[ale] Re: This bites (was Re: [ale] More on Mozilla/Java)

[Jeff Hubbs]

A couple of summers ago when I first built the box I'm typing on now, I 
ran into a real problem with Red Hat and Gnome - SCSI CD reads would 
have these long pauses every few seconds.  I reported it as a bug and 
they were real jerks about it, acting very "so what's your problem?" 
about it.  I switched to KDE and went on with my life, but for months 
afterwards I'd get these automated e-mails every once in a while with 
some new comment from someone looking at the problem and it was clear 
that the whole thing was just going nowhere.  

I guess I feel like Linux will have really arrived when I can deal with 
a distro vendor like RH and have it be pretty much like when I'd 
occasionally have to call up DEC about something with VMS.  I actually 
found a serious security problem once (password mistakes were getting 
logged with the mistaken entry) and reported it, but it turned out that 
I wasn't the first.  My point, though, is that I could get people on the 
phone that took my problem seriously.

- Jeff

Kevin Krumwiede wrote:

>No kidding.  When Mandrake 8.2 was in beta, I posted my thoughts on this
>to the Cooker list.  I'm no guru, although I have a good general
>understanding of computers from years of tinkering with Windows.  I
>consider myself a good problem-solver.  I do a little programming as a
>hobby, but I am no great hacker.  I have only been using Linux for about
>a year.  I can't submit bug reports in hex like the maintainers seem to
>want.  Sometimes the best I can do is say something's not working and be
>as methodical as I can about describing the circumstances.  MandrakeSoft
>thinks a simple mailing list is adequate for bug tracking and
>reporting.  People feel like their bug reports are being ignored.  In
>many cases they are.
>
>And what they don't get is that most people don't care how much "better"
>Linux is.  They won't notice that their downloads are 2X faster if the
>first thing they see is that Nautilus crashes, gmc's tree view doesn't
>work, browser windows constantly pop up halfway off the screen, and
>cut-and-paste doesn't work half the time.  And even with Mandrake, the
>"easiest" distro of all, I still spend countless hours tweaking things
>before it's right.  If someone like me has this much trouble, how do
>they expect to win over people who are completely computer-illiterate?
>
>On the other hand, how many of those people could do a Windows install
>without running ito trouble?  Probably not many.  I think the only way
>Linux will ever really reach the masses is if OEMs start shipping boxes
>with Linux pre-installed and configured.  And I think that will
>eventually happen, considering Microsoft's latest extortion schemes and
>legal troubles.  But until then, it's up to people like us to carry the
>load and give the newbies a hand up.
>
>Krum
>
>
>On Sun, 2002-03-24 at 21:33, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
>
>>Do any of the distro makers realize that this kind of crap just isn't 
>>going to fly as far as "desktop acceptance" goes?  This stuff needs to 
>>"arrive working."  
>>
>
>
>
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