[Friends reference, I apologize in advance] -"Hey Joey, how did you get porn [windows] on that computer?" -"I don't know man, I just opened the computer and it's there!" Marxian, in my experience this is also how people think about windows. They don't think of them. They just open their PCs and there they are. So, they don't know they are jailed. They don't know, or care, about open OSes. Most of them don't know what an OS actually is. For 85-90% of the regular Joes, windows=pc. So I don't agree in your jail parable, because most of them don't know that they are in a jail. Personally, I come from a completely non-technical background, and have an Ubuntu netbook and a Windows laptop, which I use about equally. I am writing my graduate thesis mostly on the netbook, and sync it on dropbox. Frankly, I prefer Ubuntu for non-demanding tasks. However, whenever I try to convince someone with an ancient PC and a 5 year old, imploding XP installation to try linux instead of downloading a cracked, non-supported W7 copy, I always get the same answer: I wanna actually do stuff, not just goof around. I have heard that even from nominally technical people (friends who study computer engineering) that CBFed to use a non-commercial, and in their minds unreliable, OS. We, the linux users, in their minds are just arsing around in our mothers' basements doing incomprehensible things in front of a dark screen with bright green code. tl;dr: I would argue that their own narrative is: -Serious windows users in power suits are busy making money. -Fat, neckbearded, bespectacled and be-acned kiddies are goofin' around with their weird, open source toys while screaming "hey mister! hey mister! come out and play with us! be FREE!" at the honest wage-earners. -Damn kids and your games, somebody's GETTING WORK DONE HERE!