The power of custom

This is an interesting article on Two ways Microsoft sabotages Linux desktop adoption. I think the title is a bit off: Microsoft doesn't directly control Linux drivers and the problem of stubborn users has more to do with what they are used to than anything Microsoft has specifically done or not done.

Have you ever thought of it the other way around? For some of us, whose primary computer use never has been Microsoft Windows, trying to force us into a switch would be every bit as difficult as trying to switch ordinary Windows folks to Linux or Mac. Everything is wrong, everything is uncomfortable. Where are my Red, Yellow and Green Window controls? There's no "grep", no "sed". Almost nothing is text files, which makes "grep" and "awk" partly pointless anyway. I could add in a lot of Unix-like tools and even shells, but it still wouldn't quite be "right" - Windows has different ideas about task scheduling and it's not a subtle change at all: you can actually feel the difference.

Admittedly, assuming I was allowed to add other programs and utilities, I could probably make myself a lot more comfy on a Windows system than a Windows person ever could if they were forced to use OS X. For one thing, like most Mac and Linux folk, I'm at least partially familar with Windows anyway: it's hard to miss it. But many a Windows user has never had their eyes on anything but a Gates controlled desktop, so their adjustment is harder right off the bat: they aren't visiting a relative's house; they've been uprooted and plucked down in a completely foreign place.

A lot of what that article wants to blame on Microsoft is just human nature: we like what we are comfortable with, and we don't like change.

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