Comments for wonderly@blog:~# http://www.wonderly.com In a world of change, being open is key Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:30:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Contact by ELI http://www.wonderly.com/contact/#comment-193 ELI Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:30:17 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?page_id=23#comment-193 Hello My name is ELI . here is my ?) Can I install ubuntu and open office on a key and operate the computer with out a hard drive ? Regards, ELI 310 663 7967 Hello

My name is ELI .

here is my ?)

Can I install ubuntu and open office on a key and operate the computer with out a hard drive ?

Regards,
ELI
310 663 7967

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Pieter v http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-176 Pieter v Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:03:52 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-176 I'm just a 'user', despite very occasionally trying to help others like me through contributions on the forums when we are both struggling with the same issue. As you can see, from this post, I like the idea of being included. I for one would be interested in receiving emails asking for any ideas I have on improving Ubuntu or whatever. I get the Ubuntu weekly news digest, which is where I found the reference to this blog. I just use Ubuntu on my Netbook, which originally had XP on it. I use my Netbook when others in the family are using the main Windows 7 PC, but only a few times a week. Anyway, invitations for 'Users' to "contribute" by having someone ask their opinion on things is one way I can see would suit me. I know about Ubuntu Brainstorm, but only visited it once or twice. Just thought you might like to hear from me. Cheers, Pieter I’m just a ‘user’, despite very occasionally trying to help others like me through contributions on the forums when we are both struggling with the same issue.
As you can see, from this post, I like the idea of being included.
I for one would be interested in receiving emails asking for any ideas I have on improving Ubuntu or whatever.
I get the Ubuntu weekly news digest, which is where I found the reference to this blog.
I just use Ubuntu on my Netbook, which originally had XP on it. I use my Netbook when others in the family are using the main Windows 7 PC, but only a few times a week.
Anyway, invitations for ‘Users’ to “contribute” by having someone ask their opinion on things is one way I can see would suit me. I know about Ubuntu Brainstorm, but only visited it once or twice.

Just thought you might like to hear from me.
Cheers, Pieter

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Tom Cloyd http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-167 Tom Cloyd Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:12:03 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-167 I do much agree that "just users" are too often forgotten. I'm a Kubuntu user, and I will never have time to study Linux much, nor learn C/C++/whatever. I just come to it to get work done. When the OS is "improved" in such a way that I cannot figure out how to use it, I howl. I've been forgotten. "Don't make me think!" Case in point: the "Activity Manager" in the new 11.10. It took me 20 minutes to figure out what the heck it was (it wasn't about to tell me), and 10 seconds to consider it utterly useless. That it appears at all, much less in such cryptic form, suggests to me that there is a disconnect with ordinary users. I don't want people to tell me that there is a solution I can go compile myself (I CAN do this, but often end up in the ditch). I just want good tools not to be made obsolete by "improvements", especially when no replacements for them appear, or the replacements don't work, or work badly. I do much agree that “just users” are too often forgotten. I’m a Kubuntu user, and I will never have time to study Linux much, nor learn C/C++/whatever. I just come to it to get work done. When the OS is “improved” in such a way that I cannot figure out how to use it, I howl. I’ve been forgotten. “Don’t make me think!” Case in point: the “Activity Manager” in the new 11.10. It took me 20 minutes to figure out what the heck it was (it wasn’t about to tell me), and 10 seconds to consider it utterly useless. That it appears at all, much less in such cryptic form, suggests to me that there is a disconnect with ordinary users. I don’t want people to tell me that there is a solution I can go compile myself (I CAN do this, but often end up in the ditch). I just want good tools not to be made obsolete by “improvements”, especially when no replacements for them appear, or the replacements don’t work, or work badly.

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Gord http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-166 Gord Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:04:31 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-166 Here Here! Here Here!

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Links 4/11/2011: Fedora 16 Goes Gold, Apple Bats for Sacred Cow (Brand) | Techrights http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-160 Links 4/11/2011: Fedora 16 Goes Gold, Apple Bats for Sacred Cow (Brand) | Techrights Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:51:03 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-160 [...] The Ignored Group of Ubuntu This morning in the Community Roundtable, Jono talked about the culture of Ubuntu and how it is changing and morphing. This caused me to think about another group of people who have popped up in the Ubuntu (And open source in general) world. [...] [...] The Ignored Group of Ubuntu This morning in the Community Roundtable, Jono talked about the culture of Ubuntu and how it is changing and morphing. This caused me to think about another group of people who have popped up in the Ubuntu (And open source in general) world. [...]

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Bryce Harrington http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-158 Bryce Harrington Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:54:36 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-158 Every user of a project incurs a cost. They ask questions that someone must spend answering, file bug reports that must be triaged and fixed, ask for features that must be considered. Let's call the people who have the needs "users" and those who fulfill the needs "contributors". A project which becomes very popular quickly could sharply increase in the number of users; if they do not also proportionally increase the number of contributors, then either of two things can happen: many users don't find their needs met and become frustrated, or contributors quickly burn out; it's possible for both to occur, and in fact quite common. This is why I believe for Ubuntu's health that if it is to grow and succeed at bringing free software to more and more people, that it is equally important for some proportion of those users to take the step of going beyond being "just users" and take a role in helping their fellows. The more people who do this, the faster ubuntu can expand. But beyond this, I also feel that when people aren't contributing, they're not really experiencing the full breadth of their freedom. It's like having free speech but never expressing yourself, or having the right to vote but never casting a ballot. Free software empowers you to help customize the system to fit *your* needs yourself. If a developer tells you "send a patch", you shouldn't view it as if they're pressuring you to "pay for the software you were given" but more like someone encouraging you to go cast your vote. That's how I like to think of it anyway. And yes, I do find it highly annoying when people call me to go vote. But I do go vote. Every user of a project incurs a cost. They ask questions that someone must spend answering, file bug reports that must be triaged and fixed, ask for features that must be considered. Let’s call the people who have the needs “users” and those who fulfill the needs “contributors”. A project which becomes very popular quickly could sharply increase in the number of users; if they do not also proportionally increase the number of contributors, then either of two things can happen: many users don’t find their needs met and become frustrated, or contributors quickly burn out; it’s possible for both to occur, and in fact quite common.

This is why I believe for Ubuntu’s health that if it is to grow and succeed at bringing free software to more and more people, that it is equally important for some proportion of those users to take the step of going beyond being “just users” and take a role in helping their fellows. The more people who do this, the faster ubuntu can expand.

But beyond this, I also feel that when people aren’t contributing, they’re not really experiencing the full breadth of their freedom. It’s like having free speech but never expressing yourself, or having the right to vote but never casting a ballot. Free software empowers you to help customize the system to fit *your* needs yourself. If a developer tells you “send a patch”, you shouldn’t view it as if they’re pressuring you to “pay for the software you were given” but more like someone encouraging you to go cast your vote. That’s how I like to think of it anyway.

And yes, I do find it highly annoying when people call me to go vote. But I do go vote.

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by kevix http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-157 kevix Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:23:11 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-157 I dont know know about the Canonical situation. But about 'contributors' in this sense, it depends upon how you define that. If you use the older idea of 'people who fix software bugs', than I an understand. But the situation has progressed since then. To me, it means people who work on documentation, folks who make flyers, who help organize events, folks who assist me fix my gnu/linux problems, do language translations, who do outreach to people who are unfamiliar with free software, and more. It usually involves hanging-out with 'ubuntu' or free software users and these are 'good times', not some forced activity. My guess is that the people asking you to contribute are not stating their case as well as they could. I dont know know about the Canonical situation. But about ‘contributors’ in this sense, it depends upon how you define that. If you use the older idea of ‘people who fix software bugs’, than I an understand. But the situation has progressed since then. To me, it means people who work on documentation, folks who make flyers, who help organize events, folks who assist me fix my gnu/linux problems, do language translations, who do outreach to people who are unfamiliar with free software, and more. It usually involves hanging-out with ‘ubuntu’ or free software users and these are ‘good times’, not some forced activity. My guess is that the people asking you to contribute are not stating their case as well as they could.

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by oliver http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-156 oliver Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:47:51 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-156 Very true, and maybe even a very serious (conceptual) problem of the entire Open Source idea... As YoBoY mentioned, "the project Ubuntu always needs new contributors", which I agree with; yet an increasing number of users don't want to contribute, which I agree with as well :-) . And it has been getting worse as Ubuntu has become more popular. And it's the same for other OS projects as well. Why should I bother to port my little project to Mac OS X when I neither have a Mac nor get any substantial contributions from someone who does? Why should I bother to fix a bug which doesn't affect me? The only reason I can think of is that happy feeling you get if you read positive reviews or blog posts praising your project. But I doubt that feeling is sufficient for feeding a whole company of developers. Btw. besides Ubuntu I can only think of one project which has so many "just users", which is Mozilla. I do wonder whether they have internally found an answer to this gap between contributors and just-users. Very true, and maybe even a very serious (conceptual) problem of the entire Open Source idea… As YoBoY mentioned, “the project Ubuntu always needs new contributors”, which I agree with; yet an increasing number of users don’t want to contribute, which I agree with as well :-) . And it has been getting worse as Ubuntu has become more popular.

And it’s the same for other OS projects as well. Why should I bother to port my little project to Mac OS X when I neither have a Mac nor get any substantial contributions from someone who does? Why should I bother to fix a bug which doesn’t affect me? The only reason I can think of is that happy feeling you get if you read positive reviews or blog posts praising your project. But I doubt that feeling is sufficient for feeding a whole company of developers.

Btw. besides Ubuntu I can only think of one project which has so many “just users”, which is Mozilla. I do wonder whether they have internally found an answer to this gap between contributors and just-users.

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by Aoirthoir An Broc http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-154 Aoirthoir An Broc Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:23:28 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-154 By Odin's Right Eyeball a post that is entirely right from start to finish! Amen-ra Brother, Preach on! By Odin’s Right Eyeball a post that is entirely right from start to finish!

Amen-ra Brother, Preach on!

]]> Comment on The Ignored Group of Ubuntu by YoBoY http://www.wonderly.com/2011/11/the-ignored-group-of-ubuntu/#comment-153 YoBoY Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:12:12 +0000 http://www.wonderly.com/?p=129#comment-153 You are right, most of the global actions are done to have more contributors. But what other global actions are you expecting? The project Ubuntu always needs new contributors. On contrary, the distribution Ubuntu is for end users and all actions for the users can't be global, you always have to adapt your talk to your public. So it's the role of the local communities to extend the users base, and it's also the role of the local communities to try to find new contributors in these users. My loco chooses to extend the user base at all costs, and try at the same time to find new contributors but it's not a priority. You are right, most of the global actions are done to have more contributors. But what other global actions are you expecting? The project Ubuntu always needs new contributors.
On contrary, the distribution Ubuntu is for end users and all actions for the users can’t be global, you always have to adapt your talk to your public. So it’s the role of the local communities to extend the users base, and it’s also the role of the local communities to try to find new contributors in these users.
My loco chooses to extend the user base at all costs, and try at the same time to find new contributors but it’s not a priority.

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