The Open Source Advocate

I have noticed several people debating about whether they should support Linux applications that are not open source. Some of these people believe that the best way to promote open source adoption is to only use open source applications and to reject everything else. The problem with this method is that the market share of desktop Linux users is so small that they have very little influence on the direction of the software industry. They can hold their breath until they turn blue, but it is not going to change anything. Using the most recent statistic I could find, only 2.8% of desktops were running Linux in 2003. I am sure that the Linux desktop market is growing fast, and that the percentage is now much higher than 2.8%. Even so, it is obvious that Linux desktops are a small minority of the desktop market. The fact that most software companies do not even release a version of their software for Linux proves this fact. Most software is created only for Microsoft Windows, and

I recently visited the western Ukrainian city of Lviv . We traveled to Ukraine with my grandfather, who was born in that beautiful country. If you are not familiar with the history of Ukraine, then I recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on Ukraine . While there, I attended a concert that celebrated Ukrainian art, history, culture and traditions. This concert included Ukrainian poetry, story-telling, music, singing and dancing. The concert ended up being a 4-hour event, with no intermission. Despite it's length, I found it very interesting as I tried my best to translate tiny pieces of the spoken language. Everything was spoken or sang in Ukrainian, so English words were few and far between. I remember hearing one man mention the city of "Chicago". I was later told that he was sharing the story of his life. He was born in Chicago to Ukrainian parents, but came to Ukraine to join the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and fight for Ukraine's independence against the Germans an