> On Thu, 12 Apr 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The thing that got people like Karsten riled is the fact that this > guy expected everyone else to provide him with wonderful documentation, > on top of excellent software (something many are already trying to > do), but in the same breath told everyone that he had no intention > of actually helping with the same. Basically, suggesting that we should > all be grateful to accept parasites into the Linux Community who > are unwilling to contribute, but will suck up everything that the > community gives - and complain if it's not to his taste. > > The fact is, most people coding Free Software do it to satisfy a need > that they have - and then they give it away to help others do the > same. They coded it, so they really don't benefit from writing the > documentation much - they already know it. Also many, but not all, > good programmers are not very good at documentation. Most of them > do try - and I'm sure it grates on them when someone comes along > and says "Hey, what you've given me already isn't good enough - > I need handholding! I refuse to search for documentation. I refuse > to contribute any if I figure it out myself! You'd better improve > this or I'll quit using it!"
Ahh, did you actually read the post that started this thread? The above is a knee-jerk reaction to a stereotype "parasite" which this guy isn't (although he shares one or two characteristics). Anyway, the chap who started the thread is right. The open source collection now isn't the same as it was when we-all learned linux. These days, it _is_ really confusing to try to learn it by reading what comes on the system (all several gigs of it and badly organised, and directed to people who want to run web servers and other servers, and each new document features a reason why an older simpler package can't be used and this new, more complicated and more-integrated-with-other-stuff package should replace it). I'm not complaining about open source stuff (on my home systems that's all I use and I'm very grateful for it), but open source has changed from when we learned it. It's hard to learn it that way any more, because lots of people now write this stuff for a living. A hobbyist can't keep up any more. So don't look down your noses at newbies. They face a different, much more challenging world than you did when you learned it. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Consider registering as a bone marrow donor http://www.bloodservices.ca/english/ubmdr
