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From: jim on 12 Jun 2008 11:04

"ray" <ray(a)zianet.com> wrote in message
news:6bcgs3F3b5i0gU1(a)mid.individual.net...
> On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:34:23 -0400, jim wrote:
>
>> I have been chatting with people about my frustration with getting
>> simple stuff to work "out-of-the-box" with Linux.
>>
>> Things like simply plugging into a network and being able to browse XP
>> folders on a peer to peer XP network (that means no server and no
>> authentication needed) that are not password protected. Still don't
>> have an answer to that one....
>>
>> But, yesterday, I ran into a shining example of one reason that FOSS
>> will never work for small business (which is MUST to be able to
>> legitimately challenge Microsoft's monopoly).
>>
>> While I was testing some software in a Linux environment, I came across
>> an area in which it would not work as advertised by the authors. I
>> raised some polite concern (really...I was polite) about the problem in
>> a user forum specific to this software, only to be told politely to
>> rtfm.
>>
>> I re-rtfm. The problem persisted, so I raised my concerns again. Again
>> I was told to rtfm. Again I re-rtfm and returned with the same
>> questions that were unanswered by the manual.
>>
>> This time I was politely informed where I could reach the authors of the
>> software. I went there and we went through the whole rtfm, re-rtfm loop
>> another 2 or three times until they finally asked to see my data. I
>> sent them my data files.
>>
>> In about an hour, they confirmed that there was a problem. Great! Now
>> they'll jump right on it - because everyone wants their code to work
>> like they say it will, right?
>>
>> Well, not really. I offered to help where I could (sacrificing a goat,
>> providing beer or money) but was told that the only help needed was to
>> fix the code. Unfortunately for me, I don't know C coding - so I am SOL.
>>
>> Small businesses (which are 90+% of all businesses) are called "small
>> businesses" because they are small. This generally means no in-house
>> programmers. So, small businesses are at the mercy of the coders that
>> provide the software that they run on.
>>
>> In this instance, I am at the mercy of these coders.
>>
>> As nice as they are, this "I'll get to it when I can" attitude is just
>> not acceptable to small businesses. They lose market share. They lose
>> customers and they lose money when software doesn't work as advertised
>> in tfm.
>>
>> This is why FOSS just doesn't work for the majority of businesses (which
>> are small businesses).
>>
>> While I move on to look for proprietary sources to replace the broken
>> open sourced software, I am again reminded that the FOSS movement still
>> "just doesn't get it" where small business is concerned.
>>
>> If it doesn't affect your earning a living or some other important
>> aspect of your life, FOSS may be just fine. But, if its important, its
>> important enough to pay to have it done right and supported.
>>
>> jim
>
> 1) don't tell me MS is perfect.

I didn't. I won't.

> 2) MS would have already solved the problem - right?

It's not their problem. They aren't the ones playing catch-up.

When you control the monopoly, helping another system come in would only
weaken your grip. No self-respecting monopoly is going to do that.

jim



From: ray on 12 Jun 2008 11:28
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:04:02 -0400, jim wrote:

> "ray" <ray(a)zianet.com> wrote in message
> news:6bcgs3F3b5i0gU1(a)mid.individual.net...
>> On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:34:23 -0400, jim wrote:
>>
>>> I have been chatting with people about my frustration with getting
>>> simple stuff to work "out-of-the-box" with Linux.
>>>
>>> Things like simply plugging into a network and being able to browse XP
>>> folders on a peer to peer XP network (that means no server and no
>>> authentication needed) that are not password protected. Still don't
>>> have an answer to that one....
>>>
>>> But, yesterday, I ran into a shining example of one reason that FOSS
>>> will never work for small business (which is MUST to be able to
>>> legitimately challenge Microsoft's monopoly).
>>>
>>> While I was testing some software in a Linux environment, I came
>>> across an area in which it would not work as advertised by the
>>> authors. I raised some polite concern (really...I was polite) about
>>> the problem in a user forum specific to this software, only to be
>>> told politely to rtfm.
>>>
>>> I re-rtfm. The problem persisted, so I raised my concerns again.
>>> Again I was told to rtfm. Again I re-rtfm and returned with the same
>>> questions that were unanswered by the manual.
>>>
>>> This time I was politely informed where I could reach the authors of
>>> the software. I went there and we went through the whole rtfm,
>>> re-rtfm loop another 2 or three times until they finally asked to see
>>> my data. I sent them my data files.
>>>
>>> In about an hour, they confirmed that there was a problem. Great! Now
>>> they'll jump right on it - because everyone wants their code to work
>>> like they say it will, right?
>>>
>>> Well, not really. I offered to help where I could (sacrificing a
>>> goat, providing beer or money) but was told that the only help needed
>>> was to fix the code. Unfortunately for me, I don't know C coding - so
>>> I am SOL.
>>>
>>> Small businesses (which are 90+% of all businesses) are called "small
>>> businesses" because they are small. This generally means no in-house
>>> programmers. So, small businesses are at the mercy of the coders that
>>> provide the software that they run on.
>>>
>>> In this instance, I am at the mercy of these coders.
>>>
>>> As nice as they are, this "I'll get to it when I can" attitude is just
>>> not acceptable to small businesses. They lose market share. They
>>> lose customers and they lose money when software doesn't work as
>>> advertised in tfm.
>>>
>>> This is why FOSS just doesn't work for the majority of businesses
>>> (which are small businesses).
>>>
>>> While I move on to look for proprietary sources to replace the broken
>>> open sourced software, I am again reminded that the FOSS movement
>>> still "just doesn't get it" where small business is concerned.
>>>
>>> If it doesn't affect your earning a living or some other important
>>> aspect of your life, FOSS may be just fine. But, if its important,
>>> its important enough to pay to have it done right and supported.
>>>
>>> jim
>>
>> 1) don't tell me MS is perfect.
>
> I didn't. I won't.
>
>> 2) MS would have already solved the problem - right?
>
> It's not their problem. They aren't the ones playing catch-up.
>
> When you control the monopoly, helping another system come in would only
> weaken your grip. No self-respecting monopoly is going to do that.
>
> jim

What are you talking about? My point is - what response do you think you
would have gotten from MS if you had reported a similar problem to them? I
suspect they would have been even less sympathetic. I've never known them
to fix ANY problem in less than six months - and then only if it is a
major security issue.
From: Lim-Dul on 12 Jun 2008 14:38
On 2008-06-12 19:33, caver1 wrote:
> COLA is probably the worst place to go. There are some here that are bad
> but when you come in with an attitude that's all you'll get back. When
> the attitude leaves you'll get more help. You can also try
> Ubuntuforums.org. I find more answers there than here.
> caver1

I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't have gotten more help on the
Ubuntuforums if the first couple of posts looked like the posts on this
newsgroup. ;-)

Besides - Jim DID get some advice, I'd say more than he deserved with
this attitude, even though his "help requests" looked more like showing
his discontent with Linux in general instead and I almost expected him
to simply leave this OS be if he hates it so much...

Best regards,

Lim-Dul
From: dennis on 12 Jun 2008 14:40


"sk8r-365" <sk8r-365(a)sk8r.debian.etch.invalid.org> wrote in message
news:qLednR2Xb_hO9szVnZ2dnUVZ_vGdnZ2d(a)bresnan.com...
> Feverishly pounding upon a keyboard Christopher Hunter typed:
>
> <snip>
>> The latest form of ransom malware is positively scary -
>>
>> http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1251
>
> That's just ugly!

Totally ineffective though, you just restore your backup.



From: Dan C on 12 Jun 2008 15:34
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:02:17 -0400, jim wrote:

> I've been in enough Linux groups to know that the best things they are for
> is accusing those trying to adopt Linux more of being trolls, bashing
> Microsoft and praising Linux - while offering damned little in the way of
> actual help to anyone that asks.
>
> Do I want help? Damned right.
>
> Will I get it here? I don't think it exists.

OK then, you may as well be leaving now (for good).

Buh-bye.


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
Now filtering out all posts originating from Google Groups.
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org

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