Re: [tlug] AdBookWorkaround

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Josh" == Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com> writes:

    Josh> On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:00:10 +0900, Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
    Josh> <ronfaxon@example.com> wrote:

    >> Now, I don't mean this in an angry or antagonistic way, but
    >> sometimes I think the name shouldn't be "TLUG - Tokyo Linux
    >> Users Group", but rather "CLPC - Command Line & Programmers'
    >> Club".

    Josh> There was a time, not long ago, that *all* Linux users fit
    Josh> this description.

In one sense, this has never been true.  Steve Baur's mother has been
a user of Linux-based systems since 1997.  In 1999-2000 all of our
first-year students had to use Linux-based systems because a couple
locally-written programs for Intro IT only ran on *nix (the techs
objected to the burden of supporting dual-boot so we let the Red Hat
license expire and moved those programs back to the Solaris system).

In another sense, as RMS pointed out, "Linux" is a kernel cum driver
collection.  Nobody but programmers really are "Linux users."  Except
for the app issue, I really can't see that Lyle would notice whether
he was using NetBSD or Linux, as long as the desktop in both cases is
KDE.  (Actually, today this applies to people writing most programs,
since they write to the POSIX libc or even higher level standards,
that are compatibly implemented by many OSes.)

However, for the old-timers, the ones who started with HJL libc4 or
earlier, that wasn't true.  Any porting involved fighting with libc
(which was really an extension of the Linux kernel rather than a
separate library, then) and at least occasionally kernel issues.

Anyway, both groups have the right (by common usage and logic,
respectively) to think of themselves as "the" Linux users.

    Josh> Comments like yours serve to point out how far Linux has
    Josh> come.

The real question for Lyle is "when is he going to write his book?"
:-) That's when a community will form around the issues that concern
him.  (During the writing, that is, not after publication.)  Of
course, maybe somebody else will write it---but I don't see anybody
else in TLUG who would.  Certainly not the CLI/Ppies.

-- 
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences     http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
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