Linux-based operating systems respect user privacy and freedom. And on top of that, they can be very pleasant to use. Linux simply provides a better way to experience a computer.
But what really motivated me to get involved in advocating for Linux and open source was seeing what a broken and unpleasant experience it is to use Microsoft Windows. Most people are not even aware that alternatives to proprietary software exist. People should at least be aware of their options!
That is why I very much enjoyed seeing a blog post by Ed Zitron entitled “Never Forgive Them.” He explains in great detail just how broken the typical person’s experience with a computer is. He explains that this occurs because proprietary software is designed to lock people in and show ads. Zitron’s full post is well-worth a read. But here are just a few excerpts that resonated with my own motivation for getting into open source:
On November 21, I purchased the bestselling laptop from Amazon — a $238 Acer Aspire 1 with a four-year-old Celeron N4500 Processor, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, and 128GB of slow eMMC storage (which is, and I’m simplifying here, though not by much, basically an SD card soldered to the computer’s motherboard). Affordable and under-powered, I’d consider this a fairly representative sample of how millions of people interact with the internet.
I believe it’s also a powerful illustration of the damage caused by the Rot Economy, and the abusive, exploitative way in which the tech industry treats people at scale.
It took 1 minute and 50 seconds from hitting the power button for the laptop to get to the setup screen. It took another minute and a half to connect and begin downloading updates, which took several more minutes. After that, I was faced with a licensing agreement where I agreed to binding arbitration to use Windows, a 24 second pause, and then got shown a screen of different “ways I could unlock my Microsoft experience,” with animations that shuddered and jerked violently.
Aside: These cheap laptops use a version of Windows called “Windows Home in S Mode,” which is a paired-down version of Windows where you can only use apps installed from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft claims that it’s a “streamlined version” of Windows, but the reality is it’s a cheap version of Windows for Microsoft to compete with Google’s Chromebook laptops.
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To be clear, Windows Home in S Mode is one of the worst operating systems of all time. It is ugly, slow, and actively painful to use, and (unless you deactivate S Mode) locks you into Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Zitron then goes into immense detail about how antagonistic these Windows laptops are to the user of the technology. And this is the part that resonated so closely with me. He gets it exactly right. I see this often when helping people use their laptop from BestBuy or Amazon. I am glad Zitron wrote up this experience because it is absolutely accurate. A lot of people tell me they need tech help, and that they are not good with technology. But in fact it is the other way around. The technology itself is not good with the user.
Zitron goes on to explain that the cause of this situation is that tech companies often want to make more money, and that means locking people into their ecosystem (taking away user freedom) and serving ads everywhere possible (taking away user privacy).
And if I haven’t made it completely clear, this means that millions of people are likely using a laptop that’s burdensomely slow, and full of targeted advertisements and content baked into the operating system in a way that’s either impossible or difficult to remove. For millions of people — and it really could be tens of millions considering the ubiquity of these laptops in eCommerce stores alone — the experience of using the computer is both actively exploitative and incredibly slow. Even loading up MSN.com — the very first page you see when you open a web browser — immediately hits you with ads for eBay, QVC and QuickBooks, with icons that sometimes simply don’t load.
Every part of the operating system seems to be hounding you to use some sort of Microsoft product or some sort of product that Microsoft or the laptop manufacturer has been paid to make you see.
Matthew Hughes at the newsletter What We Lost makes a similar point. He writes that:
Little changes — when done at scale — can have a huge impact. The choices we make about what we buy, and the services we use, aren’t just expressions of our preferences, but also of our values.
My laptop — a first-generation M1 MacBook Pro — has started to show its age, and I’m likely going to replace it in the coming year or so. For the first time in a decade, my next laptop won’t be a Mac, but something from a company that actually respects my rights.
And that make sense. For those who value technology that is centered around the user, a choice of laptop is a good step to reflect those values. But it can also be in our choices of software applications, operating systems, communication platforms, social media networks, and hardware. All of these have both proprietary and open options. Everyone is at a different point in their open source journey. The path to open technology goes one step at a time.
Our goal at Sendero Linux is simply to show that there is another option. And if you are fed up with technology that is designed to lock you in, show you advertisements, and make you pay, then you should definitely check out open source alternatives.