And this is what I told the author at ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) in an email... I was directed to your article by a user on a user group I support. Quit scaring the straights man. Newbies are called newbies for a reason. Plenty of user groups have long life spans. I would submit that the reason for a user group's demise is not the techie-to-business-to-newbie cycle you propose, but a normal death of product. If you look at a product life cycle, Early adopter, adopter, normal user, old age, dated -- that will describe typical products. Some user groups also fail due to poor management. Redhat, for instance , is no longer monitoring their forums very well. Some user groups welcome newbies and grow in strength though. It depends on the life cycle of the product and the quality of the supporters. As a methphor: The US did not get where it is by having a lame product and lazy stupid supporters. The US has plenty of newbies though.
Check out LibraNet, LibraNet produces a Debian GNU/Linux distribution that is far and going away the best desktop distro out there. They have little press, and only email tech support. ( http://www.libranet.com ) Their user support group is the best I have ever seen and I have been doing the computer thing since 1983. I have going on 20 years of mainframe, VAX, UNIX, PC, Novell, DECNet, LAT, LanMan, Windows, and Linux experience now, and I have yet to meet a group of users I can compare to the LibraNet email user group. Period. LUG's (Linux User Groups) tend to hold up quite well. We even have meetings. I cannot speak to the groups you have been involved in, I am guessing the number is low given your poor experience, but try not to engage in poor mathematics. If you are going to state a trend, contribute some data. I understand you have deadlines and articles to print, but hey Hondo, to stay readable: avoid generalizing and hyperbole. It makes you sound stupid. You may be stupid, but why advertise? Doug Riddle --- Larry Braud <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,476659,00.asp > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net ===== Warmest Regards, Doug Riddle http://www.dougriddle.com ## Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the Peoples' Liberty Teeth." - George Washington ## __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com
