Debian: contempt for "end user" values has to stop!"

[Liam Proven]

2009/8/20 Derek Broughton <derek at pointerstop.ca>:
> Liam Proven wrote:
>
>> To maliciously mutate an old saying, Mohammed has been coming to the
>> mountain for a generation and his feet are tired. It's time for the
>> mountain to come to Mohammed.
>>
>> Ubuntu is making headway. Not a huge amount, but some. Most of the
>> other spinoffs are not, they're just people trying to make things work
>> the way *they* want, with no real consideration of what anyone else
>> wants.
>
> And frankly, if that's the way you feel, you _shouldn't_ be using a Linux
> distro.  That's evolutionary development for you.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware there was an aptitude test or anything!

> How do they pull anyone away from the "main event" - they're developers who
> don't want _anything_ to do with Gnome.  If somehow Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc,
> were to disappear today, don't expect that many - if any - of the people
> working on them would choose to put their effort into the mainline Ubuntu.

No no no. You're right, but I'm not talking about that.

One of the big weaknesses of Linux to the general public is that there
is this embarrassment of riches. Tell someone "you ought to try Linux"
and they will find a bewildering, intimidating profusion of distros.
For any one they might try, someone somewhere will say "oh no, you
don't want to use /that/, you want to use /this/!"

When you know what you want, or like, or whatever, it's not a problem.
If you don't know, it is, very much so.

> No, they don't need to realize that at all.  imo, it's _we_ divide, and _we_
> conquer, because the sum is more than the whole of its parts...

Well, perhaps, eventually - I'll believe it when I see it - but I
reckon this will make it a slower process.

> And _nobody_ really cares - notwithstanding Ubuntu Bug #1.

Speak for yourself!


> Why?  If I'm going to develop, I'm going to do it in a language _I'm_
> comfortable with.  Even in a commercial setup, that's true.

Perhaps Canada has some much more laid-back employers than here in the
UK. Here, if you want a job, you program in what you're told to, using
the tools you're told to use. It's a rare and wonderful thing to get
to choose...


-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk • GMail/GoogleTalk/Orkut: lproven at gmail.com
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 • Fax: + 44 870-9151419
AOL/AIM/iChat/Yahoo/Skype: liamproven • LiveJournal/Twitter: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com • ICQ: 73187508