So indeed. Who really cares what you run on that computer you paid all that money for, right? I mean, it’s a free country (well, mine is advertised as being free, at any rate). Why not just like what ya bought? Why not just learn to live with it?!? I mean, who do those nutballs think they are, saying that Windows isn’t the fine piece of quality that you thought it was when you put all your hard-earned money into it!?! Really! I mean those linux guys are just freaks, right? They really don’t have anything better than you do with your Windows desktop, right? I mean, come on, every computer system crashes at least once a week, right? Twice a week? Three times a week? Ehh? Don’t they all?

Well, actually, as it turns out… no. All Operating Systems are NOT created equal. And unfortunately, in the world of technology, the best stuff isn’t always the stuff that wins out in the marketplace. Take, for an overused example, the Video Tape industry. You know, the kind you put in VCR’s? Right. There you go. Video Tapes. Years ago, when the technology was new, there were actually two choices when it came to shopping for VCR’s and the video tapes that they played. There was the Betamax format (introduced by the Sony corporation) and the VHS (Video Home System). Now, there were distinct technical advantages to the Betamax technology that Sony introduced over VHS, but due to strategic alliances that Sony wasn’t quick enough to gain, their Betamax format for VCR’s and video tapes were thrown out the window.

Sound familiar in any way? *cough* Apple *cough* Microsoft *cough*

Well, I had my fingers in the middle of computers all through my growing up years, and since my first exposure to the awesome Apple ][ computers in my 5th grade class (I used to break into the classrooms after school and hack away on them for hours unbeknownst to those responsible for me), I’ve always had a love for all things digital. I graduated myself up through the x86 ranks, having my first “modern” computer, a 286, and thinking that it was all I’d ever need. =:) Skip a few years ahead, and there I am spending hours and hours on my 486, finding ways to break things so that I could understand what exactly was happening with this fantastic machine and the DOS 6/Windows 3.1 systems that ran on it. Anyhoo, about this time, I started realizing that there were MANY flaws to the defacto operating system of the day–DOS/Windows. The was only made clearer as time went by and Windows 95 was released. About this time, I started hanging out on the IRC channels of undernet and occasionally, I heard about a young upstart operating system called….