On 02/11/10 17:26, Natalie Hooper wrote: > I think some of you are really misunderstanding my purpose here. My purpose > isn't to diss Linux, or to complain about it, but to constructively throw > ideas as to how to improve its user-friendliness. Now, if you don't want it > to become more user-friendly and want to keep it the best kept secret, then > we'll agree to disagree.
Well, I guess that's where we differ: I don't think there are any secrets... it's all there if you care to look, it's just that you may need to be flexible in the way that you go about looking. Yes, you can ask for it all to be presented to you in a way that you like, but don't be surprised if someone volunteering their time is reluctant to change the way they approach their work just to accommodate that. However, the great thing is that you are at liberty to make that your mission where others are concerned. To summarise, as an outsider I did not find adopting Linux to be an overly unfriendly or exclusive experience, and overcoming those issues where I encountered them has been more of a positive thing for me than otherwise. > But otherwise, I was asking for more ideas. Why? > Because the Linux Format article got me thinking (clearly, I'm not the only > one in the community with this feeling) and also because it's fun to > brainstorm/imagine how something we are familiar with could evolve. I was > expecting someone would take the leaf and perhaps have a "10 things I'd > change about the kernel" for example. This is the spirit of my article and > this thread. It is clear I haven't expressed it correctly (ironic > considering what I said about communication lol) but also, I think there is > a bit of over-protectiveness regarding Linux. Constructive criticism won't > harm Linux, it will help it being adopted by more users (again, if you don't > want that to happen, we can agree to disagree). More users? I am more than happy for more people to adopt Linux as their OS of choice, but I'm not exactly evangelical about it. I certainly don't see a pressing need for Linux to overtake this or that OS in terms of the number of users who adopt it. The way I see it, it's here if you (users) want it, but please don't get upset if they (the developers) don't drop everything to bring it over to you! > So for now, I'll stop here as I think I've said what I wanted to say over > and over again, and I really don't want this to turn into a heated > discussion. The purpose of this was to spur on your imagination, not your > argumentative skills lol This discussion is barely above core body temperature, so no need to worry about that Natalie! With regard to arguing points though, I think it is a little naive to chuck out a bunch of constructive criticisms and expect no one to criticise them, constructively. It just happens that I disagree with some of your suggestions (although certainly not all, I might add). Also, I am certainly not defending the status quo, but rather I am saying that I believe the change you are seeking is happening gradually. Leading on from that, one more (hopefully pertinent) question: why does Linux need to change beyond the continuous improvement we already see? I'll qualify that further by asking anyone answering it to step back from this release or that particular release and ponder it over, say, the last five years and several distributions. Sean -- music, film, comics, books, rants and drivel: www.funkygibbins.me.uk -- Next meeting: Crown Hotel, Blandford Forum, Tuesday 2010-11-02 20:00 Meets, Mailing list, IRC, LinkedIn, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ How to Report Bugs Effectively: http://goo.gl/4Xue
