Re: Dear Debian Maintainers (usability)
On Tue, 8 Jun 2004, David Moreno Garza wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-06-08 at 15:30, W Paul Mills wrote:
> > > As in every other aspect of life, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
> >
> > Humm...
> > He is a new debian user, and you want him to start fixing things
> > immediately. He may never stick around that long. Give him a break!
>
> Yes, there are always people who forget these simple things when talking
> of/with new users.
>
Perhaps you and Paul think I meant by "fixing things" that the original
poster should start learning C and building packages etc. Far from it!
There are many ways in which Debian can be helped which don't require
programming. All it takes is a willingness to jump in. Back in 1997 I
was a new user (not new to Linux though but still in the dark about a lot
of things.) I was complaining about something or another on this very
list. And the answer I got was exactly "So why don't you fix it?" And I
did and here I am today. I didn't complain about the answer because
that's what I and everyone else thought you were supposed to do.
Somewhere down the line people have started thinking that Linux is a
"product" and Debian is a "vendor." Well it isn't and we aren't. There
are vendors who have made products out of Linux and even Debian in
particular but they ask for something else in return usually money. So
when the original poster says that Suse is a product that fits his needs
but he doesn't want to pay for it frankly I don't have much sympathy.
It's not about complaining. Criticize all you want the stuff in Debian
that deserves criticism. But back the complaints up with some action or
it just looks like whining.
--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar@debian.org>
La Salle Debain - http://www.braincells.com/debian/
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