Osugi Sakae

MS Windows advocates sometimes claim that “normal people” (1) don’t like having choices and that all the Linux distributions confuse people.

Just a quick question: have any of the people who argue this ever seen or been in an American supermarket? Have you seen the cereal aisle? The toothpaste section? Seriously, my wife is from Japan and she had some serious culture shock the first time she saw all the choices for things like toothpaste, deodorant, spaghetti sauces, etc, etc.

Personally, I don’t think “too much choice” has anything to do with the “popularity” of MS Windows. The explanation is much simpler — the network effect, years of having a monopoly, and the fact that most “normal people” don’t know or care one way or the other.

(1) “normal person” meaning anyone who isn’t motivated to advocate for an operating system or desktop environment or who doesn’t consider operating systems their hobby.

What is the purpose of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution? Not self-defense from muggers, rapists, or even murderers. The 2nd amendment exists to allow citizens to protect themselves from their government. Citizens have a responsibility to resist tyranny and oppression and they must have the ability to do so.

This is probably a good time to mention that nothing I am writing about here has anything to do with current politics in the United States. The US government is not tyrannical and there is currently, in my mind, absolutely no need for anyone to rebel against it. In fact, the election of 2008 showed just how healthy the US democracy actually is.

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