> it would be interesting if you had any opinions on how these seemingly petty issues shape our behavior without us thinking of it. Oh, so that was your main p

> it would be interesting if you had any opinions on how these seemingly petty issues shape our behavior without us thinking of it. Oh, so that was your main point. Much more HN worthy. Too bad it got lost in the boilerplate. You should write tighter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QzdIMoLkk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QzdIMoLkk To answer your question, this problem is called "status-quo bias". As long as they believe it's the default, people tend to accept things as they are. A browser that sucks. Manual processes. Even torture and other atrocities, at some places and times. On the other hand, people resist change. From there you can get to many absurdities. My latest is the attitude towards device drivers. When a device doesn't work on Windows, it's the fault of the device maker. The onus is on them to provide suitable drivers. But when a device doesn't work on GNU/Linux, it's because Linux sucks. Why? Because "everyone is using Windows", so if I have a problem, it can't be from the one thing everyone uses. Linux on the desktop is not as established, so it's more suspect. My graphics card is popular and got stellar reviews dammit, so if it doesn't work on Linux, that must be because those kernels maintainers are morons. Or the golden prison Apple lock us in: perfectly acceptable for the iPhone, while anyone who tries that on the desktop would probably be sued. Guess which is the default on which platform.