I too have jumped through the familar hoops while trying to explain to people how Free (Libre) Software works. I've shown them the SourceForge site with its thousands of functioning programs. I've demonstrated LibreOffice and its various kinds of superiority to Microsoft Office. When people looked at my digital artwork and asked me if I made the pictures with PhotoShop, I've told them about the GPL tools that I actually work with. I've shown them the laptop upon which I'm typing this message, the machine which has outlasted by years the MS Windows 7 originally loaded on it.
After all that and much more, I can still confirm the basic point in the story that started this thread. Some people will do *whatever* it takes to avoid seeing things which are too far outside of their mindset. I don't think there is any universal cure. One of my favorite quotes comes from a journalist named Elmer Davis. Around 60 years ago, he wrote: "It hurts more to have a belief pulled than to have a tooth pulled, and no intellectual novocain is available." Joel
