Just to be honest from the very start, I have no idea how I ended up on this website. One morning after a long and sleepless night I searched for "Chatting to English-speaking people" in "Google". Then I saw the results and decided to add a little more specificity to my query: "Chatting to English-speaking people without sex violence and stupid propositions". That's how I found this little and quite neat corner of the Internet.

I hope I will find real friends here. You know, it can happen, when you are thirty-two years old, you've got a rather good job, but you have become so different, that somewhere along your way all of the friends just got "lost" somewhere.

That's how I found myself alone in my 31, almost 32.

I have a fiancee and I love her very much. However, living in a world without friends is not a very good prospect, is it? So I visited a couple of resources searching for people just to chat with. No stupid obscenities, no sick fantasies of mad perverts, no hate and mutual resentment.

Unfortunately, the majority of people in my country don't know how to communicate with others. For example: if you think of trying to ask for an advice in a Ukrainian group in social medias or elsewhere (it doesn't matter which advice are you searching for; it can be anything - starting with a cafe to spend an evening with your mates and ending with some serious health issues, relationships crises, career pursuits and even the whole-life-questions) - never do it! Otherwice Ukrainians would post a lot of comments in return, and their authors would pour a lot of mud on your head just because they "know better" (of course, in 99% of cases they don't!). And this is my country, my society, where I have to live. Sad, eh?

I considered myself a patriot until this year. Today I am getting quite offended when someone calls me a patriot. Yes, I do love Ukraine, its beautiful landscapes, unique language, cultural heritage, historical path, etc., but a normal person just a priori unable to like or love things I see around each single day. Why on Earth do I have to love a crowd of envious, selfish, mercantile, cynical, indifferent people with constantly sad faces, who do not even greet each other on the streets, never help their neighbors, neither social work, participating in life house, district, city…

Ukrainians are a nation of passive lazy people who constantly complain about everything. I am an Ukrainian, but I write what I see. What I think.

No matter what, I don't want to believe that the whole world is the same cesspool as my country. That's why I came here -- to find adequate people or to prove myself empirically, that the human landfill lives not only here in Ukraine, but also all over the world.

I hope this text is not gonna hurt anyone's feeling. What I wrote is exclusively my presonal opinion, my impressions of the country where I was born and have been living all my life.

I will be glad to meet you, if you want to talk! Feel free to write, ask me anything that interests you. I like to talk, but I don't promise to be here very often: having too much work lately, being busy all the time.

However, I wish everyone, who has read this text until this point, a wonderful day and health!

P.S. I apologize for the mistakes: English i̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶p̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶m̶e̶ is not my native language. It's not even my second... :-(

W E L C O M E ! ! !

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, the new country and its people had to learn to navigate an unfamiliar conceptual landscape that included “market economy”, “private entrepreneurship”, “freedom of choice”, and other terms that were, for all intents and purposes, unknown to ordinary Ukrainian citizens because of the country’s decades-long history as a constituent part of the USSR. Inevitably, during a decade of upheaval that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, “survival of the fittest” in its crudest form became the norm in the business arena – those who were the most ruthless toward their competitors also became the most successful (I would hazard a guess that the “Wild West ‘90’s” became infamous not only throughout the post-Soviet lands but also far and wide beyond Ukraine).

Pioneering private businesses faced an uphill battle not unlike trying to put a man on the Moon by launching him from a giant slingshot: an aspiring businessperson had to bribe bureaucrats at various levels, make arrangements with the criminal underworld to ensure reliable “protection”, and, most importantly, to persuade average citizens reeling from their newfound freedom to spend hard-earned cash on new goods and services that, until recently, were completely unknown to them.

The aforementioned chaos turned out to be a golden opportunity for certain multinational companies that were better positioned to manage the risk of an inhospitable business environment, with the result that in the mid-90’s the phrase “to buy a computer” came to mean only “to buy a computer with pre-installed Windows software”. Such an outcome was advantageous not only for those directly involved in developing the operating system, but also for a variety of Ukrainian manufacturers, both big and small, who installed pirated “Windows” on computers that they then proceeded to sell at a steep premium amid assurances that the software was legitimate and licensed.

It is necessary at this point to take a slight detour and to further explore the impact of the Soviet past on Ukraine in general and on every Ukrainian in particular. The “evil empire” – Soviet Union – left my fellow Ukrainians with a damaging “legacy” of negative personality traits (I guess, none of us would have come out unscathed after living in a totalitarian country). Some of the manifestations of this “Soviet mentality” include naïve willingness to trust any pronouncements of the so-called “experts” as well as exaggerated conservatism that causes resentment of anything new and occasionally leads to phobias.

The passage of time had little positive effect on the proliferation of unlicensed software in Ukraine. Consumers got used to “freebies” and usually prefer to download the very same “Windows” software and other content from illegal pirating websites or torrent-tracker systems that provide detailed instructions on how to hack any computer program to get it to work. An ordinary Ukrainian also is not accustomed to paying for music recordings, as it can be easily downloaded in the mp3 format from multiple sources. Copyrighted movies fare no better, as one can find any film, including new releases, online and watch it without the need to register or obtain an access code. Consequently, an ordinary Ukrainian would be willing to pay for an operating system only in exceptional circumstances: indeed, the thinking goes, why pay when everything and anything is available online, and all one needs to do is download it?

Failure to understand the very concept of free software (e.g., “How can it be any good if it’s free?” or “Unless you get for free something that otherwise costs a lot of money, it must not be worth anything”) as well as the prevalence of Windows and resistance to learning something new are the principal reasons why GNU/Linux had trouble getting a foothold in Ukraine for a while. One’s thinking would typically go as follows: “What is the point of downloading some confusing operating system if I can install the trusty – and also free – Windows which is so familiar after two decades of using it (never mind that it is pirated)? No learning new tricks for this ol’ dog! I do not want to try new things! Those who say that the other operating system is superior in some ways can keep it, as I am very content with what I have, thank you very much!”

Despite this inauspicious beginning, the attitude toward GNU/Linux recently began to change, albeit slowly. The “Revolution of Dignity” – which is how the surge of popular resistance that toppled the corrupt regime of Victor Yanukovych came to be known – was a watershed moment. Following the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine chose a European vector of development and opened up to new opportunities. People began to change. In the past, hardly anybody bothered to think that not littering or being courteous toward one another was the right thing to do, or that all people were equal, and no one was inferior because of one’s skin color, creed, or sexual orientation, among others. Now, one can see palpable evidence that democratic and liberal values are being internalized and are slowly beginning to shape people’s attitudes.

The same phenomena are evident in changing attitudes toward pirated software. A new generation of Ukrainians, who came of age after the collapse of the USSR and are not burdened by Soviet-era experiences, realizes that intellectual property (such as musical recordings, film, electronic books, etc.) is not a “free” product to be downloaded with impunity. Above all, it is a product of perseverance and hard work of every person who contributed to creating such intellectual property. And hard work must be rewarded by paying for it. At the same time, the young generation is looking to new technologies and to alternative, often better, solutions for their home computer systems. A home computer is precisely where the advantages of a Linux-based operating system are most apparent. Features that make Linux particularly attractive include open and unrestricted distribution of such an operating system and software as well as new, up-to-the-moment technologies that make Linux far superior to a “familiar” Windows operating system.

At this time, GNU/Linux users are still a minority among all computer users in Ukraine: according to internetua.com, only 1.74% of internet users had a Linux-based operating system as of June, 2017, and this number includes computers used for both personal and business purposes. Yet, even such a small number of Linux users is an accomplishment for a young post-Soviet country that only recently truly found itself.

I believe that some of the main factors that impede the spread of GNU/Linux in Ukraine are, first, the continuing prevalence of online piracy and a pervasive stereotype that such software is designed solely for computer geeks because of its complexity, and second, the insufficient number of computer games in the “A” category. In combination with the post-Soviet mentality discussed above, the result is that people have been slow to warm up to Linux.

This said, a small and tightly-knit yet welcoming community of Linux users in Ukraine perseveres and continues to peck away at the old order. The intuitive nature of the most recent release of Linux Mint is making the software increasingly popular among ordinary users who initially use it as a backup operating system, and later on – as their primary one. If this trend continues, then it will be the Ukrainians themselves who will spearhead further advance of GNU/Linux in Ukraine once they are ready to conquer the fear of the unfamiliar and to master something new and better than the tried-and-true alternative that tethers them to the past.

That is an important topic here, indeed.
As for me, I use GNU/Linux + Tor (onion browser) to be safe. I don't trust the proprietory operating systems like Windows or MacOS (had never been using it, BTW, and I don't think I want to)...

@Sassy thank u very much! Still didn't figured out how to use it, but I love it's simplicity in design. ;-)

@Achal99 said in How The Hell And Why On Earth Did I Came Here?...:

e. I don't mean to destroy your spirit but just to give a proper perspective you know. what I mean to say is, that zing which you and we all are seeking doesn't lie outside -in "things" or "people" or in situations but within ourselves! We all are investing a great deal of time in managing the external affairs so well b

Yeah, I got it all, sir.

I am used to being alone when it comes to a girlfriend. I had thirty two of them in my life, they were very different, but it all came to the same end. Of course, I am going to be sad if it will all come in a bad way... On the other hand, as I said -- i got used to it already.

My life brought me a lot of trouble already (from alcoholism and to the participation in a war), I am kinda experienced with it, but today's loneliness is something new: today I accidentally found out that the last time smb called me (EXCEPT for work, fiancee and parents) just to say "Hi!" was like... a year and a half ago. I forgot when I spoke to someone about something different than just work, when I chatted the last time. That's the reason I am here.

Thank u for ur attention very much!

The planet is changing, whether we like it or not. Over the last year my social media feeds have been replenished with more than one, two or even several dozens of obituaries of people with whom I interacted recently. Some of those who passed away were very young - forty-two years, thirty-five, even twenty-eight… However, for most of my compatriots, all anti-epidemic measures continue to cause misunderstanding and rejection. There is a number of reasons for this, most of which are a consequence of Ukraine's soviet past. Maybe, it will be difficult for a person unfamiliar with Ukrainian realities to understand, so I will try to explain what's going on here...

The Soviet Union taught its citizens a simple truth: everything outside of your home does not apply to you. That is why in Ukraine, for example, it is a completely normal situation when the flats of ordinary people - shiny, cleaned to the smallest speck flats, furnished with taste - are in the half-abandoned houses, that haven't seen repairs for decades. Imagine a house, where the second generation of its residents hadn't seen a working elevator for their entire lives!.. Maybe, I described a little exaggerated situation, but I dare to say that usually everything looks like that. More or less.

The fact that Ukrainians are fighting against the need to wear masks is not even surprising. Doctors note that the mask may not protect you, but it protects from you - if you've got a disease without sympthoms, for instance. In other words, you reduce the likelihood of infecting someone nearby, when you are wearing a mask.

Here in Ukraine people are not accustomed to thinking for their neighbors - and that is why any attempts to introduce anti-epidemic measures cause persistent public opposition. Many of Ukrainians complain that the mask is uncomfortable, it's difficult to breathe it it, and in general they feel like dogs in muzzles… Only a few of these people wonder how "uncomfortable" could they feel under the ventilator in the hospital. Nobody cares, that against this background the mask looks less evil.

Ukraine has been living in quarantine for the last year. The first restrictions were introduced in March 2020. However, even during the rage of the pandemic Ukrainians are mostly trying to lead a normal life and they have an extremely negative attitude to anything that makes certain "adjustments" to the normal rhythm of life.

If you are about to travel by public transport nowadays in Ukraine, be prepared to see passengers without masks at all, or with masks worn incorrectly, so that the nose remains uncovered. The most interesting thing is that other people in the metro [underground railway here in Kyiv - auth.] or in the bus cabin don't make remarks to others who want to ride without a mask, because they're in the risk of getting a punch in a face and/or losing their teeth. Be sure that law enforcement officers will arrive for that sort of a call in forty minutes… or they may not arrive at all. With about the same "zeal", the Ukrainian police checks the observance of quarantine requirements by Ukrainians not only in transport or on the streets, but also in the cafes, shops, and places of large crowds. :-(

The people themselves are just happy to stay against the system, to fight it (by not wearing the masks, of course), so they take off their masks as soon as the right opportunity arises. From time to time, protests of various kinds are outraged here: entrepreneurs who are dissatisfied with the temporary restrictions on the operation of their business; supporters of various global conspiracy theories, such as chipping people while vaccinating, the activities of the so-called world government and other nonsense... This is an incomplete list of those who periodicity flood the streets of major cities here in Ukraine.

At the same time, the official Ukrainian virus statistics is a little questionable. According to unverified rumors from medical circles, statistics are both overestimated and underestimated depending on the specific circumstances. Moreover, Ukrainians are used to seek for medical attention only as a last resort (in the Soviet Union there was a saying: "Doctors can cure you to death" - because they can!), so the percent of ill people taking into account patients who stubbornly do not seek help has to be around twice or three times larger, I guess.

In those conditions - conditions of uncertainty, incomprehensibility and some rapid changes in the usual rhythm of life - many Ukrainians have come to the conclusion that it is easier to abstract from any news about the virus than to try to understand what is really happening. These are the sad Ukrainian realities, if we try to describe them briefly.

One American blogger who had been living in Kyiv for over 2 years said the right phrase, I think: "Ukrainians have endured so many difficult trials in their history that the virus looks like a trivial problem in their eyes". I think it's true, but partially: the blogger didn't notice the above-mentioned soviet upbringing, according to which it is not necessary to take care of other people around us. "Think for yourself only", yup.

I have to add that our government's steps against the pandemic are also strange: f.e., during the so-called "hard lockdown" the public transport was working absolutely as usual, and most institutions also were, while it was impossible to buy matches, socks, shampoos, lighters and even toilet paper in the shops. It's totally unknown what the authorities were thinking of when making such a decisions.

No matter what, the wave of the illness continues here in Ukraine. The so-called "British" strain of the virus has not yet reached our country, but I am afraid that it will happen soon. I don't know how Ukraine is going to fight it. We'll see.

All I have to do is wish everyone good health, no matter what country you are from. Hold on! We will definitely overcome everything.

@Sassy said in How The Hell And Why On Earth Did I Came Here?...:

@Allison said in How The Hell And Why On Earth Did I Came Here?...:

Google takes keywords. Therefore did you actually find sites with sex & violence?

Just curious.. for science ... right Alli????

:-D

@Allison oh yes, I did. A lot of those rubbish things. :-(

@fluffi we were part of that evil empire called soviet union, so our people still have that "soviet" attitude. It's very hard to explain what it actually is, but it is a disaster for people who can think (2 make a long story short).

Thank u very much for welcoming! Things will never get better in my country (at least not during next 300 yrs or so), but I am looking forward to meet some cool people outside Ukraine.

Will be glad to see you back in comments for my next posts. Merci!

Today I accidentally remembered how I celebrated the new two thousand and ninth year. It all took place near the Lviv Opera House, where a big monitor was installed, and it showed the countdown: 29, 28, 27...

I was together with Irynka -- a beautiful, very good young lady, to whom I will do an unspeakably painful thing in a month or two and won't ever forgive myself (till now), but at that moment we both knew nothing about it and were sincerely happy with the beginning of the two thousand and ninth.

For some reason I don't remember if it was snowing then; probably it was.

In a few minutes after the midnight -- already in the new year at that time -- me and Irynka somehow managed to find an uncrowded cafe. It was a so-called "Old tram" -- a coffee shop inside a real old-school tram, which stood near the monument to Danylo Halytsky back then. Surprisingly, it worked, and we ordered some coffee cocktails to sit with them for a few more hours and still not meet anyone else inside. It was a wonderful and peaceful time, when it seemed to me, that the road to a personal future was surprisingly flat.

…And a little earlier, when the two thousand and ninth had just arrived, I called to my that-time-boss - the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Youth of Ukraine", where I used to work as head of the department and a journalist. We congratulated each other, wished a lot happiness and many years of work together further on.

In fact, we did not succeed in that work together. It's a pity, you know. And the road of life turned out to be much more complicated, than it seemed at the time. It's a pity too.

Something scared me in that memory of mine...

IT
WAS
SO
LONG
AGO!!!

🙁

It was about different me, different Lviv, different reality; another world, another life, another dimension…

If more than twelve years ago from now someone had told me that the future would be SUCH A MESS (in all senses), I would never believe. Everything has changed now, every single aspect of life -- but at the same time there is a lot of stability, although even it is changeable, no matter how strange it sounds.

And how often do you suddenly think of something like that and compare: "Me now" -- "Me back then"?

P. S. You may see the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Balet on the photo below.

Today I accidentally remembered how I celebrated the new two thousand and ninth year. It all took place near the Lviv Opera House, where a big monitor was installed, and it showed the countdown: 29, 28, 27...

I was together with Irynka -- a beautiful, very good young lady, to whom I will do an unspeakably painful thing in a month or two and won't ever forgive myself (till now), but at that moment we both knew nothing about it and were sincerely happy with the beginning of the two thousand and ninth.

For some reason I don't remember if it was snowing then; probably it was.

In a few minutes after the midnight -- already in the new year at that time -- me and Irynka somehow managed to find an uncrowded cafe. It was a so-called "Old tram" -- a coffee shop inside a real old-school tram, which stood near the monument to Danylo Halytsky back then. Surprisingly, it worked, and we ordered some coffee cocktails to sit with them for a few more hours and still not meet anyone else inside. It was a wonderful and peaceful time, when it seemed to me, that the road to a personal future was surprisingly flat.

…And a little earlier, when the two thousand and ninth had just arrived, I called to my that-time-boss - the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Youth of Ukraine", where I used to work as head of the department and a journalist. We congratulated each other, wished a lot happiness and many years of work together further on.

In fact, we did not succeed in that work together. It's a pity, you know. And the road of life turned out to be much more complicated, than it seemed at the time. It's a pity too.

Something scared me in that memory of mine...

IT
WAS
SO
LONG
AGO!!!

🙁

It was about different me, different Lviv, different reality; another world, another life, another dimension…

If more than twelve years ago from now someone had told me that the future would be SUCH A MESS (in all senses), I would never believe. Everything has changed now, every single aspect of life -- but at the same time there is a lot of stability, although even it is changeable, no matter how strange it sounds.

And how often do you suddenly think of something like that and compare: "Me now" -- "Me back then"?

P. S. You may see the Lviv Theatre of Opera and Balet on the photo below.

That is an important topic here, indeed.
As for me, I use GNU/Linux + Tor (onion browser) to be safe. I don't trust the proprietory operating systems like Windows or MacOS (had never been using it, BTW, and I don't think I want to)...

The planet is changing, whether we like it or not. Over the last year my social media feeds have been replenished with more than one, two or even several dozens of obituaries of people with whom I interacted recently. Some of those who passed away were very young - forty-two years, thirty-five, even twenty-eight… However, for most of my compatriots, all anti-epidemic measures continue to cause misunderstanding and rejection. There is a number of reasons for this, most of which are a consequence of Ukraine's soviet past. Maybe, it will be difficult for a person unfamiliar with Ukrainian realities to understand, so I will try to explain what's going on here...

The Soviet Union taught its citizens a simple truth: everything outside of your home does not apply to you. That is why in Ukraine, for example, it is a completely normal situation when the flats of ordinary people - shiny, cleaned to the smallest speck flats, furnished with taste - are in the half-abandoned houses, that haven't seen repairs for decades. Imagine a house, where the second generation of its residents hadn't seen a working elevator for their entire lives!.. Maybe, I described a little exaggerated situation, but I dare to say that usually everything looks like that. More or less.

The fact that Ukrainians are fighting against the need to wear masks is not even surprising. Doctors note that the mask may not protect you, but it protects from you - if you've got a disease without sympthoms, for instance. In other words, you reduce the likelihood of infecting someone nearby, when you are wearing a mask.

Here in Ukraine people are not accustomed to thinking for their neighbors - and that is why any attempts to introduce anti-epidemic measures cause persistent public opposition. Many of Ukrainians complain that the mask is uncomfortable, it's difficult to breathe it it, and in general they feel like dogs in muzzles… Only a few of these people wonder how "uncomfortable" could they feel under the ventilator in the hospital. Nobody cares, that against this background the mask looks less evil.

Ukraine has been living in quarantine for the last year. The first restrictions were introduced in March 2020. However, even during the rage of the pandemic Ukrainians are mostly trying to lead a normal life and they have an extremely negative attitude to anything that makes certain "adjustments" to the normal rhythm of life.

If you are about to travel by public transport nowadays in Ukraine, be prepared to see passengers without masks at all, or with masks worn incorrectly, so that the nose remains uncovered. The most interesting thing is that other people in the metro [underground railway here in Kyiv - auth.] or in the bus cabin don't make remarks to others who want to ride without a mask, because they're in the risk of getting a punch in a face and/or losing their teeth. Be sure that law enforcement officers will arrive for that sort of a call in forty minutes… or they may not arrive at all. With about the same "zeal", the Ukrainian police checks the observance of quarantine requirements by Ukrainians not only in transport or on the streets, but also in the cafes, shops, and places of large crowds. :-(

The people themselves are just happy to stay against the system, to fight it (by not wearing the masks, of course), so they take off their masks as soon as the right opportunity arises. From time to time, protests of various kinds are outraged here: entrepreneurs who are dissatisfied with the temporary restrictions on the operation of their business; supporters of various global conspiracy theories, such as chipping people while vaccinating, the activities of the so-called world government and other nonsense... This is an incomplete list of those who periodicity flood the streets of major cities here in Ukraine.

At the same time, the official Ukrainian virus statistics is a little questionable. According to unverified rumors from medical circles, statistics are both overestimated and underestimated depending on the specific circumstances. Moreover, Ukrainians are used to seek for medical attention only as a last resort (in the Soviet Union there was a saying: "Doctors can cure you to death" - because they can!), so the percent of ill people taking into account patients who stubbornly do not seek help has to be around twice or three times larger, I guess.

In those conditions - conditions of uncertainty, incomprehensibility and some rapid changes in the usual rhythm of life - many Ukrainians have come to the conclusion that it is easier to abstract from any news about the virus than to try to understand what is really happening. These are the sad Ukrainian realities, if we try to describe them briefly.

One American blogger who had been living in Kyiv for over 2 years said the right phrase, I think: "Ukrainians have endured so many difficult trials in their history that the virus looks like a trivial problem in their eyes". I think it's true, but partially: the blogger didn't notice the above-mentioned soviet upbringing, according to which it is not necessary to take care of other people around us. "Think for yourself only", yup.

I have to add that our government's steps against the pandemic are also strange: f.e., during the so-called "hard lockdown" the public transport was working absolutely as usual, and most institutions also were, while it was impossible to buy matches, socks, shampoos, lighters and even toilet paper in the shops. It's totally unknown what the authorities were thinking of when making such a decisions.

No matter what, the wave of the illness continues here in Ukraine. The so-called "British" strain of the virus has not yet reached our country, but I am afraid that it will happen soon. I don't know how Ukraine is going to fight it. We'll see.

All I have to do is wish everyone good health, no matter what country you are from. Hold on! We will definitely overcome everything.

@a-lost-girl we'll check it, won't we? :-)

Hey there! We may talk about anything you want to. ;-) I am also looking for some penfriends here. :-D

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, the new country and its people had to learn to navigate an unfamiliar conceptual landscape that included “market economy”, “private entrepreneurship”, “freedom of choice”, and other terms that were, for all intents and purposes, unknown to ordinary Ukrainian citizens because of the country’s decades-long history as a constituent part of the USSR. Inevitably, during a decade of upheaval that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, “survival of the fittest” in its crudest form became the norm in the business arena – those who were the most ruthless toward their competitors also became the most successful (I would hazard a guess that the “Wild West ‘90’s” became infamous not only throughout the post-Soviet lands but also far and wide beyond Ukraine).

Pioneering private businesses faced an uphill battle not unlike trying to put a man on the Moon by launching him from a giant slingshot: an aspiring businessperson had to bribe bureaucrats at various levels, make arrangements with the criminal underworld to ensure reliable “protection”, and, most importantly, to persuade average citizens reeling from their newfound freedom to spend hard-earned cash on new goods and services that, until recently, were completely unknown to them.

The aforementioned chaos turned out to be a golden opportunity for certain multinational companies that were better positioned to manage the risk of an inhospitable business environment, with the result that in the mid-90’s the phrase “to buy a computer” came to mean only “to buy a computer with pre-installed Windows software”. Such an outcome was advantageous not only for those directly involved in developing the operating system, but also for a variety of Ukrainian manufacturers, both big and small, who installed pirated “Windows” on computers that they then proceeded to sell at a steep premium amid assurances that the software was legitimate and licensed.

It is necessary at this point to take a slight detour and to further explore the impact of the Soviet past on Ukraine in general and on every Ukrainian in particular. The “evil empire” – Soviet Union – left my fellow Ukrainians with a damaging “legacy” of negative personality traits (I guess, none of us would have come out unscathed after living in a totalitarian country). Some of the manifestations of this “Soviet mentality” include naïve willingness to trust any pronouncements of the so-called “experts” as well as exaggerated conservatism that causes resentment of anything new and occasionally leads to phobias.

The passage of time had little positive effect on the proliferation of unlicensed software in Ukraine. Consumers got used to “freebies” and usually prefer to download the very same “Windows” software and other content from illegal pirating websites or torrent-tracker systems that provide detailed instructions on how to hack any computer program to get it to work. An ordinary Ukrainian also is not accustomed to paying for music recordings, as it can be easily downloaded in the mp3 format from multiple sources. Copyrighted movies fare no better, as one can find any film, including new releases, online and watch it without the need to register or obtain an access code. Consequently, an ordinary Ukrainian would be willing to pay for an operating system only in exceptional circumstances: indeed, the thinking goes, why pay when everything and anything is available online, and all one needs to do is download it?

Failure to understand the very concept of free software (e.g., “How can it be any good if it’s free?” or “Unless you get for free something that otherwise costs a lot of money, it must not be worth anything”) as well as the prevalence of Windows and resistance to learning something new are the principal reasons why GNU/Linux had trouble getting a foothold in Ukraine for a while. One’s thinking would typically go as follows: “What is the point of downloading some confusing operating system if I can install the trusty – and also free – Windows which is so familiar after two decades of using it (never mind that it is pirated)? No learning new tricks for this ol’ dog! I do not want to try new things! Those who say that the other operating system is superior in some ways can keep it, as I am very content with what I have, thank you very much!”

Despite this inauspicious beginning, the attitude toward GNU/Linux recently began to change, albeit slowly. The “Revolution of Dignity” – which is how the surge of popular resistance that toppled the corrupt regime of Victor Yanukovych came to be known – was a watershed moment. Following the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine chose a European vector of development and opened up to new opportunities. People began to change. In the past, hardly anybody bothered to think that not littering or being courteous toward one another was the right thing to do, or that all people were equal, and no one was inferior because of one’s skin color, creed, or sexual orientation, among others. Now, one can see palpable evidence that democratic and liberal values are being internalized and are slowly beginning to shape people’s attitudes.

The same phenomena are evident in changing attitudes toward pirated software. A new generation of Ukrainians, who came of age after the collapse of the USSR and are not burdened by Soviet-era experiences, realizes that intellectual property (such as musical recordings, film, electronic books, etc.) is not a “free” product to be downloaded with impunity. Above all, it is a product of perseverance and hard work of every person who contributed to creating such intellectual property. And hard work must be rewarded by paying for it. At the same time, the young generation is looking to new technologies and to alternative, often better, solutions for their home computer systems. A home computer is precisely where the advantages of a Linux-based operating system are most apparent. Features that make Linux particularly attractive include open and unrestricted distribution of such an operating system and software as well as new, up-to-the-moment technologies that make Linux far superior to a “familiar” Windows operating system.

At this time, GNU/Linux users are still a minority among all computer users in Ukraine: according to internetua.com, only 1.74% of internet users had a Linux-based operating system as of June, 2017, and this number includes computers used for both personal and business purposes. Yet, even such a small number of Linux users is an accomplishment for a young post-Soviet country that only recently truly found itself.

I believe that some of the main factors that impede the spread of GNU/Linux in Ukraine are, first, the continuing prevalence of online piracy and a pervasive stereotype that such software is designed solely for computer geeks because of its complexity, and second, the insufficient number of computer games in the “A” category. In combination with the post-Soviet mentality discussed above, the result is that people have been slow to warm up to Linux.

This said, a small and tightly-knit yet welcoming community of Linux users in Ukraine perseveres and continues to peck away at the old order. The intuitive nature of the most recent release of Linux Mint is making the software increasingly popular among ordinary users who initially use it as a backup operating system, and later on – as their primary one. If this trend continues, then it will be the Ukrainians themselves who will spearhead further advance of GNU/Linux in Ukraine once they are ready to conquer the fear of the unfamiliar and to master something new and better than the tried-and-true alternative that tethers them to the past.

@neostanniy thank you very much! I am quite sure I will!

@fluffi we were part of that evil empire called soviet union, so our people still have that "soviet" attitude. It's very hard to explain what it actually is, but it is a disaster for people who can think (2 make a long story short).

Thank u very much for welcoming! Things will never get better in my country (at least not during next 300 yrs or so), but I am looking forward to meet some cool people outside Ukraine.

Will be glad to see you back in comments for my next posts. Merci!

@ᴤϙᴜɪᴤʜʏɴᴇᴏɴ why was it long?.. It was even less than a half of a A4 paper... Like 3000 symbols or something. Is it too much? :-(

@Achal99 said in How The Hell And Why On Earth Did I Came Here?...:

e. I don't mean to destroy your spirit but just to give a proper perspective you know. what I mean to say is, that zing which you and we all are seeking doesn't lie outside -in "things" or "people" or in situations but within ourselves! We all are investing a great deal of time in managing the external affairs so well b

Yeah, I got it all, sir.

I am used to being alone when it comes to a girlfriend. I had thirty two of them in my life, they were very different, but it all came to the same end. Of course, I am going to be sad if it will all come in a bad way... On the other hand, as I said -- i got used to it already.

My life brought me a lot of trouble already (from alcoholism and to the participation in a war), I am kinda experienced with it, but today's loneliness is something new: today I accidentally found out that the last time smb called me (EXCEPT for work, fiancee and parents) just to say "Hi!" was like... a year and a half ago. I forgot when I spoke to someone about something different than just work, when I chatted the last time. That's the reason I am here.

Thank u for ur attention very much!