mail to individuals

[Michael Haney]

I'm something of a geek and I'm a Linux Advocate.  I try to get people
to switch every opportunity I get and usually I promote Ubuntu.  Why?
Because its the Linux distro that designed for the average Windows
user.  The kind of user who's computer knowledge doesn't extend much
beyond opening up IE and Outlook.  The kind of user who has to call
their computer geek relative every time an error message appears on
the screen or when they need to do something like drag because they
keep forgeting where drag is on the Start Menu.  My Mom falls into
this description, she panics when something goes wrong and usually
when I help her fix it over the phone its a simple issue (ie; the
machine needed to be defraged or she saved a file the wrong
directory).  She's the kind of person Ubuntu was made for, users who
have little to know advanced computer knowledge what so ever.

To the average Windows Fanboy/girl the typical Linux user is seen as
an elitist who is out of touch with how little the average computer
users really knows.  These people intimidate them, often they're
touchy on certain subjects and quick to temper, and almost always
suggest fixes to problems which go LIGHTYEARS over the heads of the
average Jane/Joe user.  Its also this attitude which turns people off
of Linux when they decide to give it a try.  I've seen some people who
decided to give Ubuntu a try give up because they can't get the help
they need.  They go looking for assistance and are directed to a
support forum or a support group and ask for assistance on something
and usually get ridiculed for being a newbie by some who just don't
like newbies or get a URL with a terse message in response to a web
page that has instructions on what to do but the instructions go
totally over their heads.  Often its written in a way that ASSUMES the
person looking for that information has advanced knowledge.  The user
gets confused, trying again, gets nowhere and in frustration grabs
their Windows disk or their computer's recovery CD and goes back to
Windows.  I've seen this over, and over, and over, and over, and over
again on Ubuntu Support group.  I ran into it trying to convince
people that we need to have a feature in the screen resolution app to
change our monitor type again like in past versions of Ubuntu because
X.org's autodetect doesn't always work with every monitor.  I have a
21 inch Sun Microsystem display I got from Craigslist.  Now I need a
BIG display because of my vision and I don't have the money to go out
and buy a brand new 21 inch or larger flat panel.  It really pissed me
off that I couldn't find a way to get this fixed and few willing to
help beyond some vague answers or directing me to a website that was
also vague.  Eventually,  I fixed it by installing an older version of
Ubuntu that still lets you change your monitor type from the screen
resolution app, copy the video settings section from xorg.conf to a
separate text file, reinstall the new version of Ubuntu, and then copy
and paste the correct video settings into the new xorg.conf file.  The
point is, I SHOULD NOT have had to do that and nobody seems to realize
that's a problem.  It totally sucks that for some reason Vista freaks
out on this monitor, detecting then undetecting is over and over again
rather than just working like XP did, so I can't put this machine and
my laptop on a KVM switch and had to find a second monitor on
Craigslist.

The response from most of the support group to my problem is similar
to the response of some people in this group over the email issue,
they suggest replacing the monitor just like people here suggest
replacing the email client rather than facing up to the real issue at
hand.  They don't want to be bothered with being fair to every user
who happens to use their email client of choice because in their minds
the one they use is the best and everyone else who doesn't do it their
way is wrong.  This is the wrong attitude to have in a group
associated with a Linux distro that "caters" to the average user.  I'm
betting if Mark Shuttleworth knew how many new users are being turned
off Ubuntu by the behavior of a few bad apples in the user community
he'd be seriously pissed off.  I know I am because I've seen new users
give up in frustration and while I'm not a computer newbie I am new to
Linux and often can't help but it never stops me from trying to find a
simple to understand answer via a Google search.  If one exists that's
over my head.

The point is, the attitude of "my mail client works with the list
therefore its not broken and your client is so you should switch"
perpetuates the notion that Linux users are elitist geeks and that
turns off average users.  It doesn't fix the real problem, and most
people simply DO NOT or CANNOT switch to a different client.  If I
used a mail client I couldn't log into Gmail on a different machine
and read my mail because the client downloads it and Gmail removes it
from the Inbox, thus I use Gmail straight from the web via https so I
can get my mail from any Internet capable machine.  It IS unreasonable
to ask others to switch when there is such a simple fix that works for
everyone.  Put "reply-to: sounder at lists.ubuntu.com" as a header coming
from the list and the issue is solved.  You don't want that, so what,
everyone else does and not everyone CAN or IS running their own mail
server.  Face the reality that not everyone who uses Ubuntu is a
mega-geek who knows how to compile kernel modules blindfolded with one
hand tied behind their backs or how to configure MySQL and Apache
while playing Twister.  That's exaggerated but you get the point, I
hope.

The easiest way to resolve this is to fix the list, period!  Nothing
but that, just add the damn line to the header and live with it for
the greater good of your lesser informed fellow Ubuntu users.  Doing
so honors the spirit upon which the Ubuntu distro was founded upon.

-- 
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch at gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
Twitter: TheZorch | Skype: thezorch
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MSN Messeger: haneymichael at hotmail.com
Free Your PC from the Bondage of Windows http://www.ubuntu.com