RE: tlug: Re: Updating the TLUG FAQ

["John De Hoog" <dehoog@example.com>]

(This should really wait for the advocacy list to be formed, but a big load
of work is on its way, so I need to get this out of the way now.)

Joe Marchak wrote:

> 1)  We are now discussing the FAQ wording on the tlug-admin list.  Your
>     input, as well as any other members, can be expressed on that list.

Sorry, I was under the impression that list was not for general users, and
certainly not for outsiders like me. Guess the name fooled me.
>
> 2)  The intent of the tlug main list (this list) is to exchange technical
>     information about linux.

Is that a new policy, or has it always been so? I recall seeing regular
"WINDOZE=HELL" sigs here, and news about the impending fall of the
Microsloth empire, so again I was fooled into thinking advocacy was fair
game.

> If the platform doesn't meet your needs, don't use it.  If it does, then
> constructive criticism is appropriate.

What if the platform is tantalizingly close to meeting my needs, but falls
down on two or three points?

> The philosophy of a list depends on it's environment.  In the NT list's
> case, the environment is that of a group of users who have no access to
> code, and therefore can only expect changes if they complain loudly.  In
> the linux list's case, we ARE them, and have access to all of the tools
> that allow us to change the problems that we find with the OS.
> Complaining loudly will only get the response "If you really don't like
> it, then do something about it instead of complaining".  This is the
> appropriate response.

It may have been the appropriate response when Linux was a nice little tight
community of people with code-tweaking skills. If there really are 7 million
users today, as claimed, then what percentage of them fall into that
category? How many of the corporate Caldera users, or the SOHO RedHat users,
are able to do anything about the lack of a FrameMaker? You are also mixing
OS and applications here. NT users don't have the OS code, but they do have
tools for making or altering applications. Linux users have the OS code, but
that doesn't help with the application lack.
--
John De Hoog, Tokyo
dehoog@example.com
dehoog@example.com
http://dehoog.org




















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