Let's focus on our faults and what we can do to improve, not Windows!

[Palmyra]

I've been in the Ubuntu community for over a year now, and I don't know if it is representative of the Linux community in general (it likely is), but there's something rotten here: the time dedicated to ridiculing Windows versus the time spent on focusing on problems, and solving those problems.

Look, we get it. Yes, Windows has its fault. Those jokes were funny couple of years ago. Can we now focus on what we can do to improve Gnome/Ubuntu/Linux? The sad thing about it all is that this community is that it is like, for example, the employees of company A making fun of all the problems facing company B, and whenever these employees get the chance, they just launch assaults on company B.

Can we please keep the conversation on upgrading X, making Firefox more stable, improving software integration, working on user-friendliness, providing more robust software, creating new applications where they are needed, and fixing those that exist currently? These are just some ideas.

Unless you're a saint, don't make fun of sinners. Windows has its problems, and Microsoft knows about it. We are in no position to have some sort of a holier-than-thou, or we-are-more-perfect-than-thou, attitude. Even if Linux is better than Windows, so what? Who are you doing a favor by pointing this out?

I want to thank those who get their hands wet by diving right into problems, and fixing things. Thanks to the programmers out there. Thanks to the newbies who report problems. No thanks to the whiners who use Linux, not because of the philosophy behind it, but because they want to be part of a minority, and so that they are given the opportunity to complain about Windows.

[SunnyRabbiera]

well granted there is room for improvement, like we do need better ways of showing newcomers how to use their system and collaborate better on certain things.
for the firefox issue though, truth be told that is probably a more mozilla thing then us as the firefox 2 series is buggy in some places...

[Andrewie]

I think we should start an ad campain. We could have two people like a guy in a suit that represents windows and a girl with normal looking clothes. In the commercial we should have the girl should talk about how linux is for cool people, and the guy should just point out windows errors. That way we can pretend that Linux is perfect.

:lolflag:

ya I think this is a good idea, and actually I think it's been happening already. The only thing is the people bashing windows are a lot louder then the people trying to improve Linux's errors.

[aysiu]

While I agree that too much time is wasted on making fun of Windows, I think there's a flawed assumption in your post.

The people who create threads making fun of Windows aren't usually the people who have the means to go about "upgrading X, making Firefox more stable, improving software integration, working on user-friendliness, providing more robust software, creating new applications where they are needed, and fixing those that exist currently?"

These are usually strictly end-users and not developers.

Could they be making meaningful contributions otherwise? Sure. They could be filing bug reports, writing documentation, etc. The thing is--some of them probably are.

[50words]

I actually think that while Ubuntu continues to have faults, the most important thing is to keep the tutorials and help forums going. The wiki has only so-so utility, and the tutorials forum is helpful, but often out of date and helpful for DIY geeks, but not so much for casual users who just want to get [program/peripheral/component] working so they can play solitaire and browse their family photos.

So documentation, in other words. It needs to be more accessible and easier to use.