Yet Another (and rightly so) Linux-Windows Rant

Oh boy. I saw this comment rant when I surfed over to the news about KDE looking for summer of code dudes. While I agree 100% with most of the comments he makes there, I'm a Linux user by choice - such a paradox...

It's not necessarily that Windows is far more superior than Linux, it's just that simple and intuitive tasks get done in Windows easier than they are in Linux and things in Windows just work without problems most often than in Linux. On the contrary, Linux shines when you are obsessive about how you want things done, therefore it's occasionally more fun.
You want to do NAT in Windows? You buy Wingate and you are done. You can see all the connections live on the Window and you have a lot of control over what happens with it, very discrete from anything else in the system. In Linux you have to learn what iptables is, how you sort of indirectly use its internal structure for NATing, etc.

(a) If you have time to do all that, great. Now you are an iptables guru and it'll be very helpful for many other things you will want to do at some point in the future. This definitely is a plus over a simple solution that works and does just what you want. (b) BUT, if you DO want a simple solution that works and does just what you want, your best bet is to find a howto and copy and paste a bunch of commands that you don't have much idea about. In such a case you'll have much less control over the whole thing, and when it breaks you'll spend much more time on it since you'll most likely have to revert to (a). This is definitely bad for the person that wants simplicity.

This little example clearly shows that if there is a tool that does what you want as a part of its magnificent labyrinth of abilities, and if you don't have the time and motivation to explore the rest of it, you are most likely disadvantaged for using this huge thing for your simple goal. The power of Linux resides in those components with magnificent labyrinth of abilities, therefore most of the time mediocre user is disadvantaged. This is understandable and no amount of Windows bashing will change that.

However, for the obsessive that loves to be able to control anything and do anything - and do it his own way, and for the person that wants to know anything and is willing to learn anything just for the kick of it without even thinking about it, Windows is at times limiting. You can't change the fundamental building blocks of Windows. Most of the solutions in Windows are targeted for that mediocre user and are designed to limit what they can do. Even though those limitations are not deal-breakers, they are at least annoying. Obsessive minds don't take too kindly to limitations on what they can do, even though those limitations are outside of what they actually want.

Mediocre users are more common than obsessive ones, and there are many in between that are only obsessive about certain things. Therefore Windows-esque approach to computing is bound to be unbeatable, unless it fails miserably (Vista is a beginning). However, the obsessive won't give up - making Linux live and grow. Today's usage trend is a clear reflection of this and I believe it isn't likely to change.