Re: Propaganda themes

[cogNiTioN <cognition@pingu.connectfree.co.uk>]

On Tue, 22 Jun 1999, JF Martinez wrote:

 
> You obviously have never been charged by an angry penguin at 200 km/h.
> :-) Linus was nearly eaten alive by one of them when visting Shark
> Island in Australia.  Look at the issue 8 or 9 of Linux Journal for
> details.

You don't get many penguins roaming around southern england. luckily!
I still think it looks cute, though.
 
> Seriously: what I wanted to express is more "independentism" than real
> agressiveness.  Linuxers have specific problems because Linux is used
> in places classic Unix was neraly unheard of.  Thees problemsare badly
> addressed by present distributions: as a proof look at all the people
> in this lsit who use MS tools for sending mail or are unable to
> connect to thir ISP.  So it is time, we the plain citizens, begin to
> take charge and also begin considering that Linux problems require
> Linux, not Unix solutions.
> 
> As an example of this, look at what RedHat does for mail.  They do
> nothing for the guy whose mail travels through PPP.  All they consider
> is the guy who has permanent access to the Internet.  Unix people
> never use PPP (except as ISPs), Linux people do.  Thus this a problem
> (mail through PPP) who is nearly unheard in Unix but common in Linux.
> But all RedHat (and every other distrib I know) does is send mail at
> regular intervals like if the user had ever permenent access that is
> it only addresses the problem when Linux is used as a cheap Unix not
> when it is used as a home computer.

SuSE includes fetchmail in their distribution, (so I found out after I'd
downloaded and installed the rpm), that deals quite nicely with recieving
mail via ppp. I use it all the time. All my messages are downloaded by it.
Connecting is one problem area that needs to be sorted. I'm also working
on a script which will make mail retrieval, and sending, easier. It
includes fetchmail. Not that I like fetchmail or anything. ;)
 
> Thus the need for independence from Linux towards Unix and
> independence from the users towards traditional distribs.

I fully apreciate that UNIX is used in totally different situations to
Linux, and these differences need to looked at, understood and addressed.
The only people who can do this is us; people who regularly use Linux in
situations where UNIX wouldn't dream of being used. i.e. Standalone home
machines. Linux isn't a free Unix, it is a whole different ball game, it
is/will/should revolutise (?) the way we use computers, and needs to be
treated as such.

I also think a great deal of what we do should be aimed at not only
independence from Unix, but mainly in making Linux easier for non
computer literate people to use. Once it reaches critical mass it will
become independant automatically.

IMHO

cog

--
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++ David M. Webster ++ aka cogNiTioN ++ cognition@bigfoot.com ++
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++ I use Linux every day to up my productivity - so up yours! ++
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