Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to Linux

Berticus · 2008-06-11 13:50:18

I stop trying to get people to switch to Linux about 1 year after I started using it back in 2001 or 2002. Now I just let people come to me!

Here are some reasons people told me why they're not switching to Linux:

You don't get to use all of your hardware in Linux.

I think a little explanation is required for this one, he didn't mean hardware incompatability, he was saying how Linux is too efficient. So if he had 2 GB of RAM, probably only 512 MB of it would be used, so it's a waste of money in that sense. Or, again due to Linux's efficiency, if he got a 3.0 GHz processor, it would probably be idle most of the time.

We need Windows to force people to upgrade hardware, which causes better hardware to come out. That's what Vista is going to do. With the release of Vista, we'll see a whole bunch of new things come out right away to meet the system requirements. However, if everybody used Linux, it would be too efficient, and we'd never get new hardware. Nobody would be producing anything since there wouldn't be a demand for it.

As you can probably tell, this was before the release of Vista. It was in the same discussion as the previous post. Eventualy the two tried out Linux, but they don't use it on a regular basis.

Windows costs more, so it must be better.

This guy also said:

It's not made by Microsoft

XFire · 2008-06-11 13:52:50

Those are quite funny. "Its not made by M$"

MONODA · 2008-06-11 14:00:06

Here are some:
its free so it must suck
how can you trust your entire computer with something you get off the internet for free?
its different
it sucks(this guy never tried it)
Windows r0x0rz
its too complicated
I dont want to ruin my computer
Windows is so much better
it requires more effort to keep running properly than windows does
I would rather trust an empire than something that is free...
it doesnt have MS Office (ok maybe not so stupid, but check the reason for using OOo wasnt because it doesnt have all the features but because: it is free )
I dont feel like having to track down all the drivers etc (also maybe not so stupid, but this almost is never a problem in linux since all driver can be installed with a command or are already installed.

Almost all were from the same person. I cant believe it either...

Last edited by MONODA (2008-06-11 14:03:33)

droog · 2008-06-11 14:22:37

Just saw this posted by people bashing linux and thought it was funny.
http://two.xthost.info/navi/1213168900038.png

The only reason i hear from family and friends is they see me on the command line mostly, so think they would have to learn thousands of commands.
They dont believe me when i say its easy if you set it up to be easy. I dont bother to install cool stuff to show off to them so it's kind of my fault.

alex_anthony · 2008-06-11 14:31:30

"cos its the worst of the OSs"

karoshi · 2008-06-11 14:40:34

"Linux doesnt support CMYK"
"I need Photoshop, (I dont know how to use it, dont have the money to buy it, but anyway)"

peets · 2008-06-11 15:22:15

"It's ugly."
"But I want a Mac."

Though I understand some of the other excuses, such as "After all these years, I'm finally getting used to Windows and emails and Word. I don't want to have to start from the beginning again!" coming from casual computer users. There is a cost involved in switching to linux: we have to learn how to use it.

moljac024 · 2008-06-11 15:40:51

Some of these are valid, like the cost of learning linux and that it requires more maintenance than windows.

However some people really need Photoshop and/or Corel Draw.

And some need to game (but we don't really need that kind of clientele ).

Zepp · 2008-06-11 15:48:37

moljac024 wrote:

... and that it requires more maintenance than windows.

I don't really buy this one, some of the others are valid though. I don't try and make people switch or rant on about why I like Linux so much, been using Linux long enough to already have learned that lesson.

sniffles · 2008-06-11 16:02:57

/me ponders about opening a "Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to BSD" thread

I never got that whole "convince people to switch to linux" thing. It's usually newbies who do it, feeling they have to spread the word about their 'new found love'.

One more thing: regarding this thread, it somehow assumes people are supposed to give You reasons for not switching to Linux; and that assumption is lame.

Last edited by sniffles (2008-06-11 16:04:27)

Zepp · 2008-06-11 16:12:15

sniffles wrote:

/me ponders about opening a "Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to BSD" thread
I never got that whole "convince people to switch to linux" thing. It's usually newbies who do it, feeling they have to spread the word about their 'new found love'.
One more thing: regarding this thread, it somehow assumes people are supposed to give You reasons for not switching to Linux; and that assumption is lame.

++

Sp4rkR4t · 2008-06-11 16:37:11

I tend to spend most of my time telling my friends not to bother switching as they couldn't handle the change to a well thought out OS. This has two effects, the actual intelligent ones resolve to try and learn about it instead of just asking me all the time for stupid little things and the less technically inclined stay the hell away so I can get some sleep.

Last edited by Sp4rkR4t (2008-06-11 22:46:44)

tlaloc · 2008-06-11 17:02:23

"No-one understands that", and
"No-one can operate this system"

(My parents on a full-fleged Ubuntu, which I had set up for them)

It all boils down to "It is different" (already mentioned above) and - even worse - down to "You don't teach us!". No, I won't. You cannot teach anything to anyone who lacks any bit of curiosity, or to someone who wants to have everything so easy as it was three years before.

They are back on XP now - not my responsibility:).

Zer0 · 2008-06-11 17:16:29

I don't bother telling people to switch. Never really did run around gloating about how this OS is better then that OS or whatnot. Why? I may be a Linux fanboy but I don't feel the need to convert others. What works best for me doesn't mean it will work best for others. If they are happy with Windows/Mac/BSD/Other.. that's fine with me. I'm a tech geek, I like to know how things work and tweak them.. but there are people in the world who don't care how things work, just care that they work.

I don't tell my neighbour what kind of car he should buy, what kind of religion he warships, etc.. It's his choice. That's the beauty of life.
If however someone is ill-informed about the choices.. well then it's our duty to let them know they have a choice. If they want some help exploring the Linux choice then I'm there to help them.

Berticus · 2008-06-11 17:28:37

sniffles wrote:

/me ponders about opening a "Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to BSD" thread
I never got that whole "convince people to switch to linux" thing. It's usually newbies who do it, feeling they have to spread the word about their 'new found love'.
One more thing: regarding this thread, it somehow assumes people are supposed to give You reasons for not switching to Linux; and that assumption is lame.

The convincing people to switch is indeed just a newbie thing. And it does not build on the assumption that people are supposed to give you a reason for not switching. If they have given you a reason, and it's lame, what is it? But I think the "Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to linux" is easy enough to understand and we don't need to spell out the full "tell us the lame excuse people give you to not switch to linux if they give you a reason." That would be lame just because it's too specific that to the point where it's just unnecessary. While nobody I've helped migrate to Linux has switched back, if someone did switch back, I would be curious about why they did.

As for when someone asks me how long it took me to learn linux, I tell them I didn't learn it all at once, but as things came up, I figured out how to do things. This basically makes the learning curve more leveled. The last guy was unusually interested with the terminal and asked how to use it. I told him to stay with the gui first, and then gradually learn how to do things in the terminal as things came up. The desktop environments are good enough as it is that you don't necessarily need to use the terminal as much anymore.

Anyway, here's another one I just remembered:

I'm going to have a triple boot. Windows to game, Mac to actually do things and Linux just because it's cool

he's basically saying he doesn't think he'll be able to do anything in Linux. It's just there for eye-candy.

11010010110 · 2008-06-11 20:24:53

A lame excuse is not why not use a system

A lame excuse is an excuse why not try something new if you can and in the worst case you return to your old good windows or whatever

This thinking landed me in Gentoo as my first distro

I heard people say its hard and everything

I said - i believe i can do it. And if not then i will try someting else

And cause i liked the Gentoo way and yet wanted to try something new - Arch was next

kensai · 2008-06-11 21:54:52

"Because the Arch Linux Newsletter Author 'kensai' is bad, and I don't like him." - A friend of mine

At the end, it all comes to the "I'm used to windows." As everybody else has found out.

elliott · 2008-06-12 04:29:29

I've never really tried to convert anyone, I am much happier taking their money to repair their Windows systems on a regular basis when they break them, while using my own Arch systems relatively trouble free for years on the same install.

Allan · 2008-06-12 04:40:15

kensai wrote:

"Because the Arch Linux Newsletter Author 'kensai' is bad, and I don't like him." - A friend of mine

The all purpose excuse!

A friend of mine told be it was because it was easier to trust a guy looking like Bill Gates than Richard Stallman. Then I pointed out that "criminals in court wear suits" but he countered with "you wouldn't trust a homeless guy to look after your stuff, so why trust someone who looks like one to look after parts of your computer system". I retorted with "He doesn't look homeless. Homeless people tend to be skinnier." and it went downhill from there...

tlaloc · 2008-06-12 09:49:07

Yes, it is all downhill from here ...

shining · 2008-06-12 11:19:10

"X.org sucks"

http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?si … d=23746477

sniffles · 2008-06-12 12:21:09

Allan wrote:

A friend of mine told be it was because it was easier to trust a guy looking like Bill Gates than Richard Stallman. Then I pointed out that "criminals in court wear suits" but he countered with "you wouldn't trust a homeless guy to look after your stuff, so why trust someone who looks like one to look after parts of your computer system".

Funny stuff. I fail to see why one would have to trust those two particular characters though. Does BG dictate the quality of Windows? Does RMS dictate the quality of *cough* GNU/Linux ?

Allan · 2008-06-12 12:28:38

sniffles wrote:

Funny stuff. I fail to see why one would have to trust those two particular characters though. Does BG dictate the quality of Windows? Does RMS dictate the quality of *cough* GNU/Linux ?

Funny things are rarely factually correct... Nor are many of the arguments I am involved in!

Berticus · 2008-06-12 12:29:02

sniffles wrote:

Funny stuff. I fail to see why one would have to trust those two particular characters though. Does BG dictate the quality of Windows? Does RMS dictate the quality of *cough* GNU/Linux ?

It would appear as though it does to that guy...

Personally I do think Stallman needs to up his grooming standards, and bill gates should workout. But to each his own, right?

celthias · 2008-06-12 23:19:11

Two reasons I heard recently:

1. The classic "I HAVE used Linux. About 5 years ago. It was crap." and
2. "Linux is crap, the entire thing is written by noobs."

Number two was deadly serious too, I was dumbfounded..definately a nomination for most ill-informed, ignorant statement of the year.

Arch Linux

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Lame excuses you've heard not to switch to Linux

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