Newbie Experience

[Jeff Rollin]

On 11/09/06, Bill Moran <wmoran at collaborativefusion.com> wrote:
>
> Bob Walker <rww at safllc.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have always wanted to better understand Unix, and so I finally made
> the
> > decision to switch some of my office PCs over to either a Unix or Linux
> > system. With office suites like OpenOffice, I felt that I would be able
> to
> > transition away from Windows with minimal disruption to my business. So,
> I
> > downloaded the .iso images from FreeBSD, Suse, and Fedora. I initially
> > favored FreeBSD, since it seemed to have the closest lineage to "pure"
> Unix,
> > and that was important to me, but after many, many attempts to install
> both
> > the OS and Gnome desktop environment, I threw up my hands.
>
> I'm confused.  What compelled you to torture yourself, _then_ complain
> about it to a list that's sole purpose in existing is to help prevent
> you from torturing yourself?
>
> If you had posted many questions and got no answers, I could understand
> throwing up your hands.  As it stands, you might want to use those hands
> to smack yourself for making your life more difficult than it needs to
> be.
>
> If you have problems, ask on the list at the time the problem occurs.
> Complaining after the fact (as you're doing) accomplishes nothing.
>
> While I can't speak for the project "officially", I would wager to say:
> 1) We know our installation is not as pretty and easy as others, and
> 2) We don't care.
>
> We are a community.  We're not Microsoft.  We're not interested in
> driving users away by saying "here's everything you need, don't bother
> us again."  Our limited resources are focused on developing the really
> important parts of the system.  While few would complain if the
> install process were made easier, nobody has the time to work on it.
> Become part of the community and ask questions when you have trouble.
> Find a local user's group.  But please, please don't complain about the
> OS not working right when you use it wrong.  The FreeBSD community is
> an integral part of the OS.  Not making use of the FreeBSD community
> and then complaining that the OS is difficult to use would be like not
> using a mouse then complaining that MS Windows is hard to use.
>
> --
> Bill Moran


 Well said, Sir.

Jeff Rollin