Well I don't use anything but Windows, so far. I am at this very moment looking into alternative operation systems, mainly out of curiosity.
But I can relate to having a preference for free software. I'd rather search for a free open source program than to download a well known commercial program via P2P/Torrent. Even though I could download the world's most recognized, industry standard program, I'd rather find a really good open source version.
My reason for this is I have a strong appreciation for everyone that builds a program and hands it to the world for free. I absolutely hate the commercial software industry. They are almost as dishonest and immoral in their marketing as the porn industry.
Software companies, in my opinion, have no right to tell you what you can and can't do with their software once you buy it. How dare they give you a time limit to use their product... after you freakin' paid for it!!!
They make software that is designed to become obsolete, incompatible, dysfunctional, in a year. Plus, for some reason, Big Software tends to be really bloated, and suck up insane amounts of resources.
I really wonder if there were a law against copyrighting software whether we'd still be at the 1985 technological era, or whether we'd already be at the 2020 technological era, or if we'd be pretty much where we are now.
And I sometimes wonder what will happen when P2P/torrents and any form of file sharing becomes absolutely locked down world wide. Will this help the software companies reap more money from the consuming public, or will it in fact make owning and operating a computer in the new modern era so expensive that the average person just can't afford all this crap, and give up on computers.
I, for example, are practically a penniless bum. I don't pay for any software or music or movies or games. But if I couldn't download these things via P2P, I simply wouldn't have any of it. So it's not like the Music, Movie, and Software industries would be getting any more money out of me.
I know many are saying "but competition for product consumption creates technological competition which perpetually raises the bar for software technology, ultimately forwarding the evolution and development of software". But I claim that it equally creates an environment of incompatibility. So what is being progressed is less a matter of functionality; but more so a matter of consumer exploitation.
Example: without copyright laws, all digital movies could be played using 1 or 2 media players, each loaded with all available codecs for its respective player, and it'd pick the right codec every time, and we'd never watch a movie with audio/video out of sync, upside down, starting & stopping, and all the other annoyances that come with trying to watch something you downloaded from the net. And imagine how much faster the hardware industry could build things knowing there is only X amount of software that is going to be running it.
Look at all the compatibility issues that arise from having hundreds of companies building essentially the same piece of software, but forced to function differently, not for the sake of functionality, but for the sake of avoiding patent/copyright infringements.
I believe there are three kinds of people.
1. The sort of person that takes considerable time out of their life to build viruses and other malicious software, to unleash on the world. These are the same people that key your car, put objects on train tracks in an attempt to derail it, poke holes in condoms, and commit every other form of vandalism.
2. The sort of person who only creates or does something for the acquisition of power/money. These are the soulless business men of the world that suck the spirit of humanity like a vampire or tick. They are the ones that've turned manipulation into a sport, who've calculated the quality of human life in dollars and sense, and have created our quick-fix plastic society. They don't do it to hurt us like the 1st type of person, they simply do it to empower themselves.
3. The sort of person that takes time out of their life to create software to enrich the internet/computer community. These are the same sort of people who see a piece of trash laying next to a public trashcan, and decide to pick it up and toss it in the trashcan. These are the sort of people that pick up hitchhikers. The sort of person that calls the fire department when they see a building on fire; instead of standing around gawking at it and waiting for a good citizen to do it. These are the modest saviors of humanity who compulsively do things to make life for others a little easier; to make this world a better place.
I opt for open source software out of respect for the cyber community, and simultaneously to thumb my nose at the software tyrants.
I consider myself to be that 3rd type of person. I haven't exactly programmed a Operation System, but I have created visual themes for windows, and internet forums, and donate it for free. I am learning how to program Artificial Intelligence Chat Bots. I am learning the AIML language they use. I have already created an AIML file that allows you to use a chatbot as a dice roller, randomly rolling any sided dice between 2 and 100. I have given it to the AIML/Bot community for free. I will continue to develop more AIML files to upload into Chat Bots, and give them away for free.
If I ever become good enough to program really useful programs, I will share them with the cyber community for free as well, and allow users to make any modifications they see fit. And I encourage others to do the same.
To heck with software tyranny, I believe in a cyber community that creates things out of passion for a better internet, and a better world.
