Re: Thanks for Debian (was: Re: thanks)
Martin McCormick wrote:
> I will definitely second all this praise. I began using Linux
> in early 2000 and I chose Debian because it, at the time, was more
> security conscious than some of the other distributions. I work in the
> Network Operations group of the IT department at Oklahoma State
> University so one needs things that are stout and trustworthy if one
> hopes to be productive. Thanks for giving us tools that aren't toys.
>
> It is humbling to think that so many people have contributed
> so freely of their time and expertise. A spokesman for a large
> mass-market software firm once said that closed-source software was
> the way to go because "When your rear is on the line, you tend to
> really perform."
I was pitching this week to a small business who run Windows / Cisco
stuff. My contact there is far from hostile, and is in fact interested
to learn about a Better Way. I still wasn't quite prepared for his
comment that "how can it be as good when CA / Cisco / whomever have so
many people dedicated to producing a solid product".
Now, I'm an engineer-turned-businessmann and I'm now starting to be able
to speak like the latter. I reminded him that he has _no idea_ and _no
visibility_ of what these companies do internally, and how does he know
that their staff aren't mostly sales and marketing-based? ;)
> I won't dispute whether or not that is right or not,
> but the halls are full of cries of anguish from people who use that
> software as directed and still manage to come to grief.
> Debian Linux hasn't let me down once when I followed the correct
> method of doing things. It's not idiot-proof, but anything truly
> useful never really is and it tends to be self-limiting in that true
> idiots stay away and do something else. (Let your imagination be your guide.)
>
> Let's hope that Debian, Linux in general and the open source
> philosophy continues to survive. My worst nightmare is having no
> choice but to use software written by people whose rears were on the
> line and who were meeting a deadline so pushed that package out the
> door with the occasional stack overflow or the uninitialized memory
> that creeps in every so often, etc.
>
> My job is a lot easier because of what the Debian developers
> have done and you've really done something when you make somebody's
> work day easier and more productive.
>
> As one who likes to get a decent weeks pay for a decent hour's
> work, I truly appreciate this.:-)
>
> A thousand thanks to all Linux Developers and to those on this
> list who answer our questions when we get stuck. Let's not forget to
> do the same when we see somebody else stuck on something we know about.
In response to John H, I think that the fact that public thanks isn't
often expressed, isn't a _purposeful_ thing. It just kind of goes
unsaid. The dedication of users, developers, support on lists and irc
etc, speaks for itself. But as I'm at this point, I would like to add
my thanks to all DDs, and I'd like to encourage us all to keep giving
and contributing back to the community. For such an established
project, it's amazing how much there is still to do. Which reminds
me... :)
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