Linux Will Save The World

I don't think they're ungrateful. As a matter of fact, I think it is a sign that FOSS is getting more and more mature. Its audience is no longer a crowds of nerds writing for nerds, no it is becoming more mainstream with obviously mainstream demands. To lots of users, they expect a device like a computer to work. That's BTW also the reason most people don't really care which OS fuels the hardware - as long it's bearable, they don't complain.

When you use a computer for real work, you don't waste time on alpha or even pre-alpha software. It should get the work done. That's why I - and with me a lot of other people - weren't quite surprised about the reception of KDE 4.0. It implied workable software and frankly - it was not. Whine-fest? Hardly. That version had real issues.

"Is this the future of Linux, perfect free shiny toys for the spoiled? Increasing numbers of demanding, ungrateful users who think they are owed everything, and who give back nothing, not even courtesy?" Yes, I hope so. That means we've grown up. Free is not and should not be equal to worthless.

BTW, I'm a KDE user and FOSS developer myself, as you all probably know.

I might put it less harshly, but, yup.

FOSS is growing up and, like it or not, the developers are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world of adult concerns.

I am giving some thought to trying KDE again, hoping that the developers have learned a thing or two about how incredibly important their work is. I've been using XFCE and must admit that I'm not a fan, other than on my myth box, where the small footprint leaves room for multimedia.

Just asking, but are your comments based upon the item (article / editorial) or its summary? Because I am seeing this:

Quoting:404 - File not found [...]

on a related page or directory but no sign of real content.

I have found this to be repeatable and both links take me to the same wrong page and error.

YBT

There was a typo in the link. Here is the correct one:

http://blog.linuxtoday.com/blog/2010/01/linux-will-save.html...

beirwin,

Thank You!

YBT

> I've been using XFCE and must admit that I'm not a fan

XFCE is only good in comparison to Gnome and KDE. :( On it's own merits, it's only passable.

> ...where the small footprint leaves room for multimedia.

That's it's key advantage, yes. It lets you do what you want without bogging down your system.

Oh, and wrt:

> I don't believe it is exaggerating to say that Linux/FOSS is all that stands between technology tyranny, corporate tyranny, and the hope of something better..

Carla is unfortunately entirely correct. :(

Quoting:XFCE is only good in comparison to Gnome and KDE. :( On it's own merits, it's only passable.

Ouch. Talk about d@mning with faint praise...

Believe it or not, I'm one of those oddballs that hopes against all hope CDE will someday become open-source. Of all the desktop environments I've worked with, I've most enjoyed using CDE. XFCE approaches that philosophy closely, but not enough to make it my across-the-board DE. So, on my more-capable desktop system, I use GNOME, but on my smaller system (or systems, as the case may be) I use Fluxbox.

Link fixed, thank you for the heads up.

> Ouch. Talk about d@mning with faint praise...

Yeah, I realized at the time. But it is, IMO, unfortunately true. For the reasons I mentioned, XFCE is my preferred desktop interface, but I hold no illusions about how good it actually is.

> I don't believe it is exaggerating to say that Linux/FOSS is all that stands between technology tyranny, corporate tyranny, and the hope of something better..

F/OSS represents those principles within the realm of software, but it is not the software that "stands between" at all.

It is the principles.

Bring those principles to other parts of life, where tyranny is just as much a threat to the individual.

Linux, like pizza, is a result of those principles, not a cause.

Thanks, Carla, for another thoughtful post.

Technology and freedom go hand in hand. Without the freedom, we're back into the proprietary world with a vengeance. Control freaks are everywhere -- the RIAA, the MPAA, the patent trolls, the DRM types, etc. etc. It's imperative that we preserve this wonderful thing called the Internet as a common resource for all to use. I am old enough to remember when there was no Internet, so I don't take it for granted. To dismiss these concerns by saying "it's just politics and I'm not interested" is a major cop-out, IMNSHO.

As Joni Mitchell wrote in her song, Big Yellow Taxi: "Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot"

Exactly.

I wish Carla would take other ethics as serious as that "freedom". My comment on her article has been deleted again (see other thread - an exact copy). That's what happens when technical writers think that writing in itself is the only asset needed for a journalist - or even an editor. LinuxToday is quickly turning into the Fox News of the FOSS world, when Carla continues to view it merely as a platform for her own, personal opinions and political agenda.

> My comment on her article has been deleted again

Too bad LXer doesn't do the same thing with your comments. I'd happily see Bob go on with post after post about libertarian politics than see yet another one of your posts whining about Carla.

@bigg I'm disturbed that so many people like you simply shrug their shoulders over the quality of the media covering FOSS. But I don't want your comments deleted.

@Beez

It's one thing to make a comment. With very few exceptions I do not have a problem with FOSS-related comments. There's a difference when you hijack every thread on her articles (and even some not) to complain that you can't comment on her articles. You've made your point.

> I'd happily see Bob go on with post after post about libertarian politics than see yet another one of your posts whining about Carla.

Make that "voluntaryist" it would be more accurate. :^) Or maybe "Non-aggression" or "Austrian Economics".

> LinuxToday is quickly turning into the Fox News of the FOSS world, when Carla continues to view it merely as a platform for her own, personal opinions and political agenda.

The error is in believing that somehow "Fox News" represents some kind of abberation. When one agrees with the bias, it's not bias, just good thinking.

I like bias. I think an editor's bias should be right out where everyone can see it. No half-truths trying to hide behind "fair" or "balanced", no idiocy like "all the news that's fit to print" while forgetting to mention what the criteria is for "unfit".

If you disagree with a point, state your disagreement and support your position.

I am very glad to say that no post I've ever made on L.T. has been deleted, even when it is utterly opposed to the position of Carla or anyone else. Carla likes VPNs, I loath them, and there it ends.

The posts telling me I'm wrong are not deleted either, and everyone learns something and walks away. At least I hope they do.

@Bob Robertson That's exactly my point: not one of mine was ever deleted until I went front up. It doesn't matter whatever I post; it gets deleted. That's a PERSONAL bias. Still think that is that good for an editor? Where I come from, it isn't.

> until I went front up.

Then I suggest you not be "front up", or just take your business from L.T. so they don't get your ad views.

> I am very glad to say that no post I've ever made on L.T. has been deleted...

I don't think any of mine have either, though entire threads have been shutdown on occasion. :(