Just had a (freshly outta college) kid ask me "but who still uses Linux, anyway?"
When I could not hold my laughter, he doubled down with "I mean, no serious company would risk everything on open source packages that they can't know who made!"
I just sent him to talk to our sysadmin and I'm still thinking "man, I should have a sick 1337 burn ready for this situation".
Can someone suggest some snarky rebuttals? Thanks!

If he has an Android phone just point and say Linux. If there is a smart TV or car in sight just point and say Linux.

"Kid your view of the world is awfully skewed, time to get educated."

If he's willing to listen:
Open source is not without its drawbacks but it outways the dangers of closed source almost every time.

Imagine the world if it depended on Windows instead of Linux... disgusting

Honestly sounds like some of my managers whom prefer to buy crappy enterpriseware libraries rather than use the standard, open-source ones because of "muh licensing"

Microsoft doesn’t even use windows for its servers.

Really, it’s easier to list the devices that don’t use Linux than the ones that do. And if we’re including Unix/BSD as well… it’s practically everything.

• Android is based on Linux.
• iOS is based on BSD.
• tvOS is based on BSD.
• OSX is based on BSD.
• Most servers in the world run Linux.
• Many routers and switches run Unix-based OS’s. (Both commercial and consumer grade)
• Intel CPUs oddly run a Linux OS internally. (Intel management engine)
• Raspberry Pi’s run Linux (Debian)
• Steam Decks run Linux (Arch)

Really, though. Why do all Microsoft fanboys say the same thing? They’re so vastly mistaken on the prevalence of windows, and they all invariably say open source software is laughable in both its quality and safety, and using it is the height of stupidity. It might as well be Microsoft propaganda.

Not even Apple fanboys are as bad.

@Root pretty sure MS fanboys base their entire opinion on the fact that they:

-Tried to install Ubuntu, but it didn't work because their Microsoft Safe Boot (TM) prevented it (they couldn't figure out how to turn it off) (This is Ubuntu's fault)

-Can't fathom not being able to play their entire Steam library of games

Who made Windows' file explorer? Microsoft doesn't make anything, they pay people to make things and other people to review them and others still to wire it all together, and then put their logo on it.

Who made Dolphin, KDE's file explorer? Many people, you can find all of them by enumerating the authors in the git repository. The current maintainer is Felix Ernst. You can email him at felixernst@kde.org.

At this point in time it literally became hard to find a something containing a CPU that isn't powered by Linux or another unixoid OS - apart from desktops.

No need for snarky rebuttals - the culture shock from learning that his world view is a lie will be hard enough.

@AlgoRythm proton let's you play basically any windows game on Linux anyways...

How about: "yeah linux is super dead. That's why Microsoft put a bunch of dev effort into building the Windows Subsystem for Linux."

@Root its minix. Its way older than linux

@stop Yep! I just didn’t want to complicate it further.

"only people who are serious about computing"

@lorentz who the fuck cares who did what? If it works as expected, I dont care.

@aviophile I want to know whether it will work as expected in the future too, especially with something as stateful and complex as most components of an OS.

How is who did what change any trajectory. Will you send a hitman if they change bash?

@aviophile have you ever heard of Kali Linux? mess it up and you will have every pentester hitman in the globe aiming for your (system's) guts. Best implementation of the goddess of destruction in tech.