[BadVista Advocate] My blog

[Don Hensley]

An interesting take on things. A view I had not considered - at least not for 
a very long time.

Lets see if I have this right, or at least passably close.

I suspect you view it as being a sort of competition - almost a sporting 
event, for the spectators on the sidelines, as it were.

It's not about the troll (if such he be), but rather to show other readers 
that he is wrong, so they will not go away feeling that the trolls questions 
were not answered, and by association feeling that all us "geeky, nerd, coder 
types" are not very helpful, and GNU/Linux is not for them.

Mostly because the spectator may not know about trolls and such, and therefore 
needs to be clear about the points you are making about Free Software.

Did I get that about right?

Now please believe me, I am not trolling here. The thing is that I'm almost 70 
years old, and while I grew up with this industry, or more accurately this 
industry grew up with me --in truth I helped build some of it. I also am well 
aware that the future does not belong to me. 

This just means that I also may have a considerable different take on some 
things - not necessarily the 'right' or 'only' take, just one that goes with 
my personal experiences.

So this is a very serious question --I'm just trying to see if I understand 
your point.

If I have got it right, then it is an interesting way to look at it, and I  
will want to think about that method.

Off the top I think it is probably very accurate and applicable to today's 
users. But it would be unlikely to sway me much (as one of the 'spectators').

That's what I meant about patience. For me, after the third or fourth "Asked 
and Answered", with each side becoming more heated, I lose all interest in 
what ever the subject was. And just read no further.

Which means that from that point on, anything anyone posts is lost to me 
anyway, because I'm long gone (me, or any 'spectator' that feels the way I 
do).

But I think that I can (dimly) remember a time that I might not have felt that 
way --I would probably have been in there trying to make my point that way 
also.

Now I just do it differently, and it works quite well for me. But I suspect... 
well I know, that I deal with a considerably different set of prospective new 
to GNU/Linux converts, or potential converts, then most of you do.

I know this because while I still build and install computer systems, 
retirement has the advantage of allowing me to only do 100% GNU/Linux 
systems. I just refuse to work on, install, or fix, anything else.

So far --this year-- I've installed 14 GNU/Linux systems for people, the 
youngest of which was 59 years old, the oldest is 83 (the person, not the 
system ;).

These are all GNU/Linux only users, no dual boot, or second computers running 
Windows. Some had an old Windows box first, and some are brand new to all 
this computer/Internet stuff.

I'm positive not one of them even knows what a blog is (they may learn - or 
not, hard to say). But they would all recognize and ignore a troll, even if 
they would not use the term 'troll' to describe such a person. So my approach 
is different.

Not better, just different.

And there is one other little thing my 'old' users do, that I think has value. 
They tend to be the people that buy the computers for grand-kids, etc. and 
you know what system they will expect to be on the grand-kids box.

Yep, the system they understand --which won't be Windows.

I've been doing this for enough years now to have some of my 'people' from 
years past starting to taste the anger, when they find out they can't simply 
buy a box with GNU/Linux pre-installed for a son, or daughter, or one of the 
grand-kids.

For them the taste is bitter, for me their anger has the sweet taste of 
success at achieving my underlying goal.

And twice as sweet because this is beginning to change, soon finding a 
GNU/Linux pre-installed system may be as easy as phoning Dell (or whatever 
major player that is smart enough to get on the GNU/Linux bandwagon).

While it may not (yet) be pure GNU/Linux, it will be a big step towards that 
goal.

We will 'win' this war, as long as we all work at it as best we can.

So keep workin' at it, any way you can. That's what I plan to do for as long 
as I can.

D. Hensley
-- 
GNU/Linux is the future.
Join the FSF: http://www.fsf.org/register_form?referrer=4458
Get the Real Facts: http://BadVista.org
 *******************************************
 On Tuesday 24 April 2007 01:26 pm, Jacob Maynard wrote:
Even though I didn't take the comment that way, it's something we have to
watch for. If we don't we sound like the little kids in the back seat on a
long road trip. I just think that since we are trying to convince the
general public to switch to open source, I think that we need to maintain
our maturity and beware not to let it fall to that level. The trolls will
say their things, but we can't let questions go unanswered. Does that make
sense? I don't want there to be a question from someone who is obviously
baiting, and have it be the question of someone who is legitimately
looking for answers, then not have it answered.

So once you beat them with proof, they will resort to the little kid in
the back seat. As long as our answers are legitimate, people will know
that the "trolls" lost.

If we get two or three trolls actively throwing stuff out like that, and
we have even 8 of us actively countering with proof, we still will have
enough people and brainpower to thwart them. This is what the general
public will see. Publicity is just politics. If you play it right, people
will go with you. Then they will learn that it is better for them in the
long run.

Jacob