I agree. I have a couple of friends who use Linux on a regular basis. A few months ago, they were regular Windows users and now they barely do anything with MS. Even on Windows, they still use free (beer/speech) software.
Two things bug me about Xandros though:
- The fact that they don't contribute much to the community and,
- The fact that they added too much closed-source applications that many users don't really need passing the expenses to the consumers.
For those two reasons they don't seem much like a good Linux distributer. At least SUSE gives back to the community.
At the very least they could give up a lot of the bloat many users can replace with free (and possibly better) stuff, and lower the price, if not make it free.
But again, I am saying outside of any context of any religion.
"It should be up to each individual to choose what is right (within reason, of course - your right to swing your fist ends at my nose, yada yada yada)"
Your "true freedom" is more of an "absolute freedom" where you are free to do anything - even if that anything is detrimental to others.
I, for one, believe that there is an absolute good, no matter what religion you have faith in. It is "bad" to kill anyone from any context of any religion or belief. I doubt that you are in a country where killing others is a "good".
Even you yourself suggest that that choice should be within limits, within reason. But from what you said, what is "within reason"?
I could go deeper into the philosophy of this but I'll stop here.
I lived in Saudi Arabia from birth to the age of 12. I lived in a very international community. I lived with Americans, Brits, Indians, and many fellow-Asians. So I'm sure that I have a much better idea of Saudi culture than most of you ignorantly judging a whole population of people from the acts of the radical few.
Although I cannot say that Saudi culture is as good as, much less any better, than western "civilized" culture, we always have to remember that when looking at another culture, we should leave our own and look at it from an unbiased POV.
From how you have gone to discriminate Arabs (directly or inderctly) in your posts and most probably in many other things from the past, it is hard to imagine no one complaining about it. You had it coming.
Although the writer of the article has obviously meant no harm or disrespect, it is obvious that he has written this in a Western context. This is obviously not an unbiased account.
It's almost as if an Arab visits Texas and writes an article about how "novel" it is to see grown men in cowboy outfits.
We are correct in saying that this anonymous reader is somewhat out of line accusing Mr. Miller unprofessional reporting, but we shouldn't forget the context from which he did.
Another thing, the American freedom that everyone keeps referring to in contrast to that of the strangle-hold of Muslim law, is not all it's cracked up to be.
Freedom is not the chance to do anything we want to do. Freedom is the chance to do what we should do. Now, in this context, do we free people really exercise "freedom"?
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I agree. I have a couple of friends who use Linux on a regular basis. A few months ago, they were regular Windows users and now they barely do anything with MS. Even on Windows, they still use free (beer/speech) software.
Two things bug me about Xandros though:- The fact that they don't contribute much to the community and,
- The fact that they added too much closed-source applications that many users don't really need passing the expenses to the consumers.
For those two reasons they don't seem much like a good Linux distributer. At least SUSE gives back to the community.
At the very least they could give up a lot of the bloat many users can replace with free (and possibly better) stuff, and lower the price, if not make it free.
But again, I am saying outside of any context of any religion. "It should be up to each individual to choose what is right (within reason, of course - your right to swing your fist ends at my nose, yada yada yada)" Your "true freedom" is more of an "absolute freedom" where you are free to do anything - even if that anything is detrimental to others. I, for one, believe that there is an absolute good, no matter what religion you have faith in. It is "bad" to kill anyone from any context of any religion or belief. I doubt that you are in a country where killing others is a "good". Even you yourself suggest that that choice should be within limits, within reason. But from what you said, what is "within reason"? I could go deeper into the philosophy of this but I'll stop here.
I forgot to mention that this is mainly in response to the first article - the one about the white robes.
I lived in Saudi Arabia from birth to the age of 12. I lived in a very international community. I lived with Americans, Brits, Indians, and many fellow-Asians. So I'm sure that I have a much better idea of Saudi culture than most of you ignorantly judging a whole population of people from the acts of the radical few. Although I cannot say that Saudi culture is as good as, much less any better, than western "civilized" culture, we always have to remember that when looking at another culture, we should leave our own and look at it from an unbiased POV. From how you have gone to discriminate Arabs (directly or inderctly) in your posts and most probably in many other things from the past, it is hard to imagine no one complaining about it. You had it coming. Although the writer of the article has obviously meant no harm or disrespect, it is obvious that he has written this in a Western context. This is obviously not an unbiased account. It's almost as if an Arab visits Texas and writes an article about how "novel" it is to see grown men in cowboy outfits. We are correct in saying that this anonymous reader is somewhat out of line accusing Mr. Miller unprofessional reporting, but we shouldn't forget the context from which he did. Another thing, the American freedom that everyone keeps referring to in contrast to that of the strangle-hold of Muslim law, is not all it's cracked up to be. Freedom is not the chance to do anything we want to do. Freedom is the chance to do what we should do. Now, in this context, do we free people really exercise "freedom"?