[oclug]Re: Linux too hard?

[GR Gaudreau]

> [gr]   Exactly why Linux isn't taking off as it should: elitist
> attitudes. I know, from what you write, that you don't give a damn
about
> the AV, but many do and are trying their level best to give the AU an
> alternative to M$. I, for one, would love to see this happen; a *real*
> alternative, not just stuff for Unix Geeks.

[Mike]
    It's not an elitist attitude at all. I'd rather not be
unappreciated, or
work my ass off on something in my free time to find out that someone is
giving me more work to do because I didn't perfect the documentation, or
wrap
a gui around it. If an app is targetted at the average user, then fine,
complain if you can't use it. But, don't make a developer feel
unappreciated
by telling him/her that his/her precious time devoted to that completely
free
product that you paid nothing for isn't good enough.

[gr]  It sounded like that from where I was sitting. If it isn't, then
you have my apologies, Mike. However, when a piece of software doesn't
work properly, it doesn't matter if it's free or not: it doesn't work
properly, and that's the bottom line for a user, i.e., me. That doesn't
mean I don't appreciate the work involved, it just measn that it's
frustrating for the user, especially when topped off with a lack of
documentation, or documentation geared for those who know Unix
techno-speak.


> [gr]  I never sai you *had* to, Mike. You don't have to do anything
you
> don't want to. I'm talking about people who care about the AV, which
you
> don't and have made that clear; and judging from all the articles I've
> read on the Internet, manyLinux people would love to give the AU a
> suitable alternative to M$. The problem is that time, money and
> advertizing are involved, and that's a though thing to put together
with
> free software?

[Mike]
    As a matter of fact, I do care about the average user. I do not want
to be
obligated however, to make every piece of software I write useable by
the
average user. Simple and reliable often conflict with easy of use, and
given
the choice, I'll take simple and reliable, even if user interface gurus
call
me a backwards monkey for liking a command-line.

[gr]  I don't think anyone is obliging you, Mike. But if a person writes
software doesn't work properly and has no codumentation to speak of,
then who's to blame the person using it if he's frustrated? There are
two sides to every coin.

[gr]
> Don't want to write stuff for the AU? Fine, don't write any if you
don't
> care to; but some do, and I'm an AU and I'd love to see Linux become
> better for guys like me. I'd love to give Gates the boot and use Linux
> full time.

[Mike]
    I understand that most of the time you just want software to work. I
bitch
and scream at Windows and Linux because frankly, all software sucks.
Linux
sucks less. (I realize I ripped off the Mutt motto) I just find my world
works
better from Linux, where I have more choices. The price of those choices
currently is the work involved, but I'm quite happy here.
    Given current trends, I don't believe that the average user is going
to be
using Linux in its current form anyway. I think OS X is a peek into the
future. Solid, hacker ready core, fancy, easy to use gui on top, and it
all
"just works". I don't think Linux is going to be the common OS. I think
it's
going to help someone else get there by raising the bar. Even windows is
slowly becoming stable, simply because Linux exists.

[gr]   I, for one, would have liked Linux to be more than just an
incentive for propriatary software makers to give us better software.
However, that Linux is doing that is a great accomplishment, and a
reason for me to save up my bucks, buy a Mac and try OS X. I hear tell
it's awesome for guys like me. But that still leaves me a bit sad that
Linux doesn't fit that bill, and maybe won't in the near future.




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