Although I was a very precocious child, one thing I learned only as an adult is that propaganda is extremely effective and nearly impossible to combat.

The efficacy of propaganda and how it pervades all aspects of society – primarily these days coming from corporations in the US, not government – is probably the most disappointing fact I fully realized only after I was 25 or so.

That 90%+ of people believe only what has been blasted into their brains by propagandists, hucksters and corporate PR forestalls the possibility of any real social improvement. Which is, of course, the idea.

It’s a truly terrible argument that because children can use Windows 8 more easily than a start menu-based or similar more complex OS that that somehow makes it a good OS for me to use.

Children can also drive a Big Wheel more easily than a full-size vehicle. That doesn’t mean I should start commuting to work in a Big Wheel.

It’s amazing to me that those who make that argument cannot see how incoherent and idiotic it is.

I also found it much easier to use my playtoy Fisher Price hammer when I was a kid than an adult hammer. Should I now continue using that any time I need to pound a nail?

Even if I were a supporter of a phone or tablet interface on a desktop, I would not use such illogical arguments to advocate for it. How people’s minds can operate so poorly I will never understand.

How Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros.

Regardless of what the article says, Mint is now popular for two reasons. The first is that it is one of the few OSes anywhere in current release that is concerned only with getting work done efficiently and without hassle, that does not attempt to force one to use a phone or tablet interface on a 24”+ monitor.

The second is that Canonical is now about the same as Microsoft at its worst, and people want to get away from that.

We use Linux Mint on our home file and application server, and it works very well.