Here's my wish list for Open Source/GNU/Linux/Ubuntu
1. Stop common marketing tactics used by my favorite distribution
- Sex sells, but please don't pollute Open Source with wallpapers of semi nude faceless women.
- Improper use of the word "FREE". Yes we all know that its FREE and FREE. But the truth is it still needs a lot of work.
- Focus on the truth. Stop saying something that IT can do this and do that, with a tiny little disclaimer here and there. LET IT SPEAK FOR ITSELF!
2. Stop the obsession to make GNU/Linux topple Microsoft's market share
- We don't need to increase market share because IT will survive without a majority market share
- Remember, that open source is not just a new fangled way to distribute or market software. More importantly a way of doing things. Let us not lose sight of the Philosophy behind all of these.
3. Stop bloggers/marketing spinsters from flooding the net with articles about how great GNU/Linux is
- Everytime a major release is released, digg, slashdot, or whatever is flooded with oh so nice articles about how great each release is. The unfortunate fact is, there is a lot to work on.
- Come out with the truth. Come on - 17 seconds boot time? There are still many of us here running legacy hardware.
In "Tech Support"
1. We all know that tech support consists mainly of: a. paid gurus, b. unpaid gurus doing volunteer work, c. forums, d. irc. Sometimes we really do have serious and important problems that need to be addressed seriously rather than be bounced from 1 irc channel to another. The truth of the matter is the reason why some of us are lazy is because we really do not know what is causing what. Not all of us are Einsteins. We feel sad when we have to go to an irc channel and be told to go to irc channel 2 - only to be told to go back to the other irc channel. Come on. I've worked once in a call center and this is what we were trained to do rather than really give the time to listen and answer queries.
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Let's just say that you are a newbie like me. I know its easy to set a default browser in Debian but hey, I get to write about my experi...
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" Richard Stallman is "The Great Philosopher" ..." --Linus Torvalds in Revolution OS Lately, I have been stumbling upon ...
I have a hard disk with kubuntu 7.04 and I was going to upgrade it to 8.10 using adept manager.
ReplyDeletebut for some reason. I could no longer update any component.
I researched long and hard how to upgrade it without resorting to downloading the new installer for 8.10.
I ended up having a headache the whole day.
Yep. Ubuntu is nice but it still needs a lot of work.
Yep. Inspite of the headache I will still be moving to it when the time comes that XP is no longer supported.
Temujin. afaik you cant upgrade from 7.04 to 8.10 directly. It has to be 7.04 to 7.10 to 8.04 to 8.10. But since the option is no longer available, you are correct in saying that you would have been better off burning a cd.
ReplyDeleteMy setup right now is this:
I installed hardy cd which I got from canonical.
I upgraded to 8.10
Then finally I upgraded to 9.04.
I guess so.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, do you know that since Ubuntu still needs a lot of polish that it is a viable market for IT people?
My kubuntu blog which has not been updated for a year now is still getting a lot of visits.
Mostly people trying to figure out how to do something or how to solve problems.
Yup, the title is catchy. http://kubuntu101.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYou actually rank high in google when you search for "kubuntu 101"
Ok, ok, I will put it back in my ever increasing blog roll - as long you promise to update it - soon. :p
"viable market"
Ugh. There goes those words again. I call this the "commoditization pandemic". Everything is commoditized and translated into business terminology.
haha. thinking about profit is not all that bad man.
ReplyDeleteit helps us bring food on the table, pay the bills, buy leasure, and advance technology.
Even Ubuntu is being paid for by Mark Shuttleworth and African entreprenuer.
It maybe free for of us. But only because somebody else is paying for it through his other business. ;)
I agree and I am not saying that commercialization is bad. I am merely saying that too much of a commercial holistic outlook in free software ruins the premise and ideal.
ReplyDelete