On 29/10/06, Breen Ouellette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I don't feel that Linux users whining and complaining about 'missing' (aka unnecessary, superfluous) features is shameful behaviour because it seems to be expected behaviour in these communities, or at least segments of these communities.
With every issue one has, there are two aspects: 0. Getting your own problem fixed. 1. Getting the general problem fixed. IMHO people who see (0) as an instantiation of (1) and who are primarily interested in (1) don't deserve shame. People who are only ever interested in (0) may deserve to be shamed. Focussing on (1) can take many forms: submitting useful information, problem reports, diffs, financial contributions, etc., and people who are genuinely interested in (1) will generally do what they can (but their abilities may be limited). With OpenBSD, the documentation is so good and there is so little dumbing down of the interface (none, actually, AFAICT), that there isn't any reason or excuse to whine. With Linux, getting to the point where you can do (1) often is considerably harder, especially for non-programmers. Whining can indeed be a necessary step along the way to (1) there. I have whined in Linux fora. I hope that no one thinks I'm whining here. --ropers
