[ubuntu-uk] [SUGGEST THREAD IS CLOSED] (was Re: Ubuntu/Linux is still not an OS for the masses - discuss)

[Roy Jamison]

On Wed, 2010-10-13 at 17:38 +0100, Matthew Macdonald-Wallace wrote:
> On Wed, 2010-10-13 at 17:08 +0100, John Matthews wrote:
> > To be honest with you, its pissed me off you bought up that thing about 
> > contacting people in the middle of the night. I have not done that on 
> > here, or the ubuntu group, so I know there is only one reason for you to 
> > have bought that up. That is out of order, its nothing to do with you. 
> > It explains a hell of a lot though. Out of order.
> 
> OK, I'm not a moderator on this list, however I am a member of the
> community and I'm sure I'm not the only one that is worried about where
> this email thread is going.
> 
> Before someone invokes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law and
> we end up as a community of these:
> http://slash7.com/2006/12/22/vampires/ I'd like to respectfully suggest
> to all involved that the list below is a fair summary of the current
> situation and that we all log what ever bug reports are required, work
> to fix them where we are able and move on before someone says something
> that they really regret.

Definitely a +1 here! We can go on about Windows vs linux for years and
never hear the end of it.

> 
> 1) New users of Ubuntu are sometimes intimidated/concerned/hacked off by
> the fact that they have to install the operating system themselves and
> it does not come preconfigured in the same way that Windows does.
> 
> 2) Existing users of Ubuntu can (and I'm as guilty of this as anyone
> else!) sometimes forget that it isn't straight forward to install Ubuntu
> onto a PC if you've not done it before.
> 
> 3) Regardless of which Operating System you eventually settle for, there
> are issues involved when installing on to certain hardware and sometimes
> the correct drivers for the operating system you have chosen don't work
> in the way that you expect (personally, I believe that this applies
> equally to Windows, Mac and Linux).
> 
> 4) Whilst "File a bug report" is often a (valid) first response to
> someone posting to the list about a hardware issue, it is (in my view)
> useless unless it is accompanied by - at the very least! - a link to a
> step by step guide on _how_ to file a bug report.
> 
> 5) All to often in the Linux community as a whole (and even though I
> hold this as true, I know I'm going to upset a lot of people with this
> one!) there is an attitude (or at least a perceived attitude) of "What
> do you mean you don't know how to do that?!!! Are you thick or
> something?!!! I can do it, you should be able to as well!" which does
> not help us when we try to encourage people who are less familiar with
> Linux to adopt it and only fuels the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD)
> spread by commercial businesses with a vested interest in watching Open
> Source fail.
> 

I totally agree. Come on guys for God's sake, at the end of the day,
we're all in this together, and are one community, we are meant to
support each other, not be at loggerheads!

> I have left more mailing lists than I care to mention as a result of
> watching the communities fall apart - I don't want to see Ubuntu-UK fall
> apart... :(
> 
> My thoughts on (and hopefully the end of!) this matter.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Matt
> 
> -- 
> Matthew Macdonald-Wallace
> matthew at truthisfreedom.org.uk
> http://www.threedrunkensysadsonthe.net/
> 
> 

If anyone needs help with any problem, and doesn't get any joy from
other channels, i.e. forums, IRC, Answers tracker on Launchpad, find me
on IRC and I will try and help, but please for God's sake try the other
3 first I'm not *that* clever :D

Who said the Ubuntu community isn't helpful? ;)