Can't we at least try 5352

You've almost got it. Now think a little bit farther, and imagine a set of new eyeballs coming around, and seeing (1) a calmly-presented post by Erik, making his case, relying on technical points, (2) responses to that from Roy Culley, and Sinister Midget, and a few others who completely ignore Erik's technical points and jump straight to name calling, and (3) most of the other people who *seem* to be pro-Linux not seeing anything wrong here.

What impression is that new person going to get?

There are only about 3 Linux users here who both have the technical knowledge to argue well with the better Windows advoactes and have the maturity to do so in an effective way: Jim Richardson, Ghost in the Machine, Jesse Hughes, and a couple others. There's a bigger group that aren't quite up to that technical level, but make up for it with enthusiasm, and are mostly mature (Rapskat, Linonut, and a few others), but occasionally let their enthusiasm lead them to overstate their case and occasionally slip down to the Culley-Midget level, but also learn rapidly, and someday will be in the Richardson-Ghost league.

Then there are the buttholes, who are the biggest argument that Microsoft is *not* paying anyone to troll here. Why waste money paying trolls when these people are out here making Linux users look like unstable, fanatical (in the bad sense) jerks?

-- --Tim Smith