GNU/Linux, Our Path to Software Freedom
Being in and around the GNU/Linux community allowed me to observe several things about the community that I always find interesting, a trend that I am calling "Linux Freedom". Perhaps this label would have been more applicable about 5-10 years ago, because I do believe that it is wearing off more recently as corporations like Microsoft become more hostile towards GNU/Linux, but it unfortunately still applies to a large portion of the monopolies today.
I've spent over a decade with GNU/Linux as my daily driver before I got fed up with the monopolies' hostility towards anyone else and their utter assault on GNU/Linux, which they're worried be the perfect "OS" that has no real problems whatsoever. It is well known outside of the community that they like to be hostile towards other Operating Systems and their users, only over time this hostility has become more acceptable as the Internet and tech communities have shifted towards openwashing as an attack tactic, even in Gemini. GNU/Linux is seen as following the very fundamentals that are strictly opposed to the monopolies that they have always been hostile towards, and so the shift towards Free software and the downfall of Microsoft have been viewed as a justification of the past and present explanations of reality. It certainly didn't help that Microsoft's attitude towards GNU/Linux since the 80s was nothing short of hatred, as this gave the GNU/Linux community something to come together on and distinguish oneself from. It is this type of hatred by Microsoft, distinguishing that company like Fundamentalist religious sects. It is often for survival of the Windows monopoly rents that this was done at the start until the present, as it continues to fester and grow, causing harm to both society and those outside of it.
Microsoft Fundamentalism has many characteristics that parallel religious fundamentalism. There are fundamentals, particularly among those most stringently hating Free-as-in-freedom Software, those who are often the most extreme in their Fundamentalist approach against Freedom. Microsoft Fundamentalists are quick to point out, and overexagerate, the flaws of GNU/Linux without recognizing the flaws of their own system. The lack of nuance and balance is very apparent as they ignore the lack of standardization that Windows inherently has, being spaghetti code and not an Operating System. There certainly was a social hierarchy among the Microsoft clergy, with those who aren't knowledgeable about the bribery manuals being at the lowest rung, and those who can bribe world leaders (and corporate tools) themselves being on the highest rung, e.g. Bill Gates. With all of this taken into account, it is no surprise to me that social conservatism (i.e., rejection of Freedom, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, antisemitism, rejection of social responsibility and justice) has overlapped with the Microsofters, or that extreme "social liberalism" (i.e., anarchy, rejection of governance structures or social contracts, antisemitism) also overlaps with the Microsoft recruits, e.g. Mr. Cantrell.
Not all of the Microsoft cult adheres to the dogma of the divine perfection of Windows, however. There was a series called "Linux Sucks" by Microsoft's very own Bryan Lunduke that would be a trolling spectacle done over and over again. But even then, smart people did not want to hear it, and many of the alleged problems pointed out by those presentations, and many others who criticised GNU/Linux for its accentuated or exaggerated or outdated problems, will continue to be pink unicorns even today.
Eventually, I let go of Windows' Fundamentalists and entered reality and noticed that GNU/Linux and its userspace are more Freedom-respecting than every other OS. I've not had to deal with wifi driver problems, having to manually compile wifi drivers, theming in Manjaro breaking all of the time, graphics being unsupported or broken... █
Also see: Response to a provocative piece by Christian Siebold (christian.seibold32@outlook.com) originally published in Geminispace some hours ago.