"Just before the demise of Commodore, a marketing executive for the
company summarized what he thought led to the Amiga's failure to capture
significant market share. He minced no words: `The fanatical element
among our customer base hasn't done us any favors.'
"The similarities between the Amiga camp and Linux users are striking.
If a journalist writes an article about, say, printers, he or she may
get several flaming letters from Amigoids complaining that mention of
the Amiga was excluded from the review. Not only is the Amiga the
best desktop publishing system on the market, they'd say, but you'd be
an idiot to run anything else. And by the way, I know where you live.
"Linux fanatics display similar zeal when they slam MS-DOS (MS-DOG),
Windows (Windoze), Windows NT, and the people who use them. Never
mind that your PC must be running MS-DOS before you can install Linux.
[Of course that's not true but the point still stands. --ben] Also,
never mind that DOSEMU and Wine, DOS and Windows emulators, are among
the most touted achievements of Linux developers. Flames erupt
frequently on the Usenet when a heretic suggests there's another OS
worth running. Heated respondents pen pages of incendiary prose in
reply.
"The uncivil behavior of these few loudmouths threatens to hold Linux
back from the stature it deserves. As with the Amiga, many people
who could benefit from trying Linux are put off enough by these
displays to take their interest elsewhere. Some journalists refuse
to take Linux seriously because of the regular Usenet rants, letters
to editors, and angry calls to computer talk shows. Linux techno-
troopers may not realize that their irrational activism plays a
significant role in keeping them a minority.
"We should see a taming of the rhetoric as commercial players get
involved. Red Hat Linux is a publicized commercial release.
Considering they cost vendors nothing, we should see Linux releases
covered by proper documentation, support, and even licensed additions
(e.g., OSF/Motif) while maintaining a consumer-friendly price."
ben