RE: tlug: Linux Community?? (was: HTML again)

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

>>>>> "jdh" == John De Hoog <dehoog@example.com> writes:

    jdh> Chris's unfortunate choice apparently results from his belief
    jdh> in something called the "Linux Community". He's expressed the
    jdh> attitude a number of times since I came to this list. But to
    jdh> someone who has used computers all these years as tools to
    jdh> get jobs done, I'm a bit puzzled by this concept.

>From the GNU Manifesto:

    rms> Why I Must Write GNU
    rms> ====================

    rms> I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a
    rms> program I must share it with other people who like it.
    rms> Software sellers want to divide the users and conquer them,
    rms> making each user agree not to share with others.  I refuse to
    rms> break solidarity with other users in this way.

"Solidarity."  Awesome, isn't it?  As RMS points out, Linus Torvalds
acknowledges, and Debian proclaims in /etc/issue, what we call "Linux" 
is really the GNU system running over the Linux kernel.  And the
kernel itself is GPL, in acknowledgement of those ideals.  _There_ is
your community.

Yes, it's possible for non-programmers to community members.  It's not
possible, by my definition of the Linux community, for someone who
thinks they can _demand_ that others share, not just their programs,
but the time, effort, and creativity that goes into the making of
those programs, to be a member.  I (I can't speak for others) don't
demand that others meet any given level of contribution, but I do
demand that they aspire to it, and recognize the contributions of
others.  And a program is not just code, it's specs and docs and stuff 
like that; there are all kinds of contribution.

    jdh> My guess is that Linus Torvalds himself would find the notion
    jdh> of a Linux Community rather amusing.

The last I heard, he was finding it rather painful.  The community was 
not being very communal.  Paradoxically, an existence proof.

    jdh> (Thought I'd get this in before the group splits off into
    jdh> "TLUG Linux True Believers" and "TLUG Unwashed Heathen".)

Sigh.  If you don't want to be a member of the Linux community on the
terms I defined above, OK.  It's not even clear that the TLUG list as
a group, or even a majority, would subscribe to that definition.

But is it necessary to try to drive a wedge between those of us who
cherish Linux because we've grown with it (and are maybe a little
fanatically possessive about it), and those who can benefit from our
experience (and there aren't too many with the skills who haven't been
shaped by the Bright Side of the Source---where else are non-hackers
going to get the advice)?

-- 
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