use ALL the software I want to use, and I want to do it in one environment. I want to use the operating system that offers me the easiest user experience, and the software that works the way I want it to. It’s as simple as that – it doesn’t mean that I’m less of a geek for not wanting to use Linux; it means that I’m not going to lower my expectations for my software so I can live it up in Bash and KDE. If I wanted a good Linux system, I’d spend two hundred bucks, but I spent two thousand – and for my money, Linux isn’t doing shit for me.

The only reason I run a high-end rig is to quickly and efficiently run the software I have; and Linux does that superbly in many instances; however Linux isn’t one size fits all; some of us want a quick OS experience that allows us to do what we bought the computer for; run software – not to dick around in x86config and hope to god our video card is supported in a decent resolution; or screwing with sounddrake for a week trying to get a sound to emanate from a sound card that works perfectly in XP.

Sorry John; Linux is here to stay – but if they expect the high end users to switch to it; they’re going to have to integrate a W32 API so my software will run AND have complete compatibility with all my hardware; they aren’t even close… I’ll stick with Windows. And not only that, they’re going to have to make serious effort to lesson the learning curve – I’m all for trying new stuff out, but I’m not going to learn Spanish just to order at Taco Bell, if you catch my drift.

Now, I use open source software all the time… whenever I can find it, and it suits my purposes, I’ll use it… because I use the best software I can get my hands on – as soon as a linux savant can show me how my using Linux will change my life for the better, I’m sticking with what works.

Windows XP r0x0rz

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