Another rant

[Liam Proven]

On 17 November 2017 at 09:25, Xen <list at xenhideout.nl> wrote:
>
> That sounds fine but do not that if you have spent time developing your own,
> you know exactly what you want, which is not something that usually arises
> out of the blue.

Well, a lot of people do that.

There are multiple very similar desktops.

There are whole news desktops that achieve stuff that a trivial
re-config of existing desktops could easily do -- e.g. Budgie,
ZorinOS, Deepin.

There are multiple file managers, system-deployment tools, because
people wanted it _their way_  not someone else's.

So either commit to doing the whole thing yourself, or accept that
others do it better and learn their tools.

Always remember the fallacy of sunk costs.

> Not saying that standard tools can't be good, but they have to be in line
> with who you are.

Not really.

Unix is a culture more than code. Where opinions differ, forks happen.

Often, one fork struggles and dies.

> I understand that but it doesn't tell me when I read the overview.

It's free. So nothing is spent on marketing. Normal for the FOSS world.

> I don't think that's the problem.
>
> It's what comes out, which was once put in.

Terry Pratchett — 'The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is
that people will insist oncoming along and trying to put things in
it.'

> Yet these - in our case - are supposed to be our educated brethren.

Ha!

> No I suspect culture has more to do with it than individuals, culture which
> is often defended by those who say it is perfectly fine.

True.

> Apparently the OpenSUSE chairman has called in emails the opensuse members
> present on said lists "scum and [villains]".

What?! When, where?

> He also calls friendly folk "useless" and "stupid"
>
> because they don't do what he feels is necessary to fix the broken parts.

[[Citation needed]]

>> Which is the reason for the increasingly surveillance we're all under.
>
>
> Do you mean that the increasing surveillance == corruption?

No. Corruption is the excuse for the surveillance. But surveillance is
cheaper than police officers on the streets, and AI watchers are
cheaper than humans, and you cut costs until the result is useless or
even dangerous.

> Oh yes. But I will quite a favourite book of mine.
>
> It says that the primary function of every organisation is to guarantee its
> own survival, that is, to survive.
>
> As a result of this conditions that threaten the organisation's dissolution
> are actively fought -- but this can also mean the fulfillment of the
> organisation's goals.

Which book?

> Because they do not experience usable software themselves they think their
> own software is not very much below average.
>
> They think other systems or architectures suffer from their flaws just as
> much as they do, which is not true.
>
> So you are trying to argue to someone who has always lived in a desert that
> lush fields also exist.

Definitely true.

See the preface to the Unix Haters' Handbook.

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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