[email protected] - Oh my gosh I just figured it out.
Okay, all you open source evangelist people: your knee-jerk reaction to come at people who are talking about a problem with whatever commercial software they use and suggest Your Favorite Alternatives™ is exactly like saying "why don't you just buy a house?" to someone complaining about their landlord.
[email protected] - Actually, to borrow from @DoubleA, it's worse than that.
It's like talking to someone who is in a crappy apartment as though they have the agency and skills to stake out a plot of land and build their own home.
You have to be at peace with the fact that some people just want to exist and not worry about so many things. And they still have a right to complain about their situation.
Link to thread: https://mas.to/@TechConnectify/111539959265152243
What an idiotic comparison.
Buying a house costs so much money and time that most people cannot afford to, and those who can generally must go into debt for most of their remaining lives in order to do so. Suggesting FOSS to replace "whatever commercial software they use" is the polar opposite, in that it's literally free (usually in both senses of the word). It's more like suggesting that someone consider a new route to commute from home to work.
Also, this opening...
...is incredibly reductive and combative. The world needs less of that, not more.
Suggesting people 'just' buy a house is unhelpful, because it assumes they have enough money to do so.
Suggesting people 'just' use FOSS is often unhelpful, because it assumes they have sufficient computer abilities and/or have the time to learn how.
Some kid who's just started writing his thesis and enjoys fiddling with stuff? Sure, recommend LaTex.
Some overstretched parent of two, who gets home at 8 and just needs to edit a powerpoint for a presentation at the end of the week? No, suggesting they install a piece of software, something they've never done before, and learn to use this piece of software they've never used, to finish something that needs to be done by the end of the night, and that they're almost certainly going to be using in an office (ie. windows/office) environment? Not helpful.
@Hyperreality
"Suggesting people 'just' use FOSS is often unhelpful, because it assumes they have sufficient computer abilities and/or have the time to learn how."
I mean, it took my parents in law 10 minutes to learn and they're almost 80. Realistically, if you're using a computer, you have sufficient computer abilities and time to learn Linux.
If they are almost 80, they have plenty of time on their hands.
Thank you for proving their point.
And no, it didn't took them 10 minutes to learn a whole new OS, that is just dishonest.