On Sunday 14 January 2007 15:15, Jan Elders wrote: > I think HG made a valid point. > Look at the various threads in this list from newbies who are desparate and > lost how to get for instance their DVD working. > Yes, for you (and me) it is quite simple because we know what actions we > must take in advance to gets things working ( see analogy with the car), > but have you forgotten the first time when you (probably) also had to > search and inquire before you had things going ?
I think one of the problems is that many new users come along and expect to be told exactly what to do in their specific situation to solve whatever problem they're having. "If Linux is as good as Windows, it must be able to do this - I haven't done much googling or reading, but I think you should tell me the answer right now." The response may come across as arrogant, but that is because the original request may have been a bit arrogant - how many posts have there been on this list about codecs (which is why the DVD may not be working - see (4) below) over the last 6 months? It might be polite to read some of them before asking again. New users, please remember: (1) You spent a lot of time learning about Microsoft Windows (and swearing at it, and reinstalling drivers, and sanitising it, and ...) - you have to expect to invest some time in experimentation, finding out what YaST can do, etc. (2) Why?, you might say. Because you are interested in Linux for a purpose - namely, to redress some of the perceived problems with Microsoft Windows. Linux is not a "Windows + better security + no-cost software" - it's a lot more than that, and it is also a community. Step outside the proprietary box you are used to - you may find the first steps disconcerting, but freedom opens up better vistas than Vista. (3) If you think info is too hard to find, do your bit for others coming after you, and write a page on the wiki to document dealing with specific problems (of course, if people don't read it - cf (1) above - you may be giving "arrogant" answers yourself in a few months ...). (4) If you are annoyed with multimedia problems, don't complain here, and don't slag off the distro and/or Linux, baecause that is not where the problem lies. Instead, write to the manufacturers of every piece of media equipment you bought or own, and ask them to provide the option to use open formats. Write to your legislators asking them to outlaw consumer lock-in via closed formats. This will take too much of your valuable time, you say? Not as much time as people have put in trying to create open formats and work around closed ones, with users still complaining because the world is as it is, and not how they want it to be. (5) The first responsibility for free software users is to accept responsibility - if proprietary formats are stopping you doing what you want, stop using them, make a big fuss about it, try to persuade others not to use them, buy only equipment that allows open formats as well (even if it costs another $10, and you have to wait a week for it to be delivered), etc. Big companies like to peddle the myth that the computer user is a consumer, and go on to make an artificial distinction between the users/consumers and themselves, the "producers" or "content providers". Proprietary formats are a prime tool in this - if you see no problem with them, you will probably have difficulty ever adjusting to a non-proprietary world. On Sunday 14 January 2007 18:22, Stevens wrote: > And therein lies the problem: the "look down your nose" attitude of most > Linux nerds about the development of user-friendly tools and GUIs. There > are vast numbers of computer owners out there who use M$ because it works > for them without requiring much in the way of computer skills and until > such time that a Linux distro comes along that offers the same ease of > use, Linux will stay in the background. My dear man/boy/girl/woman - there are millions of people using Linux "because it works for them". Do you think they are all having delusional fantasies? No-one is suggesting that you must pass the Eight Levels of Geekiness to be allowed to lay your hands on the One True OS - that is your interpretation of the need to experiment a bit rather than pressing "OK" (see (1) above). The reason why you may need to experiment a bit (choose a different app, a different configuration, etc) is because Linux allows you to do a huge number of things that you are not allowed to do in proprietary systems, or which would be very expensive there. It's a bit like being in a car rather than on a train - you can see all that nice countryside from a train, but you can't go there .... -- Pob hwyl / Best wishes Kevin Donnelly www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg www.eurfa.org.uk - Geiriadur rhydd i'r Gymraeg www.rhedadur.org.uk - Rhedeg berfau Cymraeg www.cymrux.org.uk - Linux Cymraeg ar un CD -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
