RE: Schroeder
Hi Schroeder, the original AC (Help with help) here, not the second AC, who was maybe a little ruder to you than I hope I would ever be! Apologies I haven't gotten back to you before but been on the piss and rugby since Friday so haven't been online since work finished. To cover your points:
"- Always uses words fanboi or zealot..."
Nowhere in my post do I personally insult anyone or do I indicate that I insult anyone on these forums. My point is drawn directly from the article where even the writer says that the newbie poster is, as a norm, called a "luser", and I point out that this attitude is not the most productive around, as even though they are less knowledgeable for this particular area (the OS in question), they may well be far more intelligent in other aspects of life and that this is merely a sideline of interest. I am merely saying that this does not help in welcoming the wider public into the world of Linux and will drive them away, similar to better the devil you know. Remember that to change the status quo of MS dominance, you need to make your product not just the same, but far superior in the total experience, something that Apple manage to do very well.
"- Always tried multiple Linux distro's and never managed to get one running successfully, and it couldn't be just be down to their ineptitude, as they're a hot shot IT professional."
Tried Ubuntu, but after it refused to recognise my internal wireless card (I don't want a USB wireless sticking out of an ultraportable!), stuck OSX on it, now got Windows 7 on it but that doesn't like my screen driver and probably going back to XP. Got Ubuntu working on another laptop very well, but replaced it with OpenSUSE and had no complaints there either. I'll admit that I'm not a knowledgeable OS person. As per my post, I do database work, so to earn my money, I don't really need to worry what OS I'm running said DB on as there is a DBA team and an infrastructure department to worry about such things.
"- Feel so strongly about the above that they feel it's their duty to warn everyone else..."
I'm complaining about the writer's acceptance of the condescending attitude displayed in some forums that are meant to be helpful, and making a plea that perhaps a spoonful of honey would entice the bees rather than an ladle of high handed sarcasm. I'm warning the Linux community that to convert people they should try politeness and helpfulness rather than the attitude they generally display, as the writer points out in the article!
"- Always assumes that all Linux supporters want to see Linux enjoy the same kind of monopoly that Microsoft currently does - the idea of open competition on a shared market is just so alien to them."
Open competition is good, but surely my primary point of helpdesk politeness and understanding that the people seeking help might not appreciate being called childish names, would promote better competitiveness with the market by making the product more attractive? Why does a service need to establish a superior haughtiness with this name calling? To use a well worn analogy here: if you walk onto a forecourt, does the car salesman tell you that you are too fat, old and ugly to drive away that Ferrari? Does Apple vet its customers for "coolness" before they are take a Macbook Air home with them?
"- Completely ignore the point that you can BUY commercial distro's and support the same as you can for other propriety OS's, if thats the way you want to go. And that you should get the same vendor support on pre-installed Linux distro as you would any OS provided by an OEM. No, we're all Freetards aren't we?"
Yes I do ignore that, mostly because the big selling point of Linux on the Netbook is that you don't pay the MS tax, ergo, it is "free". I will admit that I have not experienced true Linux paid for support, and have only ever trawled forums and knowledge bases, but if, to my subjective experience, the experts in the field treat me like a 15 year old college kid all the time, then will the call centre support staff be any better? And does that mean that even if my organisation invests its future in Linux, then any pleasantness from my paid for support is merely fake smiles and sham helpfulness, so why should I put my company's money and technical requirements into such a sham professional relationship? At least with my existing vendors I know they want my money and I know that they want to help out with our 5/10/15 years of mutual history.
Hopefully you won't find the need to sit there and insult me or my intelligence any time soon, but can see from a newbie's perspective of the treatment they get when asking for help. Remember that not everyone is a technical person like you are, and, even if I wasn't technically minded (as you say) then surely you should be even more understanding of the problems I am getting into?
PS. Haven't been on the Sun Java pages since 2001 when I did a BEA certification course at my work. Whoever has your goat there ain't me!
@Penguin Colonies
I stand correctly, Sir, in the direct usage of the word, though mine was more in terms of a grouping or collective. I think this is usually used in terms of a prodigal returning to a group, which I would suppose in popular culture is much like the "lost sheep" stories, both biological and religious, where a fold can be used to describe a congregation. But thanks for the those terms - I'll be sure to remember them next time!