I’m plugged in…maybe too plugged in.  The “mark all items read” button received much use in my RSS reader.  I found myself skipping more than I actually read.  Google reader is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it is a bit simplistic and plain…which is fine, it does its job well.  I’m informed.  But I often times find myself trying to sift through the cruft that is my various feeds.  I have wordpress design feeds, freelance feeds, Linux feeds, sports feeds, business feeds, inspirational feeds, youtube feeds, feeds about feeds, and feeds feeding those feeds.

Feedly, RSS on Steroids

I wanted to get more from my news/RSS.  Enter Feedly.  Feedly is a way that my feeds become VISUAL.  Instead of line by line by line, I’m given tiles and mosaic patchworks in an easy to read format.  I have variety.  I have images.  I have screenshots.  I have thumbnails.  I can see my feeds.  I can see what they’re describing.  I can see what people are blogging about.  I started using Feedly a mere 4 days ago and I have completely caught up on my reading.  Before I started I had over 3000 articles and was many, many days behind on my reading.  I’m completely caught up now with a manageable 200  articles to read.

Does this mean I’m reading thousands of articles with Feedly?  Not by a long shot.  But I’m finding what is important to me faster and thus being much more efficient.  I’m still skipping many articles…but at least now I know WHAT I’m skipping.  I’m not just marking all read so that I can catch up.  Feedly allows me to peruse my feeds in almost a catalog fashion which speeds up my reading times and focuses my attention on the things that catch my eye.

Feedly is free by the way.  I use it with Chromium/Chrom (works with any web browser though, just head over to their website) and you can too.  Install it as a web application in the Chrome web store.  Once installed, synchronize it with your Google Reader account…things you mark as read in Feedly will be marked read in your Google Reader account and vice versa.  I also use it on my Android tablet.  Make sure to check out the settings page in Feedly to configure the right layout and colors for yourself to make things easier to read and fit your workflow.  I guarantee you will find yourself reading more interesting articles…bookmarking links more…and paying attention to what matters to you.

Feedly, Chromium , and Google Reader originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on January 3, 2012.

Complaints pretty much have one thing in common:  They claim there isn’t enough ‘new and shiny’ things inside FF5 to warrant a major version.  This is illogical thinking because major version means NOTHING when it comes to usability of software.  I’ve noticed that I can browse and use FF5 just as easily as I could FF4 and FF3 before it…I still type in URL’s and websites display.  My plugins all still work.  It starts up a bit faster and websites seem to load just a bit faster…which is good.  So why all the whining and complaining?

The silliest thing about this is that the same people complaining about Firefox 5 say that Chrome and IE are going to overtake it and that this is the beginning of the end for Mozilla and Firefox.  Poppycock!  Chrome and Chromium have been using Agile programming and the SAME EXACT METHODOLOGY BEHIND releases and version numbers that Firefox is doing now.  So where was the flack for Google and Chromium when they released often and incremented all the way up to version 10 and then version 12??

It is my opinion that the people shouting from the rooftops that Mozilla and Firefox are a sinking ship doomed to fail while using Chrome/Chromium in the background have no clue what Agile Programming (or in Google’s case, Agile-like programming) is or what it sets out to accomplish…and they’re showing how hypocritical they are.  If you’re one of these people, where were you when Chrome and Chromium was ratcheting up their version numbers without noticeable improvements and features?

Sad that Firefox and Mozilla, who championed one of the first fantastic browsers on Linux, has went from Linux Darling to Public Enemy Number One in a single release in some peoples eyes.  Hopefully, people will realize how silly it is and stop complaining?  Well, one can dream right?

Let’s look at the quality of the software when levelling complaints instead of being upset that the version number doesn’t jive with what we think it should.  Thus far, my experience with FF5 has been pretty darn fantastic.  Thanks go out to Mozilla…you’ve done a great iteration of software yet again.

Mozilla Firefox, From Darling to Enemy in One Release originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on June 23, 2011.

I knew from experience in the mid-nineties that Slackware was probably the most Unix-like distribution out there…I felt at home there quite a bit after learning the *nix ropes on Solaris 2.0.  So we configured a Slackware 8.1 dual processor tower server he was lucky enough to acquire as our home firewall-all-around-great-linux box.  He took his beginning steps there and flourished since our Air Force job already had us jumping around in a VAX/VMS mainframe.  We had many late night hacking sessions attempting to get things to work or compile there.  We also had a multi GB shared hard disk (unheard of at the time!) shared over samba.

After I got moved out, I continued to keep the Slackware box up to date.  I moved onward to Slackware 9.  Samba operated like a champ and Slackware was a great routing system and dhcp server.  Then I discovered ClarkConnect and loved the web interface.  I could do things in half the time!  I could do them over the web from work without SSH tunneling!  All this appealed to me at the time.

I continued to run ClarkConnect from that point on and have continued to all the way up to when it changed to ClearOS this past year.  Indeed, I have ClearOS now as my central server.

The only problem is that I’ve suffered 2 of the most catastrophic losses of files in my samba shares when running ClarkConnect/ClearOS…and I didn’t draw the lines together  on these separate incidents until just recently.

The first loss came when an entire samba share was completely eradicated…13GB of music was just gone.  The second loss happened just the other day when tons of scanned pictures just VANISHED into thin air.  Each time these happened, I was using ClarkConnect/ClearOS.  Each time it happened a few users reported instability in the forums of those distributions.  I am not sure how it could have happened and I was caught completely off guard on the second time…my backups were not yet configured since it was a new server.  The first time it happened…I didn’t know the value of having a good backup routine.  So each time, no backups   Lesson learned the hard way but learned nonetheless.

I recall running Slackware on my server and NEVER having the problems I have had with ClarkConnect/ClearOS.  This got me rethinking my home server design.  Servers should be the epitome of stability.  One should be able to migrate from one version of the operating system to the next with few hiccups.  When considering each of these it is very apparent that I should be running Slackware core on my main samba server.

I will be making that transition in the next week or two and moving to a Slackware core based server.  I’m not sure what to use for backups across the network (I usually mirror the drive to an NTFS drive in my Windows based multimedia server) nor backups locally to other hard drives.  If you have any suggestions, I’d really like to hear them.  Also, I’d like to know what readers consider using for a server.  Please vote for your favorite below and drop me a comment letting me know specifics and thanks for your help!

Rethinking Home Servers originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 17, 2010.

This ‘featured’ list is a default list for the “Linux” feed that users can select after installing. If they don’t want to add their own linux feeds and would rather use the “expert feed” built in function, they’ll download the Syndication list I’ve created for blogbridge. Sound like something you would like to be a part of?

The response to my initial post was a bit underwhelming…remember, this could be just a blog you read on a daily basis. If you have a linux website you can’t do without and it has an RSS feed, let me know about it! If you don’t feel like doing that, let the authors of those sites know that they can submit their site. Remember, those I choose will get a direct link from this blog to theirs…which is pretty valuable considering I’m in the top two results in google for search term “linux blog”.

So, if you’d like to be considered or would like a favorite website of yours to be considered, please drop me a comment here with link to the site. I’ll check it out and announce the selections in approximately 2 weeks.

Get a Link from YALB, Become a Featured Site at Blogbridge.com originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 12, 2008.

However, I question whether this was the logical decision to be made…was it the smartest for the end user? Allow me to ellaborate:

Readers of this blog know that I use Ubuntu at work for servers. I also love Kubuntu (I’m not a gnome fan). So my problem isn’t with (K)Ubuntu itself…it works for me. My problem is that Gnome in general may not work for the consumer. If you’re not convinced, do a comparison on adding a printer in Gnome and KDE. Record the number of steps and note any confusing dialogue that pops up…then compare at the end. Still not convinced? I can’t help you understand where I’m coming from then.

Sure, there are those of us out there that are pretty Linux savvy and we can hum along quite easily with Ubuntu…but what of the person who’s looking to try Linux? What will happen when they power up their new Dell Laptop and can’t find a control panel? What happens when an error message just spits out random characters of data as many gnome error messages do?

If there is one thing in all usability studies or guides that is uniform it’s this…that people will resist change. Now, how much change Gnome is from what they are used to is up for debate and I’m not about to debate it here. My feelings are that Gnome isn’t the right choice for new users…and that’s a personal opinion only…and it’s one I’ve found to be true when converting family members to Linux.

So, I ask the question…is Ubuntu and the Gnome desktop the most logical decision for Dell? In my opinion, it isn’t. What do you think?

Dell and Ubuntu – The most Logical Decision? originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 2, 2007.

Thanks for reading!

Update your RSS Feeds… originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 3, 2007.

Despite the luxury this bought me…I found myself missing out on many big stories. Let’s face it, not everyone knows how to title and tag their blog entries (current company INCLUDED) to correctly reflect what the subject matter is. Since RSS readers only get a small synopsis of the head of an article, it’s difficult to find out if you want to read the article or not. I found myself missing some key phrases that I normally wouldn’t miss (like FOSS, FLOSS, and OSS) mainly because I wouldn’t see those in the third sentence of the synopsis when I was quickly scanning my feedlists. So, I searched for something that was better than those I had used: Pluck, Sage, Owl, Sharpreader, Wiz. I found it. And to my delight, it’s a cross-platform, GPL Licensed, Feed-synchronizing one that delivers unparalleled functionality and options. There’s nothing like it on the planet. If your interest is peaked, you’re in for a real treat if you keep reading.

One word. Two Syllables. Blogbridge.

It’s one of the best feed readers I have ever used. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to cover near as much ground in a small amount of time. It allows me to scan through hundreds of blogs daily and filter out the stuff that doesn’t interest me. There seems to be a lot of this today as people start out well but then turn their blog into a news aggregator or change focus and broaden what they blog about. This review is going to be populated heavily with screenshots of this amazing tool. I’ll go through some of the functionality of Blogbridge but overall, there are too many features to cover in a single article.

GPL

Guides

Service Account

Tagit!

Some of the things that set Blogbridge apart I’ve pictured above. First off, it’s GPL which makes it outstanding in my book. Second, a stock install has no RSS feeds setup. I find it very annoying when you install a feed reader and find it already has a section of ‘popular’ feeds for you…that’s like me buying a car and them putting in Brittany Spears in the CD Player…I don’t want it to happen EVER.

Next up, Guides. You can choose to have feeds by default by using the “Guides” option pictured above. These “Guides” plugin to their Service Account (also pictured above). Your feeds that you subscribe to can be synchronized to Blogbridge servers so that no matter what computer you install it on you’ll have your feeds waiting for you. I find this very convenient due to going back and forth to work…I’m able to read no matter what my location. Things work much in the way Foxmarks would save your Firefox bookmarks. It’s very handy.

Lastly, tagging is a must for me. Inputting common words separated by comma in the installation screen pictured above such as Linux, FOSS, FLOSS, etc. allows me to quickly filter through my articles and weed out those that don’t contain these tags. This makes reading the most important articles (to me) a snap. You don’t have to put tags in there but they’re awfully handy as you’ll see later.

These things aren’t the only fabulous things one finds in Blogbridge…they’re just a few of the things you’ll see when you first install it. There are countless other functions, bells, whistles, and features that I’m not even going to go into. I haven’t even found all the different things you can do with Blogbridge…but I will attempt to do it justice and showcase the things I DO know.

First things first…you’ll need to get some feeds. Say you have an OPML list you’d like to import. This can be done simply by going to the menu Guides >> Import. Just like you would have individual feeds divided by folders in other RSS readers, Blogbridge divides the categories up into “Guides”. You can also use the BlogBridge feature of automatically signing up to previous chosen Topic Guides. These topic guides are put together by many experts in each individual field of interest so it might be a good idea to start with those previously selected and then pick and choose from them. Pictured below are some screenshots of the “Guides” in action.

Changing Icons

Guides Online

Setup Guides

As you can see…you have many different options when customizing your guides. You can go online and browse different Guides that topic experts have…you can import these guides with all of their feeds when going through initial setup when you are installing. It’s up to you how you control your feeds and how you classify them using your guides.

Let’s say that you just want to browse and setup feeds manually…so setup one Guide as perhaps “Daily Reading” by right clicking in the space on the far left of the screen for guides and choosing “add guide”. You can also get back to adding expert guides here if you didn’t set them up during installation…simply select “subscribe to reading list” instead of “add guide” when you right clicked in that space and hit the “suggest” button. Now that you have a guide added, let’s put some feeds in there.

I love keyboard shortcuts…and adding a new feed can be done with control-n or by right clicking in the Feeds column. If you visit a feed you like, you can copy the URL and Blogbridge should detect it on the klipboard so that when you go to add a feed the url is already present.

Adding Feeds is simple with Blogbridge

Another great set of features that Blogbridge has is the granular control over feeds aka articles. You can quickly cleanup old feeds, search through existing ones, and/or tag articles to find them easily later. You can also share out those tags with the rest of the BlogBridge community or you can import tags from that same community.

One of the great features Blogbridge has that simplifies my reading is filtering. With this feature, we put to use the keywords you inputted during the installation process. When filtering by tags/keywords you’ll quickly be able to identify the feeds and posts in the feeds that mean the most to you. For example, some of my keywords are ‘Linux, Free Software, Open Source, FOSS, FLOSS, and OSS’. I can quickly find the articles that contain these keywords by enabling filters:

Applying filters

Filter by Stars

after applying filter

You can also filter further by using the stars rating system. The stars rating system allows you to rate the blogs that you read on a scale from 1-5 stars. This plugs directly into the community as well and shows you the average rating (shown by the # of greyed out stars before you rate it). Rate the blogs you like higher and then filter by stars. This is a way for you to quickly read the blogs that you rate the highest and to leave out the others that you didn’t rate that high. Very handy

So you have control over all of these feeds with filters…what about the articles contained in these feeds? You have excellent handling of these as well by Blogbridge. Let’s go over some hypothetical examples that showcases this. Let’s say that you have 2-3 hundred feeds…many of which may be outdated or are updated less frequently than normal…will you go through each of these to find the relevance to you or look at the update frequency of these (show as a graph in the feeds column in BB) and spend hours finding those you need to trim? Most likely not…it’s a daunting task. But daunting no logner. Blogbridge includes a cleanup wizard just for this situation.

Messy Feeds? Too much mess to clean? Blogbridge makes cleaning a snap with the Cleanup Wizard!

After you’ve cleaned, perhaps you read an article that you’d like to come back to later in the day…in this instance, you can pin the article and keep it ‘stickied’ to the top of all feeds.

Pinning article	Unpinning
Tagging	Marked Read

When you’re finished following up on it, you can unpin it. You can also tag individual articles in your feeds and share those tags with the Blogbridge community.

You can set Blogbridge to automatically mark an article read after a set period of time you have it selected, or you can right click the article and mark it read. You can also search through all of your feeds to find EXACTLY what you’re looking for.

You can quickly find your way through vast amounts of information by using Blogbridge to handle your feeds. Whether you want to use it in simple mode (where you just subscribe and read feeds without using the whiz bang features) or use it to the fullest…there are so many options that any voracious reader would be completely satisfied with its abilities.

The preferences and settings menu’s are robust and contain so many different features that I wouldn’t be able to go over them all here. Screenshots of the settings and preferences menu are posted below:

Advanced

I’ve found Blogbridge to be the complete package I need to navigate quickly through the hundreds of feeds I subscribe to. I can quickly and easily sort through this mount of information using the handy filtering system that utilizes my keywords/tags. I can also keep my Blogbridge updated with my latest feeds and then synchronize these from anywhere in the world via the Blogbridge service. Using the stars rating system, I can keep track of Blogs and sites that I find interesting and worthy and I can use this to filter in or out articles and sites that I want to read first or don’t want to read at all.

I highly recommend that you give Blogbridge a try. If you use PCLinuxOS, you can install Blogbridge immediately by using synaptic or apt-get. For all others, check your distros repositories or visit Blogbridge’s download page. Hope Blogbrigde works for you as well as it does for me!

Blogbridge, Simply the Best RSS originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on February 26, 2007.

The idea was inspired by the article “10,000 bugs away from World Domination“, specifically these few words:

“My diagnosis is that the problem with Linux is that it doesn’t have anyone pushing to get the newbie bugs fixed first. At Microsoft, we had Program Managers and one of their responsibilities was to be customer advocates to prioritize the bugs for the devs to fix. In many open source groups, it sometimes appears that bugs get fixed when the dev decides to work on it, not because an important user scenario is broken. The Wi-Fi tool was broken in Gnome for any months, but the bugs just sat there languishing in the database. Microsoft or Apple would not have shipped a Wi-Fi UI that was completely broken in that way.”

The author is 100% correct. And since open source communities don’t have program managers that can focus the time needed to prioritize bug fixes, we can make the community become that program manager. Read on for specifics on how to do this.

The software itself would be a simple UI for bug tracking…it can be built on top of any number of current bugtracker softwares (ie mantis, bugzilla, bugzero). The kicker is this…make the bugs pop on a distributed list similar to digg where the community can read the bug, decide if it is something that should be addressed immediately or put on the shelf for a while, and vote accordingly. Then have the software prioritize bugs based on the number of votes received and the length of time since submission. Now I don’t have the specifics…just the main idea. But to me, this seems like a very decent idea because bugs that mean a lot to newbies would be fixed first and foremost if the UI were right and we could tie this into a CMS. Care would have to be given to doing it right where a strong community vote would determine the prioritization. Instead of the complicated explanation of what the bug is…the line could read what the bug effects. It is my opinion that this will help with categorization as well and duplicate bugs (they’ll attract the same amount of attention aka votes).

In the article, “10,000 bugs away from World Domination” (quoted above), the author hits a grand slam home run…if the top 1,000 bugs were fixed in the Linux Desktop, world domination may not be far behind.

If anyone thinks this idea for a distributed model bug tracker would work…and if you have the time to take it on…I will host the project for free on my servers and provide any CMS/bugtracker/groupware needed and will even assist with some management of the overall project. Please leave comments below if you are interested.

Distributed Bugs-R-Us originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 10, 2006.

The point of all this is that from the standpoint of a new Linux user, having a snazzy looking interface is all well and good but it means nothing if users have to revert to the command line to perform what should be simple tasks. Installing new downloaded software is one of the most common tasks performed by desktop users at home and in small offices. Until the Linux suppliers can make this task trivial, they will continue to miss out on a whole world of users beyond the command line geeks.

NOTE: I normally don’t re-publish news like many of the “blogs” you see out there but in this case the article was pretty good and hits home with a theme I’ve been stating a bit lately.

The article above was taken from ITWire…IT News in Austrailia.

This article was a good read and I believe it to be true. Until Linux can come up with ways to make the user oblivious to what is going on underneath the GUI, it won’t make inrroads to the desktop.

UPDATE: 3/2007

Penguin Pete, the not famous blogger over at penguinpetes blog flagged this post as being the main reason that he no longer posts links to my blog. Interesting in that if anyone were to read this post out of context, they might not know what I was driving at for this post. The main intention of the post is to show that new users need to first feel comfortable in their OS before they drop down and get dirty with the shell. That’s a fact jack. Nothing is going to sway that…I’ve had many users I’ve switched over DESPISE dropping to the shell and cite that as the main reason they go back to Windows. This is what I was agreeing with in this instance…that New Linux users need to be semi oblivious to what is going on underneath and not have to worry about it in their beginnings…not to ‘dumb down’ Linux or remove functionality underneath it.

ITWire in Australia on the Desktop originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 26, 2006.

It’s Opportunity, Albeit, a Small One

Does anyone else here smell that? It’s opportunity. Perhaps an opportunity to push Linux just a little while longer and to develop it into what it needs to be before Microsoft once again proliferates itself onto every PC in America and sets the standard to which all things are compared. I can just see it when Vista finally does release…all of the comparison articles that will sprout across the web between Vista and desktops such as Ubuntu and SuSe 10.X. Linux can gain ground only one way; if it can become about user experience versus user function. If it can do that, I think Linux just might gain some ground. Babysteps…that’s what it is all about.

Microsoft’s OS has always been a rip-off of the work others do. OS/2 did things before Microsoft…Macs did things before Microsoft. They’ve been playing constant catch up since Windows began. If developers and users seize this opportunity in Linux to develop their distros in new ways, it can give Linux a slight foothold onto the desktop. Notice I said slight foothold. That’s because Linux will never storm onto the desktop. It will chip away slowly at the desktop until it gains acceptance. Linux has been granted a small door to the desktop and there is a set criteria for those distros that want to go through it. Will your favorite distro be able to go through the door? Can it provide the user experience needed to win people on the desktop over?

User Experience versus User Function

Most Linux distros just don’t get it. Everyone touts Ubuntu. They don’t get it. They say Linux for human beings but then make it so only human beings that are technologically savvy can use it. SimplyMEPIS touts being simple yet you have to enter into your sources.list and edit it before you can update it the first time. All of these distros have forgotten why people create operating systems and software. They’re trying really hard but missing the mark ever so slightly.

Why do people create operating systems and software? To help people with computing right? Perhaps to become notorious? Imagine that you have no operating system or an OS with no software to use on you PC. How would you accomplish anything at all? It would be rather difficult. The interesting part about this is that if you ask any software developer or programmer why they program/develop software they do it for 3 reasons:

1. Very good Pay and notoriety
2. Because they Can
3. To assist themselves or others with Computing Functions

There is nothing wrong with these approaches (I’m sure I’ve left out a couple of approaches)…but something is lost in the transfer between programmer/developer and the end user. What is it? It’s knowledge and experience…or lack thereof.

Anyone can make a program function. I have a C program I wrote waaaay back in the day that can operate as accounting software. Yet, people use QuickBooks, Kmymoney, and Appgen. Why is that? Why don’t they use the bare bones functional program they could get for free from me? It works pretty darn good…helps them file their taxes, and keeps track of all finances…why don’t they use this functional program? Because the knowledge it takes to use and support it is greater than those other programs I mentioned AND because it plainly doesn’t provide the same user experience as the aforementioned programs. It’s all of these reasons we can roll up into something called the “User Experience.”

The Experienced User and User Experience

One of my friends on the web is the webmaster of Lobby4Linux.com. He’s done some small usability studies in the best place you could possibly do it…a suburban shopping mall. You do studies like that and you can really tell where you stand. Sad to say that current desktops for Linux don’t stand a chance the way they are currently because most developers aren’t developing in the right mindset and focus. They’re developing for each other and for props from the community.

Imagine for a second if Apple decided they didn’t want to make Ipod easy to use anymore…they just wanted to develop software for their buddies and they wanted to make Ipod’s have the latest bells and whistles all the while ignoring pleas from those who cry out for change. That’s what Linux is doing. Ignoring the most important part of their community. New users and their opinions should hold the most weight with Linux developers and application programmers…because these people are providing the most pure look at the software. They aren’t polluted with elitism, they haven’t adopted a stance with the GPL or FLOSS yet…they’re just here to check out the software.

Say you are a developer or programmer. The minute a new user doesn’t understand how to do something, there is a problem with your product. No you can’t fix everything for everyone, but as a developer you should be trying to do so…we cannot reach perfection but we can chase it.

The odd part about this user centric philosophy is…if a developer or company or even a distro adopts a ‘user experience’ centric development process…they succeed. Two examples show us how clear this is.

1. Apple Ipod. Nuff said…they aren’t about functions and features…they don’t claim to be the best video/audio tool out there. They offer the best user experience. Hence, why they are number one and sell more product worldwide than anyone period. Also this is why they are the largest brand recognized on the planet…even more recognized than Microsoft.
2. Novell and SuSe 10 – You may think you know what SuSe is about…you may be discounting Novell because you think their ship has set sail many years ago when Microsoft took over. Then you need to watch this video on Brainshare and pay specific attention to why the two desktop developers are developing the way they are. You’ll hear about user experience and ‘won’t attract new users’ and other key phrases. This is terminology and focus that ALL Linux distros should be focused on if they want their distro to succeed.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m all for having a new user Google a solution or RTFM. However, has anyone ever stopped to think that a new user might not know how to search for information? How many new users out there know Boolean logic? It’s relatively hard for new users to Linux in general to find information on how to do things in Linux. Why do many community members throw these new users an anchor when they ask for a life raft? Remember, if Linux is to succeed, it needs to be about the entire user experience which starts the minute the user thinks to him/herself “I think I’ll give that Linux thing a try.” The spotlight is unfortunately on Linux and community from the beginning.

Taking the time to teach a new user the correct way of searching for answers is a good step in the right direction. However, taking stock in what area of the OS/software that new user is questioning is a better step in the right direction. Listen to the new users, their eyes are open where others are closed. They don’t look at the same scene everyday…they see things anew. Remember:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust

It’s about togetherness, not elitism

Linux is about a large collection of people working toward a common goal. This common goal is to proliferate Linux to all corners of the globe as an alternative way of computing to the status quo that Microsoft gives us. It absolutely is not about being smarter than everyone or being able to look down one’s nose at people. Unfortunately, due mainly to a rise in popularity of Linux, an influx of interest has resulted in an outflow of community. Elitism runs rampant through many forums and newbies are sometimes chastised for asking questions instead of being shown the proper way of asking.

So what are we to do? How do we continue making The Linux Experience about togetherness vs. elitism? The Linux community on a whole must take a stand against those who have no desire to help someone based solely on their experience level. Sure, I know there are those that say RTFM (read the friendly manual) or ‘google it’ but you and I both know that information isn’t organized how it should be with Linux. Remember that some of these people that are trying Linux for the first time don’t even know about boolean logic with search engines nor about http://google.com/linux so how do we expect them to find information unless it is organized logically (say…in a wiki)?

The Door is Open, Only a Few can Pass

The door to the desktop is open. I truly believe that Linux can take innroads to success for personal computing. However, I believe that if more distros do not take the approach of SuSe or PCLinuxOS, being about user experience versus whiz bang nifty old tools and bells and whistles…Linux will not gain desktop adoption.

My grandfather used to be a handy-man at a retirement home when I was a little kid. I remember going to work with him during the summer when school was out (mainly because we couldn’t afford daycare) and working with him. One thing sticks out in my memory now that I write this article about user experience. I remember that one year my grandmother bought him new tools to use on the job. They were supposed to be the best thing on the market and carry a lifetime guarantee. Those tools were used a total of 3 days…they didn’t have the feel of the old ones.

Linux will need to feel like those old tools to everyone before it can succeed. It needs to give people a warm and fuzzy feeling and it needs to cater to the most technically challenged person on the planet in order to gain ultimate acceptance.

Perhaps developers and programmers will read this article and choose the red pill instead of the blue one. Then again, they may not. Whatever they decide, their user-base is changing toward one with less Linux knowledge and one that thrives on user experience. If one does not adapt, one will be left behind.

Of Vista, Linux, and the User Experience originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 23, 2006.