On Mon, 2006-12-18 at 22:27 +0100, Hemmann, Volker Armin wrote: > On Monday 18 December 2006 19:54, Grant wrote:
> > I'm thinking this over a bit more, and it seems like the best thing > > for Gentoo (or any distro) is a lot of users. More users must mean > > more active developers, and more active developers must mean an > > increased rate of growth for the software. > > this kind of users never turn into devs. This kind of users are writing 'good > bye postings' in the forum about how much gentoo sucks and that > INSERTNAMEHERE is much better. /me searches the 'net for the INSERTNAMEHERE distro. Tell me more - I like the sound of this one, I hear it's really cool, and I'm thinking of leaving Gentoo... NOT... > > I believe the great benefit of Gentoo is its flexibility, and > > flexibility is like a meta-benefit because it makes possible any other > > benefit. What do you think makes Ubuntu the distro of the moment? Is > > it ease-of-use? If Gentoo focused more on ease-of-use aspects of the > > Ubuntu variety, they would attract more users and thereby increase the > > rate of growth for the software. > > all the hype about it (in ubuntus case, the hype even started before it was > released, thanks to good marketing). > > There is something called 'target audience'. Do you want to target the noobs? no! I heard once (can't remember who / when) someone say (and I paraphrase from memory) "don't call yourself a noob when you ask a question on a ml. noob is a term used to describe 'idiots' who don't read, and don't try. I can't understand when people say 'complete idiot here, just wanting to ask a question'". > The 'I don't want to read anything' crowd? At the beginning, there was a > big 'gentoo is for advanced users type' sign on the front page. If you dumb > gentoo down to make it idiot-proof only idiots will use it. If you make it more idiot proof, someone will make a better idiot. You'd be chasing a moving target. > It is a good > sign, that people from other distros are asking questions in the gentoo > forums, because they expect good answers there. It is also a known fact, that > ubuntus forums are very big - but good answers are rare. When ubuntu f*ed up > a X update sometime ago, ou had thousands of helpless users. Do you really > want that kind of people in gentoo? On a side note, this ml would have to be proof that Gentoo is maintaining a decent quality. How many times have I heard "this is the best mailing list with the most knowledgeable users"? > nope. It is just the wave of people who want to use the > cool-distro-of-the-day. hey that was me once upon a time. That's how I found Gentoo, but then I wasn't a noob at that stage, so I recognised what I found and stuck to it... -- Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au> It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than forgiveness for being right. -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
