Slacker Madness!

The is a secret scourge that has been attacking the underbelly of our free culture community for too long. Oh, how I've sat idly by and watch my friends descend into madness because of a substance more potent than any drug known to man. I'm talking of course about Slackware.

Sure you saw a buddy using it at a party and you where curious. You though to yourself "Hey, he's cool and he uses it, what harm could it do!" So you took it home and got loaded.

At first you where just using it casually, nothing serious. You felt like it helped you get things done, made you more productive. You used it a little before school, then a little after work. You looked cool in front of all your friends.

But then things started changing. You noticed that you couldn't get through the day without it. You used it more and more alone in your room. Compiling kernels and hacking .conf files. Soon, your friends started to worry about you. You would disappear over the weekends feeding your addiction with injections of slackbuilds and install scrips. Still every now and then you show up at a party but you spend all night huddled in the corner starring at a gcc compiling screen.

Pretty soon your making excuses to everyone about how you don't have a problem. You just need to get the web-cam working and then you can give it up. But then your back to your old habits trying to setup servers and configure your new gadget.

What I'm trying to say is. You're a junky man and you need help.

Being A Responsable Community Member

Ok, so you read my post a while back and now you are thinking "Hey, I've tryed to be involved and you freetards are jerks!" or "I want to try this thing out what should I know?" Very good questions. So let's dive in shall we.

First, all communitys have a culture and if you are starting as an outsider it can be a bit of a learning curve. One of the main things I see people do is have the attitude "Dude, it's just software!" To many people in this neck of the woods it isn't "just software." It's a way of life. A large amount of the work that is done in free software is done out of passion not out of economics. People pour their heart and soul into this stuff. It represents an ideal more than a tool. Respect peoples passion when talking to them.

Asking for help is the first hurdle I see people stuggling to get over. If you are used to dealing with "traditional" software support then you might come across in a way you don't intend. If you jump in an IRC channel or post on a forum, remember most of the help in free software is volunteer and be respectful of that. Many projects offer many ways of getting help. However, some of those tools rarely get used. Some projects prefer IRC, some mailing lists, some forums and some wiki's. If you are asking for help in the wrong place and not getting an answer try to find out the projects communication process.

The second sticking point, as I see it, is the approach to that question. The motivation to help is quickly sapped when you ask in a disrespectful way. Remember, very few projects are trying to create a direct replacement for a proprietary Windows or Mac app. The apps might have similar goals, but asking why feature X in software Y isn't in their program can sound insulting. Especially when you follow there response with something like "Well, your program is never going to be as good as Y if you don't put that feature in!" If you are lacking a feature it's ok to ask if you are just missing it and if it doesn't exist ask if it's planned for a future release. If it is of severe importance to you offer to pay a developer to implement it or if you have the skills do it yourself. Hey, it's Open Source, right?

Lastly, if you find that people are still pretty harsh ask yourself "Am I asking about things I should be reading about?" A lot of projects have pretty good documentation. Read it. It frustrating to have some one ask you basic questions that are all ready covered in the FAQ on their website. Asking for help should be a last resort or for those who just don't know better. Don't be lazy.

I'm sure if you are respectful and take your time you will find a home in the community just like everyone else.

Why I chose Linux!

Another podcaster in the linux community has been doing a series of shows called "How I found Linux" that contains user contributed audio clips of people telling the story of how they found their way into the free software community. It's very likely when I get the time I will record my story and submit it and I hope you do the same.

Thinking about this it led me down the path of thinking not just about how but about why.

I have a firm belief that one of the strongest human emotions is the need to feel like you belong to something that is greater than yourself. I think that this need is more intense for some than others and is a driving force for good and evil. It could even explain some of the darker times in human history. But, that's a discussion for another post, or maybe not.

For me, I've always had deep need to feel like I belong and am accepted. I can think back on many periods of my life where this has had a profound effect on the trajectory of my life. I think it's the human need to be a part of the community that draws most people into the Linux/free culture. Not the geekyness of it or the software itself. Computers are cool but I don't think that is why free software is successful. Further more, I don't think the thing that will win people over to Linux will be more or better apps. I think it will be the draw that everyone has a place in the community and everyone is important to its success.

What people don't use as an argument for free software enough is:

1. No matter what your interest there is a sub-community that is dying to have you as a member.
2. No matter how insignificant your contribution to free software might seem, it's the rich tapestry of different abilities that make Linux great. We will always need wide diversity in the community.
3. Free software people are not just friendly, they take great pleasure in helping you find a place in community. We love it when some one new finds that feeling of acceptance that we do.
4. Black, white, skinny, fat, pretty, ugly, rich, poor, genius, average, cool, geek, religious, agnostic, political or not? No one gives a crap. I've never heard anyone not getting accepted because of their background.
   

So, If you feel like you need to find some where that people not only accept you but need you. Where you can find people just as exited about your interests as you are. We would love to have you as one of our own. We want you! We need you! Jump in, the water is just fine. What are you waiting for?

Mono, No No?

With all the recent infatuation within the Free Software community over the potential threat posed by the free implementation of the .net framework Mono, I've tossed around the arguments on both sides and drawn my own conclusions. This isn't a topic I would normally comment publicly on however I've drawn some different conclusions than I've heard talked about and I want to throw them into the public debate.

I don't consider myself a Free Software zealot but I want nothing more than a world where there is no restrictions on the technologies we use. I am a believer in the philosophy of free culture and it's ability to unite in a way that nothing else can. So in short, I'm a pragmatist who leans towards being a fundamentalist.

I won't go into all the pros and cons of Mono as they are better covered by much more intelligent people than me. My purpose is to raise a few considerations that I haven't heard talked about.

Firstly, My dear ol' Mom, for a long time, was the President, and now Vice President, of the Wheat Ridge Historical Society. As such she instilled in me a reverence for history and our past culture. I am a sentimental guy at heart and feel there is a deep purpose to preserving the relics of the past. To that end I think having free implementations of technologies is important in preventing parts of our culture from being unrecoverable. I have an affinity for projects that allow me to relive my youth like DOSBox. Similar projects like Freedos, ReactOS, and Haiku are important to preserve the technologies of our computing past. I would hate to have Mozart's Symphonies or DaVinci's journal locked in DRM or in a technology that is lost or abandoned. So, I consider Mono as an important tool for preserving the ability to use .net software.

Secondly, On coat tails of Google's announcement of ChromeOS, witch brings the hope of greater Linux desktop adoption, I think a tool like Mono is necessary to entice developers to support Linux as that market emerges with a greater presence. In fact, I'll bet that just the announcement of Google CromeOS will get software companies to re-evaluate their Linux support. Also, it allows company's who didn't have Linux on their radar 12 months ago stay competitive by offering their software cross platform. It also has the benefit of allowing businesses that use .net software and want to migrate the opportunity to make the transition to Linux without extra development.

Third, if you can except that Mono is important to support freedom then I would argue than in order to have a usable implementation the .net framework you need developers who are using the tool to create software. Otherwise you risk an incomplete implementation that will turn companies away from Linux. In order for developers to use Mono you need users to use their software. So, active Mono projects are necessary to insure Linux is competitive with the Windows .net implementation.

Lastly, we all live in a world of compromise. Many of the people who are the most against Mono programs have been using MP3 playback and DVD playback and many other technologies with similar or worse potential for patent lawsuits. Very few people don't use other software that is certainly not free like Flash and the non-free Nvidia drivers without so much as a blog post or a tweet. That being said most of those are not install by default in the major Distributions. I don't think that the major Distros should install Mono apps by default but I take no issue with people who want to install them on their own. That being said, the popularity of Distos that do install software that posses a patent risk such as Linux Mint and the prevalence of using the ubuntu-restricted-extras package proves that most people don't care about the risk they just want a feature full and rich desktop experience. In the end choice is always better then the alternatives and using Mono apps doesn't make you any less of a lover of freedom.