"Cult of Linux" on L J

Found this post on Linux Journal . Had me half-believing by the end of it. Can this happen in real life?

I've been in situations where I've restrained myself from sounding a little over-zealous, because it scares people. I am an advocate of OSS, but I've tried and based most proselytizing off my personal experience. I've trained myself to start conversations with, "I feel that Linux is better because..." before extolling it's praise-worthy values. I avoid quoting statistics or hit propritary software. I compared objectively and deftly avoided ranting.

I've also met my share of people who were quite rabid about Linux. I've had "experts" scoff at me for asking questions like, "how do I compile this?" or "how do I (GPG) clear sign a text file?" That's probably why I had stayed with Ubuntu for such a long time. I rarely had to post in forums or chat with the "experts" because answers were just a Google away. There is such a huge community around it that so many people post solutions online. I never really needed to interact with "experts" that way. I just consulted Ubuntuguide.org, read forums or browsed blogs that had HowTo's. I avoided actual conversations, because frankly I was scarred by the way the "experts" looked down on newbies.

I've seen both ends so to speak -- that of the newb's and that of the zealot's. That why this post struck a nerve. I half-believed this could happen. My more pragmatic side says it shouldn't happen. But then again, looking inwards at the way my temper has flared in certain situations... Well, I'm not all that sure this is entirely impossible.