Jason Snell, the editor of Macworld, wrote a very sensible editorial on how Mac and Windows users can co-exist.
I’ve met a number of Linux jocks, all of whom learned their trade in very expensive schools, like MIT. That, as far as I can figure out, is how most people get their entree to UNIX and UNIX-derivative world, which has always struck me as ironic.
I’ve concluded from this that the antagonism of the Open Source community to all things Microsoft is more a form of social class snobbery than legitimate exception either to MSFT’s technology or to Bill Gates’ business practices.
It’s like doctors and nutritionists railing against fat people. They are projecting their excessive discretionary income, a form of waste and self-indulgence, onto those who supposedly eat to excess. In the process, the food fascists create excuses for their own guilt and bigotry.
Similarly, those Open Source-ites who are wealthy and privileged have a subliminal contempt for those who are not, disguising their prejudices as faux intellectual purity.
It’s really a shame, since both camps offer benefits, both to the user and developer communities.