"Con Kolivas is a prominent developer on the Linux kernel and strong proponent of Linux on the desktop. But recently, he left it all behind. Why? In this interview with APCMag.com, Con gives insightful answers exploring the nature of the hardware and software market, the problems the Linux kernel must overcome for the desktop, and why despite all this he's now left it all behind."
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Member since:2006-07-15
Member since:2005-10-02
Depends whether you refer to Linux (the kernel) or Linux (the distribution).
The amount of documentation depends on the distribution. Some have better than others.
In terms of the kernel solely it's true that documentation tend to lack behind. But the same could be said for *BSD as well as Microsoft products.
OTOH, you get the documentation for free, so if it doesn't please you go make it better.
Everytime a person complain about this it's always a person who forgets that Open Source is contributer-centric and not developer-centric nor user-centric. Contribute or shut up. It's that simple. If you don't want to take the time it takes, pay somebody who will.
Member since:2005-12-15
Member since:2005-07-06
Having myself been a newb to many things, I think there is enough blame on both sides. Yes, experienced users can get annoyed at newbie questions. Yes, newbies can even be a source of amusement and the target of sarcasm. At the same time, its all too common to see new users acting like pricks and being generally annoying. New users tend to get frustrated when things don't work, and take out their frustration by being rude and disrespectful. They often have an attitude that they are owed help, and get angry if they are not tended to immediately. They'll often take shots at whatever thing they're trying to learn, without really having an understanding of what they're talking about. You'll see this a lot with people who know X and are trying to learn Y, both of which are subsets of Z*. They think they have a general knowledge of Z, when they really just have knowledge of X. They try Y, find that their knowledge isn't working, and instead of realizing that its just a matter of Y not working like X, they blame Y for being a bad example of a Z.
*) If this is confusing, replace X with "Windows" and Y with "Linux" and Z with "operating systems", or X with "Java" and Y with "Lisp" and Z with "programming", and you'll get the idea!
Member since:2005-07-06
I agree, however it is not unreasonable for the seasoned Linux users to expect newbies to search and read rather than post without first making an effort to figure it out on their own. There are copious amounts of tutorials, how-tos, and even forum posts answering many of the questions that get asked by newbies over and over (and over and over....).
When I see a newbie who asks a question that has an answer available on the web but at least explains the he tried to find the answer I am much more inclined to be helpful than: "This is broke, what do I do?" style posts.
Member since:
2005-10-02
Well, if you don't know how to access man-pages you are definitely not a "tech savvy user"
It's true that developers are often harsh on newbies, but more often than not it's because newbies are swallowing human resources like nobody else can. And that's annoying - and being annoyed (even when a person does not intend to annoy) brings out the worst in people.
OTOH, show the devs that you know what you're doing, and they will be more than friendly.