Who Really Is To Blame?

[1roxtar]

Having been using Linux/Ubuntu for the better part of a year, I see a lot of "linux pros" always trying to change so many things on a distro and when it doesn't do what they want, they seem to "throw the baby out with the bath water". The distro gets the blame instead of the "tweaker". Ubuntu and Linux as a whole kicks butt. I love it, use it, promote it and I'm not looking back.

*This is not meant to bash anyone. I just find it weird that power users are too quick to blame the distro and not the person messing with "tweaks".

[steveneddy]

Having been using Linux/Ubuntu for the better part of a year, I see a lot of "linux pros" always trying to change so many things on a distro and when it doesn't do what they want, they seem to "throw the baby out with the bath water". The distro gets the blame instead of the "tweaker". Ubuntu and Linux as a whole kicks butt. I love it, use it, promote it and I'm not looking back.

*This is not meant to bash anyone. I just find it weird that power users are too quick to blame the distro and not the person messing with "tweaks".

Most of the time the "power user" is actually inexperienced and expects everything to operate the "Windows" way. They are unaccustomed to Linux or Ubuntu and haven't yet accepted the fact that this operates differently.

Since Ubuntu can be "tweaked" beyond any parameters that any Windows system can be "tweaked" they often lose sight of the fact that they are in actuality the problem.

PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

or

It's a WETWARE issue.

[cariboo]

This is more a Cafe thread than a Testimonial or Experience. Moved to the Cafe.

[jbrown96]

Most of the time the "power user" is actually inexperienced and expects everything to operate the "Windows" way. They are unaccustomed to Linux or Ubuntu and haven't yet accepted the fact that this operates differently.

Since Ubuntu can be "tweaked" beyond any parameters that any Windows system can be "tweaked" they often lose sight of the fact that they are in actuality the problem.

PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

or

It's a WETWARE issue.

I love this Eric Allman quote: "Unix gives you just enough rope to hang yourself -- and then a couple of more feet, just to be sure." There are certain things about unix (and linux) that you just have to love. rm -rf /, dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda, etc. DON'T TRY THOSE COMMANDS! You can really do anything you want to the system. I was helping someone who needed to manually set refresh rates for a CRT today, and it's pretty crazy that I had to specifically warn him not to experiment with values because he could break his TV.

Back to the power users. Linux is not a very consistent platform. Different distros have different directory structures and locations for all kinds of files. Others may use substantially different sub-systems. Power users get used to the way certain things work, and they are generally not happy to switch unless there is a good reason. I have another thread in this forum going where I'm really upset about the switch to grub2.
The thing is that you can't really blame them for moving away from distros. There are so many to choose from; why would I spend time substantially modifying a distro when another already has the configuration I want? It saves me time.

[falconindy]

I found myself spending a lot of time stripping down Ubuntu to get rid of built-in functionality that I didn't use. Eventually I got to the point where I couldn't go any further without triggering the removal of an entire subsystem -- e.g. removing Firefox because you're using Chromium.

On the other hand, a distro like Arch, Gentoo, or Slackware starts you with very little and lets you build up to what you want. For some people, that's a lot more appealing.

I don't find this to be an issue of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater". The Linux community has an underlying element of freedom in it. For some people, Ubuntu fits the bill. For others, it doesn't.

[MasterNetra]

Most of the time the "power user" is actually inexperienced and expects everything to operate the "Windows" way. They are unaccustomed to Linux or Ubuntu and haven't yet accepted the fact that this operates differently.

Since Ubuntu can be "tweaked" beyond any parameters that any Windows system can be "tweaked" they often lose sight of the fact that they are in actuality the problem.

PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

or

It's a WETWARE issue.

I prefer the ID-10-T Error. :p