Listening, racism and opinions about operating systems

The title of this post might seem a little strange, and it is. I was thinking about all these three topics almost the same time the other day just after coming home from work. Most days I take public transit to work, the cost of parking downtown, gas, etc., is enough to warrant me buying a monthly bus pass and taking public transit instead. The evening before this trip I heard about an experience where someone felt they'd been discriminated against because of where they came from. Keep this in mind as I describe the rest of what happened on the bus. I sat down a couple of seats from the front. People sat around me. Three or so stops later a young woman got on the bus and sat across from me. After a couple of seconds she put her feet up, blocking the isle of the bus so no one could get through, on the empty seat beside me. I started to ask her to please take her feet down so people could walk through the aisle, but just after "Please don't" she got up, moved to a seat at the back of the bus, and started up a conversation with someone about what a racist I was.

Thinking back on the conversation I'd had the evening before I started thinking that sometimes people jump to conclusions before really hearing the other person out, trying to completely listen to what they're trying to say. Maybe it's because we sometimes expect that we have to give instant feedback. Sometimes I feel this way at work. At least every 5 minutes I'm interrupted from whatever work I'm doing to comment on something, and often people want answers right away. Sometimes I have to just step back, listen, and say "I need to evaluate that for awhile."

The same holds true about articles about operating systems. Sometimes the facts are not facts at all, but opinions based either on limited use, by past experience, or influence from someone else whose views may not necessarily be accurate.

It's no secret, I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft or Windows, but I do respect a number of Windows administrators I know for their knowledge of the server side of Windows. But my respect is based on their mutual respect for Linux as both a server and desktop operating system. What we have is not just short answers, but deeper conversations about the perks and shortcomings of each OS. Listening is key.