Z whereas Linux can't', or 'the software that we're mandated to use requires
   Windows', well and good (although I don't think that it's possible to defend
   the first argument); since his entire area of focus is on how an OS 'feels',
   then he's off into mysticism as opposed to rational judgement."

   I wrote, "So, in reference to your LG audience: is GNU/Linux just a toy that
   hackers  boot  on  week-ends  to  unwind, or is it viewed as a genuine
   alternative to Windows? The feeling I'm getting, or I was getting from
   Philip, is that even the most dedicated GNU/Linux enthusiasts share their
   hard-drives with some version of Windows for use in the 'real world.'"

   Okopnik wrote, "Well, let's see. Many schools, hospitals, and government
   installations in India run Linux. Same for South Africa. France has passed a
   law that says "Open Source is to be implemented whenever possible"; Brazil,
   which was 8% of Microsoft's business a couple of years ago, has followed
   suit. Germany has been using Linux in their security departments, and is now
   implementing  it at every level - federal, state, and local. China has
   decided that it's their official OS; Korea and Japan have joined them in
   investing several billion dollars in FLOSS software development recently.
   Most of South America is switching, led by Peru (Dr. Villanueva Nunez, a
   Congressman, responded succinctly and brilliantly to the fear-and-doubt
   tactics  that  Microsoft  tried to sow when the decision was made; the
   translation can be found in many places on the Net.) This is just off the
   top of my head; there are many other countries which have decided that FLOSS
   simply _works_ for them (generally by making them competitive in the world
   market and removing an unnecessary barrier to their pool of talented but
   poor would-be techies.)

   "Special effects - in e.g. Titanic, Shrek, The One, and many other movies -
   are being done on Linux, simply because you _can't_ build a real server farm
   for crunching serious processing under Windows (incidentally, one of the
   most powerful computers in the world is a massively-parallel rig built by
   students in Australia. Guess what it runs?) The overwhelming majority of Web
   servers on the Net run Linux - and many of those that don't are running
   Apache, a piece of FLOSS software.

   "I hope these random examples begin to add up to a coherent picture. I
   couldn't even start to draw an outline of just how huge and pervasive the
   entire FLOSS penetration into the OS market actually is," Okopnik wrote.

   Okopnik added, "Mac's gone FLOSS. Well, almost completely, anyway: the base
   of Mac OS/X is another free Unix, BSD. The only part they haven't really
   opened is their desktop manager (if I recall correctly, it's called "Aqua")
   - but you can run plain ole' X on Mac hardware, and it's available right
   from Apple's site. What's more, Apple has been edging toward releasing the
   older versions of Aqua as FLOSS; their real edge has always been as a great
   hardware and User Interface (UI) company anyway, so they wouldn't lose
   anything.

   "A lot of FLOSS software, unsurprisingly, can be compiled to run on OS/X;
   the instructions for doing so are, again, available on Apple's site - and so
   it a lot of already compiled FLOSS. Did I mention that we're taking over the
   world? :)," Okopnik wrote.

   I wrote, "But Mac long ago ceased to be any kind of real competitor to
   Windows. Like the old Soviet Union kept the U.S. in check and vice versa.
   Now the U.S. is a Monopoly run rampant -- like Microsoft. A closed system is
   a closed system. The rest of the world, developing better software on Linux,
   will catch up while Microsoft, who keeps its position only through use of
   'force' will wither up and die," I wrote.

   Okopnik wrote, "Is it as obvious to you as it is to me and many others? I
   don't understand why more people can't see that basic fact - other than
   simply not knowing or understanding the issues."

   I  wrote,  "I  came  across this quote by Stallman on the gnu.org site
   (www.gnu.org/thegnuproject.html):

   'The "Linux" magazines ... are filled with advertisements for proprietary
   software that works with GNU/Linux. When the next Motif or Qt appears, will
   these magazines warn programmers to stay away from it, or will they run ads
   for it?'

   "Response?" I wrote.

   Okopnik wrote, "As it happens, LG is the one Linux publication that does not
   accept advertisements, and therefore does not follow Stallman's dictum; we
   prefer to remain totally unbiased (except by our own personal prejudices, of
   course. :) I have to agree that commercially-driven magazines do have their
   bottom line to consider; perhaps not above all, but it is a very strong
   motivating factor. I'll admit to being actually shocked for about 30 seconds
   when I saw a Microsoft ad in the Linux Journal... but sober consideration
   prevailed. There's no reason that they shouldn't have - the ad said nothing
   derogatory about Linux and was placed in the more-or-less correct market for
   MS's purposes - but it did make for an interesting contrast.

   "For the people who were outraged by this - and judging from the comments on
   Slashdot and elsewhere, many were - I'd suggest considering the following
   Buddhist koan:

   "'Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.'

   "Very interesting questions can be found in the moment between the emotional
   response and the reaction..." wrote Okopnik.

   I wrote, "Sometimes I wonder if I should be writing two different articles,
   the  GNU  Story,  and  Everyone Else's. They're kinda picky with their
   "GNU/Linux"  not  "Linux"  and initially boycotting KDE because qt was
   "proprietary" but I guess you need people like that, people who are ready,
   willing and able to go 'all the way' to get a movement started. If you don't