tlug: Linux for the masses (was: ppa)

["Frank Bennett" <bennett@example.com>]

>Terrible thing about Linux-for-the-masses -- folks who have been exposed to
>Linux (and _only_ Linux, and probably only RedHat at that) seem to believe
that
>that's all it takes to become one with UNIX.  I've had the dubious pleasure
of
>interviewing about twenty people for sysadmin/security positions in the
last
>two months.  Unimpressed.


Uh, sorry, I must have missed something here ... who said that
Linux-for-the-masses was going to propagate The Knowledge
(to borrow a phrase from London cabbie circles) to them as a class?

In the conclusion to an essay, Lawrence Stigler once jocularly argued for
the introduction of a licencing scheme for the practice of economics
(the implication being that it would raise his earning power --- he was
writing before he had won the Nobel Prize).  The same principle applies
here.  Adding people to the ranks of Unix users is a good thing for society
as a whole because they will motivate over time for better quality of
service
at lower cost.  Even if you don't respect them or even like them very much.

Think of it like the market for painters.  When Renoir was working, there
were
lots of hacks around.  We don't remember whether Renoir (or the other
hacks) felt that such people should be kept from their paint brushes.
We don't really care, because they don't seem to have done any harm
to the institution of painting.  (Renoir's generation left that job for the
Expressionists :)  But they were the soup from which Renoir emerged.

For what it's worth ... although I realize that this does nothing to relieve
you of the burden of interviewing people that you don't want to hire.
Maybe you can tighten up the text of your adverts, to get a little
self-selection going in your favor?

Apologies if this should have gone to Advocacy.

Cheers,
Frank  B


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