On Tuesday 03 December 2002 16:03, Joe Brandt wrote:
> Yes that is my biggest complaint about Linux (I am a newbie) is that I
> try to RTFM and it is like it is written in a foreign language. I am so
> completely tired of "RTFM" that I am considering giving up. I have
> given up asking questions.
> Hobbies are supposed to relieve stress not cause it.
Try doing this for a *living*! ;)
Stress is trying to figure out how to build a GNU build environment on an
HP3000 MPE/IX box in a Posix compatibility shell while having a customer look
over your shoulder asking "Aren't you supposed to be the expert?" Hell, I'd
kill to have a real Linux box sometimes.
OpenSource is chaotic. The ideals are "noble", but the implementations often
exceed the abilities of anyone aside from the developers figuring out how to
get their software working. As for documentation, if you're playing with new
code and can't read the source, you may want to back off and wait for someone
else to figure it out first.
The best thing to remember as you're working through problems: there are other
seasoned experts out there that have experienced the same problems you have.
They probably complained about it on a mailing list somewhere after they read
the source to figure it out without any real documentation.
I'll argue that commercial products aren't any better, however. Instead of
letting you teach yourself from their source, you're often stuck memorizing
"features" of their software that you can never hope to change, and rarely
able to access the same bug/knowledgebase that their tech support people use
to answer those $150/incident support calls. The developers are well hidden
behind these underpaid tech-support personnel who do nothing more than basic
searches against their own knowledgebase. In the end, should the commercial
product flounder, your tech abilities may suddenly vaporize as their entire
customer base migrates to an entirely different codebase from a competitor or
disappear entirely from the marketplace.
The OpenSource model lets you talk directly to developers and search archives
of emails they have sent about their own development efforts. You can google
answers and look through source on your own, as well as find others who have
had the same problems (how many commercial vendors let you do that?!) In the
end, if you can't figure it out yourself, you can always call one of the many
Linux/OpenSource support shops around and ask an "expert" who has been
through those hoops to help you out. Besides, the quality support you'll get
from an all-around OpenSource expert is generally far superior to that of a
newly hired call-support person who is blindly typing knowledgebase searches.
That's my take on it anyway.
-- - Ian C. Blenke <icblenke@nks.net>(This message bound by the following: http://www.nks.net/email_disclaimer.html)
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