Is Ubuntu Elitist?
Discussions of Ubuntu with people outside (and sometimes inside) the free-software community often devolve into criticism of Linux advocates as arrogant elitists, endlessly singing the praises of their operating system of choice but frightening away potential new users with their snobbish and intolerant attitudes. This reputation for pretension may be undeserved, but it’s something the Ubuntu community needs to deal with more actively.
The images of proprietary operating systems are carefully molded by corporate PR departments. Apple spends millions of dollars presenting Macs and OS X as the computing platform of fashionable, free-thinking hipsters, while Microsoft has devoted huge sums in the last several years to reconfiguring popular perceptions of Windows as an exciting and customizable operating system. These images may not reflect the reality of Apple and Microsoft’s customer bases very much, but they nonetheless play a vital role in the ability of OS X and Windows to attract (or retain) users.
The free-software community, which lacks a centralized voice and has little money to spend on advertising or market research, does not enjoy the assistance of public-relations professionals to help cultivate a positive image of Linux in the public mind. Perhaps because of this absence of organized self-presentation, more than any actual extant characteristics of Linux users or developers, the world’s most popular free operating system remains plagued by stereotypes that pose a real obstacle to recruitment of new users.
Among the most troubling of these stereotypes is a reputation of Linux users for elitism. Critics of free software complain that an unwillingness to deal with non-expert users is rampant in the free-software community, from support forums to bug trackers to documentation. I’ve known more than one individual who has given up on Linux due to perceptions of hostility towards those trying to make the switch.
There certainly are some elitist Linux users, just as there are elitists in the communities built around Windows, OS X, FreeBSD and every other modern operating system. A lot of documentation is written with the inappropriate assumption that users are comfortable working from the command line, and belittling of new users who pose “stupid questions” occurs from time to time in support forums. But this elitism isn’t representative of a majority of Linux users, especially those of mainstream distributions like Ubuntu.
Most Ubuntu users, in my experience, are decidedly humble and inclusive–which isn’t surprising given that Ubuntu is by far the most popular Linux distribution, making it unelitist by definition. Beyond anecdotal cases, the stereotype of pretension that haunts the Linux community has little basis in fact, beyond perhaps fringe distributions where a high degree of technical expertise is often necessarily expected of users.
To break the stereotype of elitism, the Linux community–or at least the Ubuntu community–needs to work on cultivating an image of friendliness, openness and inclusiveness. The Ubuntu mission is already constructed around these values, but more needs to be done. Documentation should be reviewed to ensure that it’s accessible to all users, regardless of their level of Linux expertise. The Ubuntu forums should be more rigorously policed to prevent belittling of Linux neophytes. And Canonical should invest more resources in developing a coherent and positive public perception of Ubuntu.
A reformed image would go a long way in bringing Linux to the desktops of “normal” computer users. No matter how user-friendly Ubuntu actually is, it will never reach the masses until the masses are convinced that it truly is “Linux for human beings.”
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I agree with you 100%. Linux users in general have a bad public image, a sickly white, skinny guy with glasses, a shirt pocket full of pens and a unhealthy posture. While in reality we are not. But it will take a damn good marketing campaign to make Linux look as sexy and as easy as Mac OSX or Windows, but alas as Linux is free, there is no revenue coming in to make that marketing campaign.
Unfortunately, we will never remove the idiots who hate newbies, who think that Linux is much better without them. You are correct in that the forums should be policed better. Ubuntu forums are better than other forums when it comes to newb tolerance.
I think the way forward is to get all the major distro’s to a point where it is easy to use, and looks cool, where the documentation is easy to understand and the forums are vibrant and friendly. When we get to that point, then we should hire a marketing agency and start showing the world, that like Mac and PC (I find that strange as the Mac is also a PC, eh!) Linux can be cool and fun, with just enough edge to be business-like.
I agree. I’ve seen a lot more elitism in other distros. But I think a lot of the help in our forums refers people to the command line, in situations where the same solution can be achieved in a GUI. I think we should always prefer the later (or forever remain a minority
).
I think some of this elitism exists because Linux advocates are often recommending Linux to people who probably shouldn’t be running Linux. This constant condescension about which OS one runs is a silly at best, and arrogant at worst.
You certainly do a good job of trying to intermix the terms “Ubuntu” and Linux” as if they were one and the same.
While it is true that Ubuntu is Linux, Linux is a lot more than just Ubuntu. You know that.
I can’t say as I agree with your estimation though.
Largely, from the various comments in many general Linux forums and posts as well in specific distro forums across the web, Ubuntu rather has the reputation, whether deserved or not, of being the ‘lowest common denominator’ of Linux. Rather the opposite from ‘elitist’ it’s community is often branded as being the place for the less ‘advanced’ user.
Just a quick glance through the Ubuntu forums, One is hard pressed to find ‘elitist’ comments and attitudes.
Could it be you are trying to make non users think Ubuntu is a more ‘advanced” distro or community by associating it with elitism?
If you were to do post comparisons between the Ubuntu forums and say Debian or even fedora forums, you will find a much higher percentage of “elitist’ posts that are seen as critical or negative than in Ubuntu.
A community is made up of all types of people. You cannot simply tell people they cannot post becasue you think their posts are negative. Are some unnecessary? Of course, excessive vulgarities and personal rude comments have no place in any forum. However, it you simply don’t like “rtfm” and related comments, each to their own.
Censorship has no place in the forums any more than excessive language.
When I see the phrase: “… people who should not be running linux..” it occurs to me that this is part of the ELITIST problem.
Everyone (almost) runs Windows – people who use command line to get the hardest stuff done – people who don’t understand the difference between click and double click and need lots of hand holding. The same SHOULD be true for linux. What we need is for some tolerant gurus to hand hold the people who need all that help. That occurs in the Windows world – why shouldn’t it occur in the linux world, eh?
“To break the stereotype of elitism, the Linux community–or at least the Ubuntu community–needs to work on cultivating an image of friendliness, openness and inclusiveness.”
Ubuntu already does plenty of work trying to cultivate this image, but it doesn’t seem to be working. The reason it’s not working is because this isn’t a “stereotype”; it’s a fact. Many Linux users *are* elitist and arrogant and actively unhelpful, and yes, you see this even on Launchpad and Ubuntu Forums. Is it possible to change this? I’m not sure.
Ironically, now that Ubuntu’s popular, a lot of these elitists are starting to use it. But they’re not realizing “Hey, this is a better way to do things”, and being converted into friendly people by Ubuntu. Instead, it seems that they’re trying to convert Ubuntu into an unfriendly distro. I’m not sure what can be done about this.
I consider the broad part of the allegations of “elitism” as FUD. Whenever I’m in a discussion and “elitism” is brought forward there’s hardly ever a reference to a specific forum, or a specific debate. It’s basicly pure hearsay.
There ARE some distros that clearly express that they are focusing on experienced users. They do not babysit and do make it clear that they don’t.
In general Linux debates or forums for mainstream distroes I hardly ever come across “elitism”.
However, I do acknowledge that Linuxers sometimes fail to be overly sympathetic in discussions when a person (intentionally or not) publish FUD/incorrect information/allegations.
That’s not elitism.
Walt: I couldn’t agree more. Who are the “people who shouldn’t be running Linux”? People not “smart enough”? Not geeky enough? Everyone in my household uses Linux (and there is nothing else @ home). It’s been like this for the last 8 years, with no issues at all. The computer just does what we needs. Nobody ever lost any data/contacts/etc. How is that
Whats with the “elitist” diatribe. Everyone has their preferred system, just like they like a certain type me car or icecream. Ubuntu makes me happy like nothing else will. When people are rude and unhelpful its flawed personal character like a cabbie or salesperson. Do what I do and try to give complete and coherent answers that give consistent results. Hand holding is not a bad thing. Incomplete wiki solutions and hostile and conflicting forums are. I too get po’ed whenever someone fires off a “it doesn’t work” one liner. It shows weakness in communication and general observation, a flaw more statistically likely amongst Windows/OS X users because there is more of them. Yes we are sometimes recruiting the wrong users. thats why usability tests are done and system configurations locked down to prevent inadvertent user mishaps. In all the Ubuntu crowd is charming and most helpful.
Well, I’m certainly not arrogant or elitist, though you clearly wouldn’t suggest such a thing if I weren’t better than you.
Hi Greene:
“In all the Ubuntu crowd is charming and most helpful.”
Absolutely, even those people giving help over the command line I mentioned. These folks are mostly warm and polite and spend hours a week volunteering to help other people. I actually switched to Ubuntu because of its warm, huge userbase (at the time I switched, Mandriva was more functional for my needs, later on Ubuntu made very impressive progress)
@Leo:
There’s a reason why the commandline tools tend to get preferred in doing any sort of forum or irc or email community help..across all distributions. The commandline tool steps and resultant output are more efficiently communicated via text. The communication medium is text based..just like the commandline.
Telling people how to point and click their way to do a task is much much more error prone..especially if the other person is using a different locale configuration on their desktop and the text labels are in a different language(with subtly different translated meanings). Or if they have customized the positioning of elements on their desktop. It can be a real pain and a real source of confusion for both the person needing help and the person trying to help them if there needs to be some discussion and diagnosis of an unexpected problem. The only way to do that effectively via gui is screencasts.. and our standard community communication mediums don’t make screencasts easy to share or to use as a basis for a discussion.
If you were serious about this, then you need to find a way to build an irc equivalent that also allows people to register and publish desktop vnc sessions for people to look at. People needing help can watch a helpers desktop vnc session in real time and “see” what to do instead of being “told” what to do. And people needing help can publish a vnc session for helpers to “see” what the problem is..instead of being “told” what the problem is. Maybe the software telepathy stack will get us there..eventually.
But for now and the forseeable future…commandline based commands are far more likely to be be able to be cut and pasted directly out of an irc session or an email or a web forum and used..without error. No thinking required and that’s important. When helping someone, I need them to turn their brain off as much as possible while I’m diagnosing the problem on their behalf by reading output from system commands I’m having them run. The human being who is lost and confused, can not be trusted to interpret the system information correctly…or else they wouldn’t be confused.
To help people experiencing real system problem (not just unfamiliarity) it can require access to verbatim system diagnostic information..from commandline tools. information displayed in guis, especially dynamic information can be notoriously difficult to get an accurate description of. Humans tend to edit down what they see making choices as to what is relevant or not (hence why eye-witnesses arent as reliable as you would think in a court room.) Once a user is confused how can you be sure they know enough to know what is and is not relevant info to the problem in the gui interface?
Commandline tools which dump output to log files to be uploaded or pastebin’d take a lot of the guesswork and erroneous interpretation out of troubleshooting. So much so that its worth the pain of inbtroducing people to a terminal interface.
-jef
I think the Linux community is getting much better at dealing with newbies. It’s not uncommon at all now for more experienced users to forgo the computer science lecture and instead just give the command needed to solve a problem.
I think distributions like Ubuntu with a focus on making things simple and easy have really helped improve the nature of the Linux faithful.
Walt wrote: “What we need is for some tolerant gurus to hand hold the people who need all that help. That occurs in the Windows world – why shouldn’t it occur in the linux world, eh?”
I’ve for many years of supported users in Windows and if you refer to forums I can inform you that there’s no much “hand holding” going on. The anonymity encourages many to cross borders they wouldn’t dare to even come close to in real. What happens in Linux forums isn’t unique, it’s just a small spark of a generally difficult and harsh Internet culture.
Friendly “gurus” you find in all camps of computing. Sure we can always do our best to influence others to become friendlier, but unless you don’t aim at changing mankind in general, Linux forums will be a reflection of our society for good or worse.
With regards to the advertising, I think there was a company that allowed people to donate $1.00 or whatever and when enough cash had been collected it would provide advertising space on terrestrial tv (I don’t know if it was “prime time” or not…). I don’t know if this company still exists as I haven’t heard anything more of it since then.
Alternatively, is it possible for Canonical to pay for some prime-time adverts like what IBM done? (sorry, slipped into cockney just then…
)
@DarcBird:
If Canonical pays for advertising anything… they need to start with their own support services. The Ubuntu community has not done a stellar job at that..and its those very support services which are going to fund Ubuntu development long term.
As a business Canonical can’t just shell out advertising money to bolster adoption. They have to focus on advertising services to bolster revenue. Their job as a business is to make the services compelling enough for people to want to adopt Ubuntu for the chance to pay for those the services.
Ubuntu is the commodity, the services are the value-add. You advertise the services which leverage the commodity. That’s what Rightscale is doing with their cloud services. That’s what Turnkey is doing with their virtual appliance services.
That’s what Canonical has to do.
That’s what IBM does for the most part..the advertise their own services…and some of those services drive linux adoption…some don’t.
Shuttleworth can not and will not bleed money forever. Canonical must start making the case that its support services are worth the money. Out of all the people you know who have installed Ubuntu on their own..how many are now paying Canonical for support in any form? Know any people paying for the landscape service yet? Know of anyone who’s picked up an optional Canonical support contract as offered at purchase time by Dell or by system76 or any other OEM who is doing pre-installs?
-jef
There are elitist distros, but Ubuntu isn’t one of them. You are picking on the wrong guys. The distros that are elitist are the ones that require lots of hands on to get it installed and up and running. Those users see themselves as better than everybody else just because they prefer CLI and have too much time on their hands.
There is one other distro that shall remain nameless that prides itself as our way or the highway. There is no room for compromise. Even using the word Linux instead GNU/Linux is likely to earn you a trip to the dog house. They say the stand for freedom, but come across as fascists.
Ubuntu is a tame and benign. That is the reason they have so many new users. But of course, you knew that. You used Ubuntu in the headline to grab attention. If so, shame on you.
Ill agree with some of the comments here and say about the article itself: Absolute rubbish.
Ubuntu elitist? Whilst I have alot of time for Ubuntu and its users at the end of the day its such an easy distro to get into its the least (IMO) elitist of all.
If you want an elitist distro (and I dont really think it is) try casting your literary prowess over at Gentoo. That IMO is far more worthy.
Friendliness? I think you’ll find Ubuntu forums and IRC are very helpful, unlike your article which IMO paints a picture of Ubuntu that does not exist.
The only people who may find Ubuntu elitist are the ones not willing to try it and have an argument about a platform they know nothing about.
The commenter Jacob mentions FUD and he’s correct. The elitism allegation falls in nicely with “you need to compile all your software” or “you cant do xyz…” its all FUD in my opinion is spread by the simply ignorant or by those whose intentions are more dubious.
The writer of the article mentions advertising etc and IMO has completely forgotten that Linux has been moving along all these years quite happily, it certainly does not need advertising to keep going in a time where IMO is experiencing more new users than ever before (whatever you claim the figures are)
Do we want Linux to have a single voice and IMO become like the binary slug of Windows as it panders to all users requests in an attempt to please everybody?
Im happy with people discovering Linux IF THEY WANT TO. Not as a result of some TV ad with a child showing how they use it.
I dont know if anyone told the writer of this article, but the Linux/Windows/Mac is not a popularity contest. I, will use the platform thats best for me and I could care less if its used by 1 or 1million other users (and I expect many users are the same)
If Ubuntu is elitist, what does that make me as a Gentoo user?…a Linux God? lol.
@ LinuxCanuck wrote: “The distros that are elitist are the ones that require lots of hands on to get it installed and up and running.”
Please don’t mix choice of computing with attitude. What kind of tool I choose has absolutely nothing to do with my attitude, but all to do with a working environment that meets my needs and expectations. If someone does choose a more technical distro only to show off, yes then that person has a personality issue, but it still is his freedom to do so. Generally though there’s plenty of room for all of us.
Actually I dismiss the newbie friendly demand as being elitist by itself, because we frequently see how individual computing is, what one person sees as easy another view as difficult. I’ve never heard of any distro to this day that has been developed on the basis of becoming the most difficult distro in history to master.
Lastly I understand the reason for Ubuntu being at the centre of the discussion to be directly linked to the purpose of this site, “the independent guide to Ubuntu”.
LinuxCanuck, Goblin, et al.: I think you may have misread the article, or I may not have presented my argument as clearly as I should have.
I don’t think Ubuntu is an elitist distribution. As I wrote in the piece, “elitism isn’t representative of a majority of Linux users, especially those of mainstream distributions like Ubuntu.”
I do, however, believe that popular perceptions of Ubuntu, and Linux in general, involve notions of elitism and pretension, and think that Canonical and the Ubuntu community should do more to reform this negative image via active means.
Not sure why my last comment failed to post.
No error message or anything.
Perhaps Christopher you could look into that.
Goblin: no record on the server of a post, so I’m not sure what happened. Please give it another try.
The point I was making is that whilst I saw perfectly well what you typed, you implied that Ubuntu fostered an elitism which was present in Linux as a whole. You suggested that the responsibility of removing this elitism rested with Ubuntu users. Why is that? Because its the most popular? From what Ive seen Ubuntu users are amongst the most friendly and helpful people in the Linux world so your implication was an insult to them (IMO)
Windows/OSX also have their share of elitists and they havent done to badly out of it.
As one of your posters has already said, fear of say an Ubuntu migration comes down to a few factors:
a/ getting people to try something new.
b/ getting rid of FUD and falsehoods that are said about it.
c/ People actually WANTING to replace Windows.
Elitism exists in every facet of IT.
I could quite easily as an ASM coder laugh mercilessly at Python coders because they are “LaMeRs” I dont, because I dont think they are. Some do. Its the way of the world.
Nowadays people are far more savvy than they once were. They are able to make their own decisions. I would challenge your “elitism” comment and say that in some cases it could make Linux more desirable, since users believe “they are something special” for using it.
Of course the more sensible people see Linux as simply a choice they have made that is better suited to their needs.
Ever spent any time in a vista forum? Rudeness/Elitism are not strictly the remit of the Linux community.
If people want to leave Windows, it shouldnt be on a whim. If they want to change they will take the time to learn the changes. The sad fact is, many people simply dont have the interest to change. Thats the problem (or as Ive said in my previous post) the reason why Linux is so great.
I think this is a great topic that needs much more discussion; in fact, the North Central Ohio Linux User’s Group had a recent discussion around this article: http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/ubuntu-904-more-same-519
While I disagreed with practically every point made in the article the one that I took most seriously was how the Ubuntu community was described as arrogant… I think that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Canonical/Ubuntu has invested heavily in making certain that this is not the case within this distribution. Canonical even went so far as to HIRE a Community Development Manager (Jono Bacon) whose main job function is to make sure there is a vibrant and helpful community around this distribution. They were the fist distro to do this, and seeing the success others have followed suit.
I definitely feel that, while this was definitely the truth years back (I remember the responses I got to my first few posts on linuxquestions.org…) this is not the case today.
Now, does that mean that all we need is some good press an a little time, no. I agree that many of the “how-to” articles seem a little deep and are definitely written heavily toward the command line, but ,as many others have pointed out, this is for the purpose of cut/paste simplicity… maybe we just need to make that clearer in the instructions. I also feel that when we see articles like Kennedy’s we need to paper his comment section with warm receptions reaching out to mend any pain he felt from a rogue in the community… then ask for a link to the thread that caused him to feel like the community was being anything less than exceptionally helpful and welcoming.
We need to take an active stand against this FUD, and not by flaming the source.
Something that has served me well when I’ve remembered to practice it is: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
If we want the results of and to be know for for our gentle answers we need to provide them in all situations.
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I’m not skinny, nerd, elitist and not even marxist-senilist. Just a ordinary man with wife and 3 children. I’d never choose Ubuntu if my Xp had been better. It wasn’t and i had to found change. Just simple motive.
Ubuntu ain’t perfect but it has been so far the best OS i’ve ever had.
I think elitism is NOT the problem with GNU/Linux and/or Ubuntu (or, at least, Ubuntu and GNU/Linux are not the only parties in this).
Imagine this: you go to the forum, hoping to help someone out, and then, when your advice fails, you get this throw into your face: “This dose not help. I find this support not useful at all.” I got this once, and never post anything again. Seriously, look at the attitude given by “newbie”!
First, some of them seem to have the illusion that they deserve special treatment or something. The above example is one. Now, Microsoft and Apple have, as do most software vendors, so they can afford to have full-time help desk to try to fool people into thinking that they are “user friendly.” The help and support from forum are vastly volunteer, and some users just cannot get their head to there or something. It seems to me that some people believe that when they install GNU/Linux, they are actually helping the community out or something like that. Now, think about that.
Secondly, I despite the “fear of CLI.” Well, my bad, fear of unfamiliar stuffs in general. Never mind that CLI is much better documented than GUI. Never mind that CLI is much easier to help out than GUI. Never mind that the “unfamiliar stuffs” are actually designed for productivity. No, some people just cannot get that. Here is a common help request: “I have such and such problem, can you help me out? Btw, I am noob (or some equivalent words), so please don’t throw CLI at me”. Huh? Seriously? You want to fix your car, but you don’t want to touch the screwdriver?
Thirdly, the media (or vastly of it) cheer on these behaviors. One time, I saw some journalist decided to give GNU/Linux a try, and among his criteria is “No CLI, like no Registry tricks in Windows”. Excuse me? You are comparing an well-documented, generally standardized interface with a big hack that is designed to keep the users out! Oh, then the thing about the supposedly weak and fragile ego of newbies, some of whom seem to take the forum as place to bash GNU/Linux for some obvious “problems”. Then comes the endless comparison with Windows (sometimes, Mac), as if those GUI is the only GUI in the world.
After a while, here is what I am convinced: let’s just drop the matter all together. Seriously. When the users actually try to use GNU/Linux, they will get it, love it, like we do. My sister, a total computer noob, use GNU/Linux without problems. In fact, she confesses that she does not see any different, since the only two things she cares about are Firefox and Photoshop (via Wine). See? Once the users really try a bit, they will be fine.
However, when the users don’t, then why should we try? They will NOT get it anyway, since what they want is Windows: ability to install software from unknown sources (aka setup.exe); ability to throw away their privacy to the EULA; ability to close their eyes on problems and pray that the computer will magically get through; the services that flatter them. Those are NOT what GNU/Linux is about. No, it’s not. If we try to satisfy them, we are sacrificing GNU/Linux, sacrifice the best, the most joyful part of our experience.
Thus, let’s help if they ask, POLITELY and in OUR ways, and if they are willing to take their screwdrivers. If they don’t, well, they deserve the lies, the virus, and the malware. Let them have what they deserve.
Maybe this is a good thing. Less people using linux equals less desire for linux virus development. Maybe I am wrong here.
@Jason
Yep, you’re wrong there… Virus developers are working quite hard to develop for Linux. Imagine the Social Capitol in writing the first wide spread Linux virus.
It is completely a myth that Linux has fewer viruses because of market share.
Here’s a scenario I’ve seen at least 3 or 4 times on Ubuntu’s forums:
– Newbie posts a “testimonial” about Ubuntu that is fairly negative and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how Linux works, punctuated with a declaration of their “returning to Windows”.
– About 10 people respond cordially or try to inquire into the problems the person was having (since it’s usually the poster’s first post).
– 1 person makes a snide comment.
– The OP returns to make a massive rant about how “elitist” the community is and how Linux will never succeed because of it.
If all it takes is one snide person to make you judge the whole “community” and pass on a great stack of free software, then probably you never really wanted to make it work that bad to begin with.
And about this command line stuff: When I help someone on a forum, I try to gauge the person’s level of expertise from the post. Sometimes I get it wrong. There’s nothing wrong with a person asking follow-up questions, if they don’t understand. Why should everyone have to pedantically explain every process in painstaking detail just because one person might not understand you? Get real. If someone doesn’t know how to fsck their hard drive or where to type “sudo aptitude clean”, then they can ask. That’s the point of a forum.
While I generally agree that SOME Linuxers are abit above themselves but all in all, as a “Newbe”, I have found my introduction to Linux and Ubuntu very favorable. I have had my share of guf but I live with it. I have found other cases though, where a newbe gets into trouble setting up his distro and asks for help. When it isn’t delivered fast enough he will go on a rant about the snobishness of the mods and others who are “supposed” to help. This upsets me more than the fools on the other side since everyone that is helping does so on their own dime. You don’t pay for some no-nothing reading from a script, you get real help from people that know. They may say” Do this, Dummy” once in a while but you do get help. I just found the answer to a problem that had ben bugging me for months, but a kind person took pity on me and showed me the way, “Do this, Dummy!”
Now if someone asks me that question I can say “Do this, Dummy!” and look like I know what I’m talking about.
(Aside to Alan) What does “sudo aptitude clean”, mean?
@Donofca: ask at the ubuntu forums
heh, the community is friendlier than i would have ever expected. duh they are elitists. they are elite. lol.
horrible article…
‘craft an image’? meh, corporate PR tactics. it is what it is.
i have been a mandriva/mandrake user and now am a edubuntu user.when i first started i took 6 months of hanging out in irc channels to find the group that helped the people coming in with questions.i am not a techy nor was i an experienced windows user.ubuntu groups have been the best i have seen in helping people.maybe if people didnt come in with the expectation that everyone should just drop everything and deal with them others attitudes might improve.the helpers are usually working jobs and answering questions during spare minutes.they are not paid for their technical help,they do it out of wanting to give back.maybe journalists bloggers could point this fact out more and that would help all in the guture?
br3n
Please understand,
Many linux developers, SA’s, SE’s, and technologists like myself are entirely indifferent to any technology’s marketing or perceived reputation. We want tools that work. When a tool doesn’t work, or doesn’t exist, we fix it or build a new one. We’re busy making sure your cell phone can make calls and that ATMs spit out money with minimal fuss. The fact that you want to help Joe User get his Okidata printer working is noble, but not something that the majority of linux developers have the bandwidth or social grace to assist with.
My recommendation for any Joe User is that they lean heavily on his distribution/provider for support. If all else fails, he can look upstream (CUPS for example) for targeted support options.
Last but not least, stop “marketing” Linux. The vast majority of marketing is lies. We need to stop lying to users and simply let them know that there are OS options, that they work fairly well, and that they can obtain them free of cost. Let the users decide when linux is ready for the desktop, not the analysts. I am optimistic that this will happen gradually and naturally.
F
Concerning people who should not be running Linux…
Josh Said…
” I think some of this elitism exists because Linux advocates are often recommending Linux to people who probably shouldn’t be running Linux. This constant condescension about which OS one runs is a silly at best, and arrogant at worst.”
Most of my family members have used Linux for years without problems. My wife had used it on and off having a slight preference for Windows. During the last two years she had gone back to school and the University web site and requirements for .doc format assignments made it easier to run Windows. Unfortunately her system got infected twice in about a 6 month period. But times when she was in crunch-mode. The second time she figured the small inconvenience (extra step required) to save filed in .doc instead of OpenOffice format in Linux was better than occasionally loosing the ability to use your computer and access needed data.
Long story short: Lately I’ve heard her tell people how well it works and that she is glad she is not using Windows anymore.
As to the infection problems… both times I had to clean the machine and recover her data withing a very short time to meet assignment deadlines. If I had not been available she would have been out of luck as she has no idea how to do these tasks or where to go to have this done.
Hate to say it, but in my experience (this one and many others)
I would have to turn your statement around and say that in reality (actual practice) Windows advocates are the elitists, They tell people to use Windows because it is simple enough for the average person. Except that correctly maintaining the system and recovering data are both frequently needed functions that require elite assistance. In Practice there are many elite Linux users that will help but there is very little elitism in the community. (Those that pick the rare immature comment out and complain seem to ignore the huge mass of the friendly and helpful as if they do not exist. I can’t help a person that refuses to fully open their eyes.)
The Blog does correctly point out that there is a perception of elitism but I think goes astray in saying that the Ububtu community needs to do more to fight the image. A visit to the forums shows that they already have successfully fought this.
The people that still hold this perception must take time to visit and see for themselves. They need to fight their own misconception. If they are not willing to look and see for themselves what reality holds, no one else can help them.
no linuxcanuck your wrong. just because someone uses a distro like gentoo, slackware, or arch does not make them elitist…
I go by the philosophy: “Use what works”. For me, it’s Fedora. For my father, its Vista. For my girlfriend, its XP (though she’s warming up to Fedora). I don’t push my ideas upon anyone else. If they come to me with Linux questions, I’ll gladly help out.
I think some are taking much too literal what is generally a rhetorical article. Christopher Tozzi isn’t making direct accusations more as he is suggesting food for thought, IMHO.