Linux - Stop holding our kids back • Hacker News Board

I'm willing to bet it's a stawman argument. I've read a few letters in the past with a similar tone and I do believe some of them are real. There is a level of ignorance where even in my IT shop at work they think I'm pirating MySQL and want me to port anything that runs on a lamp stack to Microsoft Windows.

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#5

Post by turkishrevenge » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 2:43 PM UTC

time_management wrote: post #3

Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college... Anyone else hear a tone alike one admitting to past drug use?

Hey, it was college. Everybody experiments. I used to swing both ways... dual booting that is.

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#6

Post by sireat » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 2:52 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #2

Is this real? Or did someone make it up to generate a strawman argument?

This must be made up, because the person admits to trying out Linux then goes on a ridiculously over the top pro Microsoft slant (without argumentation). Somebody so clueless wouldn't even know (if) they tried out Linux in college...

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#7

Post by globalrev » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 3:14 PM UTC

Did I miss something? There are 2 parts, one which is pro microsoft and then a defense post which is pro Linux...right?

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#8

Post by nihilocrat » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 3:21 PM UTC

time_management wrote: post #3

Mr. Starks, I along with many others tried Linux during college... Anyone else hear a tone alike one admitting to past drug use?

When I read that, I knew this was just some dated satire.

It was sort of amusing 5 years ago, but now it's just "hyuk hyuk authoritarian teachers who don't know anything hyuk hyuk".

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#9

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 4:01 PM UTC

sireat wrote: post #6

ars wrote: post #2

Is this real? Or did someone make it up to generate a strawman argument?

This must be made up, because the person admits to trying out Linux then goes on a ridiculously over the top pro Microsoft slant (without argumentation). Somebody so clueless wouldn't even know (if) they tried out Linux in college...

[deleted]

Re: Linux - Stop holding our kids back

#10

Post by jerf » Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 4:07 PM UTC

sireat wrote: post #6

ars wrote: post #2

Is this real? Or did someone make it up to generate a strawman argument?

This must be made up, because the person admits to trying out Linux then goes on a ridiculously over the top pro Microsoft slant (without argumentation). Somebody so clueless wouldn't even know (if) they tried out Linux in college...

Two possibilities come to mind: Satire, as mentioned by other people, or the original teacher is lying about having used Linux. As anybody who has been around on the internet (or BBS or Usenet or...) for a while has learned, some people take a very scorched-earth approach to argumentation, and if lying about having tried Linux bolsters the argument, in it goes, regardless of whether it's true. (Maybe.)