In article <pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com>,
MarkA <toor@nowhere.com> wrote:

Being a Linux user in a predominately Windows world has a lot in common
with being an atheist in a predominately theistic world. Most atheists
are former theists who took the time and effort to examine the
assumptions implicit in being a theist, and found they didn't stand up
to scrutiny. So, they buck the popular trend, abandon theism, and
become atheists. Having done so, they feel somewhat enlightened, and
look with some combination of puzzlement and scorn on those who still
cling to theism.

In a very similar way, many Linux users decided that staying with
Windows was foolish, and were willing to abandon the safety in numbers
mentality, and adopt an OS they feel is technically superior, albeit a
bit harder to master. We also feel more enlightened, and wonder why
more people don't see things the way we do.

Many Windows users don't care about how their computers work; they just
want them to work without a lot of effort on their part. The computers
they buy come with Windows installed on them, so they just accept using
it. Similarly, many theists don't really think much about their
religion, they just go to church every Sunday because that's what they
were taught to do by their parents, and they never saw a reason to stop.
If you point out to them the illogic of many of their beliefs, they
would agree that it doesn't make sense, but continue being theistic,
anyway.

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have
done them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing.
Habits are hard to break, and only those few who really want to change
are willing to even try.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

I am an atheist using Mac OS X.

In article <pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com>,
MarkA <toor@nowhere.com> wrote:

Being a Linux user in a predominately Windows world has a lot in common
with being an atheist in a predominately theistic world. Most atheists
are former theists who took the time and effort to examine the
assumptions implicit in being a theist, and found they didn't stand up to
scrutiny. So, they buck the popular trend, abandon theism, and become
atheists. Having done so, they feel somewhat enlightened, and look with
some combination of puzzlement and scorn on those who still cling to
theism.

In a very similar way, many Linux users decided that staying with Windows
was foolish, and were willing to abandon the safety in numbers mentality,
and adopt an OS they feel is technically superior, albeit a bit harder to
master. We also feel more enlightened, and wonder why more people don't
see things the way we do.

Many Windows users don't care about how their computers work; they just
want them to work without a lot of effort on their part. The
computers they buy come with Windows installed on them, so they
just accept using it. Similarly, many theists don't really think much
about their religion, they just go to church every Sunday because that's
what they were taught to do by their parents, and they never saw a reason
to stop. If you point out to them the illogic of many of their beliefs,
they would agree that it doesn't make sense, but continue being theistic,
anyway.

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have done
them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing. Habits
are hard to break, and only those few who really want to change are
willing to even try.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

I am an atheist using Mac OS X.

In article <pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com>,
MarkA <toor@nowhere.com> wrote:

Being a Linux user in a predominately Windows world has a lot in common
with being an atheist in a predominately theistic world. Most atheists
are former theists who took the time and effort to examine the
assumptions implicit in being a theist, and found they didn't stand up to
scrutiny. So, they buck the popular trend, abandon theism, and become
atheists. Having done so, they feel somewhat enlightened, and look with
some combination of puzzlement and scorn on those who still cling to
theism.

In a very similar way, many Linux users decided that staying with Windows
was foolish, and were willing to abandon the safety in numbers mentality,
and adopt an OS they feel is technically superior, albeit a bit harder to
master. We also feel more enlightened, and wonder why more people don't
see things the way we do.

Many Windows users don't care about how their computers work; they just
want them to work without a lot of effort on their part. The
computers they buy come with Windows installed on them, so they
just accept using it. Similarly, many theists don't really think much
about their religion, they just go to church every Sunday because that's
what they were taught to do by their parents, and they never saw a reason
to stop. If you point out to them the illogic of many of their beliefs,
they would agree that it doesn't make sense, but continue being theistic,
anyway.

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have done
them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing. Habits
are hard to break, and only those few who really want to change are
willing to even try.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

I am an atheist using Mac OS X.

In our last episode, <pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com>, the
lovely and talented MarkA broadcast on alt.atheism:

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

Because I'm using FreeBSD.

Really, I tried linux several times but had a number of problems. The
last time it was that I could not get PPP dial-up on demand to work with
command-line clients. And keyboard mapping was a horror of the first
order. All the dvelopment effort seemed to be going into making the
default GUI more and more like you-know-what. What I need is a text-based
(i.e command line) word processor that would work with a USB printer ---
or in other words, WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS on steroids. I've given up on
that and am writing a perl filter to convert plain text documents to faux
abiword, so I can print them from abiword. I wish I had my typewriter
back.

Face it. Every operating system on earth is trying to be just like
you-know-what or that GUI for artistic types. There is really no
alternative to point-and-click GUIs, so whatever you use is going to be
only marginally better than you-know-what. Sure, everything else is a
hell of a lot more secure than you-know-what --- so you can choose a more
secure desk brick or a less secure desk brick. But you still have
unreadable fonts, little pictures which all look the same, and that damned
mouse thing. No one seems willing to break away from the mind-prison of a
GUI. I wish I had my typewriter back.

Le Sun, 28 Jan 2007 23:06:01 -0500, MarkA a écrit :

Not necessarily harder, it is just for newbies. Something new always
appear more complicated. My wife has never used windows, only linux,
she would be completely lost in a windows environment.

MarkA <toor@nowhere.com> wrote in
news:pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com:

Being a Linux user in a predominately Windows world has a lot in common
with being an atheist in a predominately theistic world. Most atheists
are former theists who took the time and effort to examine the
assumptions implicit in being a theist, and found they didn't stand up
to scrutiny. So, they buck the popular trend, abandon theism, and
become atheists. Having done so, they feel somewhat enlightened, and
look with some combination of puzzlement and scorn on those who still
cling to theism.

In a very similar way, many Linux users decided that staying with
Windows was foolish, and were willing to abandon the safety in numbers
mentality, and adopt an OS they feel is technically superior, albeit a
bit harder to master. We also feel more enlightened, and wonder why
more people don't see things the way we do.

Many Windows users don't care about how their computers work; they just
want them to work without a lot of effort on their part. The computers
they buy come with Windows installed on them, so they just accept using
it. Similarly, many theists don't really think much about their
religion, they just go to church every Sunday because that's what they
were taught to do by their parents, and they never saw a reason to stop.
If you point out to them the illogic of many of their beliefs, they
would agree that it doesn't make sense, but continue being theistic,
anyway.

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have
done them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing.
Habits are hard to break, and only those few who really want to
change are willing to even try.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

Funny you should mention that because I'm looking into switching to Linux.

Any words of wisdom for a newbe?

MarkA <toor@nowhere.com> wrote in
news:pan.2007.01.29.04.06.01.266003@nowhere.com:

Being a Linux user in a predominately Windows world has a lot in common
with being an atheist in a predominately theistic world. Most atheists
are former theists who took the time and effort to examine the
assumptions implicit in being a theist, and found they didn't stand up
to scrutiny. So, they buck the popular trend, abandon theism, and
become atheists. Having done so, they feel somewhat enlightened, and
look with some combination of puzzlement and scorn on those who still
cling to theism.

In a very similar way, many Linux users decided that staying with
Windows was foolish, and were willing to abandon the safety in numbers
mentality, and adopt an OS they feel is technically superior, albeit a
bit harder to master. We also feel more enlightened, and wonder why
more people don't see things the way we do.

Many Windows users don't care about how their computers work; they just
want them to work without a lot of effort on their part. The computers
they buy come with Windows installed on them, so they just accept using
it. Similarly, many theists don't really think much about their
religion, they just go to church every Sunday because that's what they
were taught to do by their parents, and they never saw a reason to stop.
If you point out to them the illogic of many of their beliefs, they
would agree that it doesn't make sense, but continue being theistic,
anyway.

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have
done them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing.
Habits are hard to break, and only those few who really want to
change are willing to even try.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

I don't have enough faith to use Linux!

OK, what about OSX? Buddhist?

MarkA wrote:

It is much more comfortable to continue doing things the way you have
done them in the past, even if there are clear advantages to changing.
Habits are hard to break, and only those few who really want to change
are willing to even try.

Assuming this post is serious, it boils down to "let's all be different
together!" Or to paraphrase Calvin and Hobbes, let's show we're mavericks
through conformity in OS selection.

I guess the bottom line is, if you are an atheist, why aren't you using
Linux?

Because not every atheist is a mindless drone who feels he needs to do
what everyone else is doing to be cool.

There's a 10GB partition left available in case I ever need to install
Windows, but I haven't had to use it in around 2 years, ever since I
got CounterStrike to run on wine.