I understand what you mean. I guess I should have chosen a better word. And my issue isn't that I don't read (I read as much as I can on user forums, I subscribe and read to Debian and OpenBSD mailing distributions and tinker with what I can). Unfortunately, it feels as if some of the things that I work on are trivial in comparison to some of the things that I read on this mailing list. So I guess that, at least in my eyes, you guys are gurus. :P
2008/10/28 William Boshuck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 12:31:14PM -0400, Heimdall Imbert wrote: > > Hahaha, I wanted to say the same thing but figured that this wouldn't be > an > > appropriate venue for a discussion of this nature. But since someone > else > > brought it up, I figure I might as well add my two cents. I currently run > > Debian and Windows XP on my laptop and I use it as a learning tool > (because > > I am nowhere near a guru unlike many of the people here!). > > I am nothing like a guru, and nothing approaching a programmer. I > cannot write a simple shell script without rereading parts of man > pages to remember how it goes; sometimes I cannot even write a > simple XHTML file without consulting the definition at w3.org to > remember how it goes. I have never used Windows, I used Linux > only briefly, and since then I've used nothing but OpenBSD (except > where I have a shell account on a machine that belongs to someone > else, and then only remotely). In my opinion OpenBSD is the > ultimate learning tool, perhaps largely because of the high > quality of its documentation. Also because on mailing lists like > this one the developers are willing to tell it straight however > the rest of us may react (I view that in itself as a form of > generosity). You just have to commit to reading carefully and > with patience (mainly towards the gradual accumulation of your own > understanding). > > I think the widespread view that OpenBSD is only, or mainly, for > gurus is an unfortunate myth. On the other hand, it may be true > that OpenBSD is only, or mainly, for people who are willing to > read carefully and patiently, and who understand and accept how > OpenBSD is offered to the world for free. I believe that the > latter point could be better and more widely understood. > > cheers, > -wb > (Who's received his copy of 4.4 late last week, and thanks the > developers for another job (predictably) well done.)
