Re: Re: Please share your linux experiences....

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Mar 17, 2000 at 06:19:51PM +0530, Atul Chitnis wrote:
> 
> I do not have anything against licensing issues - I have something against
> the way they are being discussed. Have you seen even one of the people in
> those "discussions" give an inch? All we achieved with those discussion is
> that Manoj refuses to participate in a discussion that Arun takes part in,
> every participant gets down to personal levels, etc.

I don't have anything personal against Manoj or Raj or anyone who holds
a different view than mine on the licensing issue. I have participated
in threads involving them on LIH.

It was very clear at several points in the discussion that we weren't trying
to convince each other. We were trying to get most of the other audience,
who click on the "I agree" button without reading it, educated about
the licensing issues. Sure, things got out of hand at times, but I did my
best to stay on the topic, without taking the heat out of the argument.

As for what is appropriate for this list, different people have different
priorities. You can't look at the list from the point of what is appropriate
for linux newbies. What is not getting addressed here is the needs of 
people who give answers.  I or anyone else who spends time hanging out
on the list do so because we like it. I will not spend time on LIH if 
the only kind of questions that get asked there are orderly queries on 
SiS cards and orderly responses.

Linux always has been a OS by the techies for the techies. Lately,
corporates have adopted it and made it into a OS by the techies,
polished by the distros and good for businesses. While that's great
by me as a user, because I stand to benefit from the network effects,
I have to concede that such help is no longer a priority for me. Linux
has enough momentum from commercial entities to achieve such goals.

One example of what I'm trying to say here is the usage of f*** on
linux-kernel. From a what is good for Linux user point of view, it should
be banned from linux-kernel, because it puts off potential users. But it
doesn't work, because doing so would offend the kernel developers, who
were at one point, completely volunteer workers.

Chaos, I maintain is a part of the Linux culture and is partly responsible
for where Linux is today. The BSD guys disliked and shunned Linux exactly
for this reason and they lost (in getting a lot of users) and won (in 
maintaining the order). So if you're just trying to maintain order, why 
not just use BSD ? Compare the contents of linux-kernel and freebsd-hackers,
to get a feel for what I'm trying to say.

That said, I agree with some of what you're trying to say - that 
spreading Linux in India is a great goal and any related discussion is
bang on topic. But bringing _focus_ to a _general_ group is self contradictory.

Linux users come in too many colors and hues and they get along best when
they're talking only technical stuff. Once you're out of that, it's back
to socio-political chaos.

I wish I could be more succinct.

	-Arun