Hari's Corner

Humour, comics, tech, law, software, reviews, essays, articles and HOWTOs intermingled with random philosophy now and then

Don't kill the goose...

Filed under: Software and Technology by Hari
Posted on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 at 19:46 IST (last updated: Wed, Jul 16, 2008 @ 21:02 IST)

There is a certain class of Linux users, particularly of the kind mentioned by Dominic, who irritate me more than anything else. Dominic has very logically, sensibly and patiently addressed these people on what Linux is all about, but my concern goes deeper than their lack of understanding and their lack of appreciation of what Linux stands for.

Let me explain. Linux is one of a kind, evolving, totally free Operating System, of a quality which surpasses most commercial software products, particularly the mainstream OS used by the majority of people. In fact, it's more than the OS itself. It's about the community, not only of users but of developers who've contributed hundreds of thousands of applications to the common cause without expecting anything in return. At least, most of these contributions are Free in both senses of the word (Freedom as well as Free Beer). What drives these people is not monetary returns but the pride of workmanship and the pleasure of giving back something to the community. Of course, there are commercial aspects to Linux, but the lifeblood remains the culture of hacker-programmers who take it upon themselves to create new software, new drivers, new applications and improvements and above all, maintain thousands of existing projects. And probably most importantly, continue doing it over an indefinite period of time.

Well, it's this culture that I'm worried about.

You see, the problem is that the current generation of Linux users take all this for granted. They don't even begin to understand what has gone into the making of Linux, but are very quick to point flaws in Linux. Most of these people do not realize that the value that Linux brings them is nothing but so many other people's time and energy for which they've not even compensated monetarily. These people think that every time something goes wrong with Linux, there is always some developer out there who will put it right. They are always ready to offer a thousand suggestions for improving Linux, but hardly have one word of praise for what is already given to them. Most of these critics probably haven't written a single line of code all their lives and maybe haven't even written a simple shell script. Their contribution to the Linux community is almost nothing other than hot air (and probably bad breath at that!) But one thing they do is to assume that these developers have nothing better to do than to constantly keep working on Linux and improving it for their benefit. Reading their words, one would imagine that without their opinions, the community is so much poorer and we should all thank God that they chose to use Linux for a couple of hours and offer their rich advice to the community. They probably imagine that their qualifications and expertise in using another OS will be so useful that even the kernel developers can take a hint or two from them. All I can say is that it probably doesn't even occur to them that even a commercial Linux distro like SUSE or RedHat doesn't make so much money as to pay a large group of developers to continue working on Linux just to implement every one of their bright ideas. And those who are lucky enough to work on commercial distros and get paid for it are comparitively few in the community.

These developers who form the core of the Linux community aren't anywhere as big as the Linux community itself. If anything, they're a very small fraction of it. When you actually count the number of developers working on the core aspects of Linux itself, namely the kernel, this number dwindles down to the hundreds. Now it's all too easy to assume that this group will continue to work on Linux forever. But beyond Linux itself, can we think of any other Open Source OS that will create the same impact and have such a huge community? I'm not for a moment saying that the community is fragile, but when you think of the level of expertise required for the development of core Linux, you begin to wonder...

No doubt these developers aren't all going to quit one fine day, but do we as users take them for granted? These people are human beings and even assuming that they aren't looking for motivation all the time, there is a point beyond which they might start thinking "it's not worth it anymore." It's highly unlikely, yes, but when these new Linux users start criticizing Linux all the time, won't these developers start finding it a bit tiring to keep up their enthusiasm in the long run? Isn't there a point beyond which these freeloading critics in Linux community start harming the development of Linux itself? Isn't it the moral right of every supporting Linux community member to shut these critics up when their whining and moaning goes beyond a level?

I'm not jumping to conclusions here. The percentage of "freeloaders" (in my sense of the word) in the Linux community is probably small at the moment. But the numbers are growing as more people start coming over from the world of Microsoft. To be honest, I'm not sure how the Linux community can handle this growing influx of Microsoft refugees. We all know what happens when refugees outnumber the natives in a real world situation. Tensions grow beyond a point and lead to widespread hostilities. The refugee population in the Linux world will probably never grow so large as to upset the community balance we have at the moment. But can we just grow complacent in this belief?

As Linux users, then, our job is to ensure that this group becomes a genuine part of the Linux community and not remain on the fringes. The only way is to remain friendly and helpful to new users and hope that we make converts. It's a long, hard road ahead, but it is something we owe to the developers and maintainers of Linux, the various distributions and all other things FOSS. Without the majority support and enthusiasm, I don't imagine that the developers will remain interested in the long run.

Criticism is good up to a certain level, but too much of it can kill interest and kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Every genuine, wholehearted Linux user is an asset to the survival and growth of Linux. Sure, money is a part of it, but if we cannot donate that, at least we can contribute in terms of moral support.

9 comment(s)

  1. I think (hope) that most developers are mature enough to ignore or respond appropriately to the unhelpful writers - the ones who just want something. IMO, the best ways to give something back to the community especially if, like me, you are not a programmer are:-join a forum and provide useful help to the community-start a LUG or join a LUG and help extend the community-write the developer and offer bug reports - not "I want...." but "I tested your software on x distro and xyz hardware and ......"-write the developer and offer help with documentation. In fact, this is the biggest and easiest thing for non-programmers. Rather than whine about the lack of good documentation, write some yourself.Luckily for all of us, the developers tend to write apps because they want to and because they enjoy it. Let's try and keep them happy! :)

    Comment by ray (visitor) on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 20:08 IST #
  2. Ray, thanks for the comment. That was fast :)Yes, I believe that a majority of developers work because they are dedicated to the job on hand. But I also feel a responsibility to support them morally by standing up for their creations.While I cannot see a scenario like I mentioned developing, I can see the dangers of allowing the community to go adrift. Developers don't live in a vaccuum and I believe that they are aware of a lot of criticism that they come under. And I also think that while many of them ignore it, quite a few of them lose interest over a period of time when criticism keeps pouring in in spite of their efforts.You're right. We, as a community, should keep them happy. And if we cannot donate our money, I think we should give them our moral support. And I think we should give them moral support in any case just for their contributions to FOSS, big or small...

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 20:13 IST #
  3. I tend to blame a lot of it on habit. If you're a lifelong user of proprietary software, you tend to (quite rightly) adopt an attitude of "They owe me" - you are, after all, a paying customer. You are the reason the developers have jobs, you are the reason the software was created.When I first wanted to switch from Windows to Linux, you know what I did? I went to a computer shop & bought the Red Hat CDs. I didn't download a free distro, for the simple reason that I didn't really understand Linux enough to know that it *was* a free OS: I thought that downloading it off P2P or some such would be piracy.Ahh, the innocence of youth, eh? :)So, if *I* was ignorant enough of what Linux is, and accustomed enough to thinking of software in proprietary terms, that I handed over money for something I could have gotten for free, can I really blame anybody else for carrying over their own Microsoft attitudes when they start out?I (at least try to) have plenty of time for newcomers to Linux who genuinely don't understand how it works. We all start out as clueless newbies, after all. (I'm sure I don't need to tell you about things I've written to try and help these newcomers to understand ;)And to be fair, there's a lot of Linux Zealots who really don't help. The "Switch to Linux, it's just like Windows" brigade: They build expectations of Linux so high, it's inevitable that the reality is a disappointment. But yeah... the ones who've got their OS for free, their office software for free, their browser for free, their desktop for free, their games for free, and everything else for free, and still have the nerve to issue demands; The ones who've spent an hour or two playing with Linux only to explain (to an obviously clueless community that's never used Windows or a Mac) exactly what Linux is doing wrong or not doing well enough; and (especially) the ones who log on to a Linux forum just so they can post "Linux is still rubbish, Windows is the best, I'm never trying it again" type messages. . . Well, they hack me off. Unfashionable as it may be considered these days, I still think answering such people with a simple "Well, go back to Windows then. Linux clearly isn't what you want, and you're clearly not what the Linux community wants." is the best way to go. A snide comment about them getting a full refund is also perfectly acceptable ;)And to be honest, I tend to have a similar attitude for the Linux users committed to attracting those selfsame users by making a distro that's as Windows-like as possible. But that's a whole different point. And I ranted about it on my own blog already :o)

    Comment by Dominic (visitor) on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 21:12 IST #
  4. Thanks for the insightful comment, Dominic. I guess we've addressed two sides of the same coin.I think those who sit on the edge of the fence are a perpetual threat to the Linux community because they are bad PR for Linux and they have a habit of projecting themselves as the sole representatives of Linux.More often than not, these people tend to destroy any goodwill created by the community. What do we lose if they stopped using Linux? Nothing.It's a point to ponder. Nothing is to be gained by keeping these users within the Linux community. Yet everybody feels that it's not politic to just dismiss them with a gesture and instead take it upon themselves to keep replying to their every argument.Yes, the problem with the "fringe community" as I call it, is a real one. Two solutions: either absorb them into the Linux community whole-heartedly or reject them. Linux never benefits from these fence-sitters.PS. In a sense I was lucky. I got my first distro RedHat 6.2 with a magazine and I never really got into (or was even aware of) the "community" business (due to lack of proper internet connections back then) until I was more or less familiar with what Linux was about, having installed, used it and removed it over a period of time. The magazine kept supplying Linux CDs at regular intervals and that kind of sustained my interest until it developed into something more permanent.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 21:30 IST #
  5. It also irritates the heck out of me when people join Linux forums just to say "Windows sucks". And when there's a printer driver unavailable for Linux, or a piece of software for it which is not up to commercial Windows standard (eg CAD applications), they immediately blame the community. My response to these people is usually: "Instead of complaining about it why don't you code it yourself". That tends to shut them up.I think the Linux community can cope no matter how many converts we gets, even if they exceed the existing user base - but I also think that the developers know what they will face. There are the inevitable emails and bug submissions which are hateful and express nothing but ungratefulness for the time the developer(s) have put into the app - and I think that most of the established developers know this already.Whenever I come across a new app I like, I have made it a habit of emailing the developer(s) and thanking them for their work - you'd be surprised how far a simple "Thank you" will go. I hope the newbie migrants we are getting will follow the same approach to FOSS.. :)

    Comment by J_K9 (visitor) on Tue, Mar 21, 2006 @ 02:10 IST #
  6. J_K9, thanks for the comment. You're right. Gratitude does help a lot...

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Tue, Mar 21, 2006 @ 07:52 IST #


  7. Comment by warner (visitor) on Sun, Mar 26, 2006 @ 02:04 IST #
  8. Wow, long reply, Warner. Good points. I think ultimately it all boils down to the attitude of new users towards the community. Most experienced Linux users welcome newbies to the community and are very helpful.Unfortunately I think that some newbies spoil it for themselves and for others by complaining all the time.

    Comment by hari (blog owner) on Sun, Mar 26, 2006 @ 07:52 IST #
  9. [...] Don’t kill the goose (part two) Posted by hari under Linux Related, Opinions at 11:37 pm I had written an article some time back about how Linux faces a potential threat in the form of fence-sitting freeloaders who constantly crib and complain about Linux without anything positive to contribute. It’s also quite true that veteranLinux users generally tend to cut these critics down to size and generally restore harmony in the world. [...]

    Comment by Hari’s Corner » Don’t kill the goose (part two) (visitor) on Wed, Aug 9, 2006 @ 23:37 IST #

Comments closed

The blog owner has closed further commenting on this entry.