Here we are once again, back for this week’s rant of the week, where you all get to hear me rant, whine, stomp my little foot, and just basically give my feeble opinion (as little as that might be). 🙂
This week’s topic is something I see often, not just here at TechRepublic, but across several forum boards I either frequent, or moderate. I have no doubt you have seen the very same thing, or might have even found yourself engaged in such heated discussions. I am referring to ones personal choice of an operating system.
A discussion about ones operating system of choice can turn just as heated and ugly, as a discussion over politics and religion.
Like many things in life, whatever operating system one chooses to use is a personal preference. It in no way has any affect on another’s personal preference, but some, seem to feel it does. If you happen to prefer Windows, and your neighbor prefers Linux, your choice and your neighbor’s choice, does not affect one another’s life in any sort of form what so ever. So I’ve always found it amazing how some feel it’s their right to launch a personal attack on someone else simply because their personal preference of an operating system, does not match their own.
We each have our own preferences with our own likes and dislikes. We each have different needs, wants and desires on which operating system will best fulfill what we need, want and desire. No operating system is perfect; however, each operating system, depending on your own needs can be better or worse than another operating system. For example, if you are wanting something that you can just turn on, browse the web, maybe shoot off a few emails – Windows more likely will be your operating system of choice. If for example you want something you can tweak to your little hearts desire that isn’t full of bloatware and don’t mind a little learning curve – a Linux type will more likely be your operating system of choice. If you are wanting something that will handle large amounts of graphics for editing – a Mac might be your operating system of choice.
What ever the reason behind the “why” you chose the operating system you are currently using, that choice in no way infringes upon another’s right to choose what they are using. So why do some feel they have the right to insult another’s choice? Is it because it is a personal choice, and when it comes to ones own personal choice they feel if someone has an opposite view it is somehow an attack on their own choice?
In some ways when reading some of these “heated” discussions, it’s like listening to two children in a school playground. “My daddy is better than your daddy”, “My daddy can whip your daddy!”, blah blah blah. The only difference is that these are not children but grown adults acting like children.
I personally prefer Windows, that is my choice. You don’t have to agree with my choice or even like my choice. That is my “personal” choice. If your choice is a Mac, that is *your* personal choice and does not give me the right to push my own personal preferences upon you, nor does it give me the right to insult or attack you over your own personal preferences simply because it’s not what I prefer.
And that folks is all I’m going to say about that, except – Please, lets respect another’s right to choose what they prefer to use, instead of attacking them simply because your personal preference differs from your own.
-Tammy 🙂
