After flirting with tech from 1989 onwards, Sam Varghese began to experiment with Linux in 1998. A couple of years later, he began using the Debian distribution as a single-boot system for his personal use. From that point onwards his interest grew and he has since written widely about free and open source software, with a great deal of his writings based on his own experiences, rather than anecdotal evidence. Open Sauce will focus on a genre of software that is present everywhere but rarely acknowledged; a genre that has little eye-candy but does most of the heavy lifting; a genre that is designed and written by people whose accomplishments are only occasionally recognised. Above all this blog will follow the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Are Linux users really a feral bunch?

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by Sam Varghese

Tuesday, 06 November 2007

Page 1 of 2 ! It is not uncommon for those who write about Linux or other FOSS software to be inundated with feedback from users. At times that feedback is a bit unbalanced, a trifle raw and, occasionally, plain silly. Related stories Watch TV with Linux Installing the Adobe Flash plugin on Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" Smack, crack, hack and track any network with Linux (not Windows) Changing operating systems requires a change in mindset Quit smoking and other ways to keep healthy with Windows It is, however, uncommon for a writer to set out to deliberately provoke Linux users with over-the-top stuff - just to prove his contention that said users are a bunch of ferals. This category of writers are called trolls; one surfaced recently in the shape of Infoworld's Russell Kennedy, who, in a three-part series titled "why Ubuntu (still) sucks", managed to rouse people enough to invite sufficient bile to prove his claim - which he laid out in the last part of that series. Bryan Profitt, the editor of Linux Today, was unwittingly caught up in the storm as he posted all three pieces written by Kennedy on LT before realising that he had been suckered. Profitt, a journalist whose judgement is generally very good, explained this to his readers in a long editorial and found that, by and large, they concurred with him. I found it distasteful that someone - in this case, Kennedy - who claims to be part of a profession to which I belong would actually do something of this nature: deliberately provoke people in order to attract traffic and adverse comments. And I thought it was worthwhile looking at the proposition: are Linux users reallly a feral bunch? Having written about FOSS for the last five years, I have earned my share of blistering attacks and fulsome praise. It doesn't surprise me in any way because that would be the reaction if one were to write about practically anything which commands a loyal following. Linux users, by and large, are an activist-minded lot. They may be a minority but they always make their voices heard. This is often misinterpreted as being feral by sections of the media which are used to having their views treated as the gospel truth. There is a section of the media which refuses to admit that it can ever be wrong and is unwilling to say sorry. To be true, Linux users can be pedantic. Someone may well write in to say that my contention that X was released on July 22 was incorrect as it was released a day later. Or else that the place of release was not Melbourne, Australia, it was Melbourne, Florida. This, however, does not constitute feral behaviour. There is the occasional reaction which gets personal - I've had comments about my age (50) or my ethnicity (Indian) - but then in a crowd there are always bound to be one or two bad apples. You get them everywhere, even among art experts at the Louvre. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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