Yet, users do not hold onto languages as fiercely as operating systems. Other issues simply do not have the same power as operating systems. People have made them a part of their being. As I see it, there is an easy, simple answer and a difficult, more puzzling one. The simple answer can be can be found in the very language used when discussing the issue.
Computers are personal computers now.
Once something becomes personal, people tend to take it closer to heart. Thus, the operating systems that one uses, once a largely uncontrolled choice, has now become a personal decision. But this explanation is too simple. Operating systems arguments are not contained within the personal computer realm. These arguments sometimes get hotter than even the popular personal computer debates.