On 29 July 2012 12:12, Alan Pope <[email protected]> wrote: >> Not to mention that if you get a Debian user, a KDE user on another >> distro, a Gnome user and a Ubuntu together in one room there is >> guaranteed to be fireworks. We have the challenge of "evangelism", >> people not trying to help but rather convert, saying things like "that >> wouldn't happen on *MY* distribution"... >> > > Shouldn't happen IMO, but of course will because the kinds of people who > attend LUG meetings are often passionate about the choices they make. :) > Take a Ford owner/fan to a Fiat owners club and you'd probably get the same > thing.
Problem is, Alan, that if the person who has come to the meet simply wants a solution to their problem (within the distribution they have "chosen" [or found on a disc]) this just makes the problem worse. In other words, instead of people trying to resolve their problem random members of the LUG say "I have basically the same hardware as yours, and it works so let's re-install your laptop, and go with mine as it will work" and then half the things that *WERE* working stop doing so, but the original issue is resolved. That's no way to enthuse people about Linux is it? They end up with an idea something like the "you can't please all of the people..." meme but related to Linux, and they get the idea that if you have wonderful wireless you have to have a rubbish UI, or if you get a good UI then you can't use your scanner etc. etc. etc. All very bad - what we need to do is find ways to resolve issues people have with Ubuntu before other members of the group try to poach them to their preferred distro on the basis it will resolve their issue (but, potentially, create others). And that is the challenge of a LUG. Because the "Debian evangelists" and similar are always lurking to poach people from their chosen route, and I get tired of it (to be honest). As a Ubuntu user I'd be quite happy to help a user of any other distribution to solve their problems and suggesting a change of distro would *always* be "the last resort". Sean -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
