Time to make a slightly more concrete contribution.
Times and lives change and this lets you become more or
less able to do those things you really wish. Well
hopefully I've finally reached a point where I'm able (as
opposed to previously being unable) to do these things.
And what might these things be?? Well to contribute. How?
Pretty much anyway I might be able to. I can really confess
to being a coder, at least not to any useful standard,
however I'm sure I have some useful ideas and I have a
fairly firm grasp on the process of development. Where and
what I will do is still open and will probably come down to
person preference and acceptance of the other people
involved.
I've been around or using or playing with OS/FS since prior
to Linux 2.0. This may pale in comparison to some people
around here but I think by now I've got a fairly good grasp
on how things work. As my name might indicate I tend to
watch what goes on taking note of movements and trends etc.
It was amazing to watch the rise of things like mp3 and a
whole host of "failures" like push content but such is the
fast paced nature of the beast these things have become
commonplace almost.
It's this fast paced, unpredictable and constantly evolving
and re-evolving nature that causes problems. I was recently
reading an entry from jdub which led to
the formation of the Gondwana project and how so many good
developers are being left out "of the loop" through
language issues. Well I think (and I know I'm definitely
not the first to think so IIRC either jdub
again or possibly skud mentioned
something along similar lines) that in many ways this
applies also to people who DO speak English and can and may
even be very willing to participate but are held back for
various reasons.
Some people hold themselves back for personal reasons and
those people we can do little about except maybe give
encouragement if we know what's happening but it's the
one's who are keen to help or contribute that are being
either outright rejected or made to feel very unwelcome and
uncomfortable that are the gravest cause of concern.
Some of you code junkies out there can pump out code at a
ferocious rate and more often than not it work (at least
reasonably well) and you can do this with seemingly little
stress. That's great and if it weren't for people like you
and others before you a great many of us wouldn't be making
the livings we are today and life would be very different.
However there are a number of you (and others) who shun
(well maybe not shun but don't exactly make welcome) those
who can't. Now don't get me wrong in no way am I
disparaging any of you. I've done (or at least tried to do)
what many of you are doing (probably not to the degree of
complexity you are) and I know a number of the problems and
pressures. However what I don't think many of you realise
is that you are actually making things harder for you. I
guess it harks back to what skud and jdub were referring to
with the mentorship thing. Coders (whether good or bad) who
are willing to code (and I'm not restrict this discussion
to coders just using them as an example) are a VERY
valuable resource, in fact to my way of thinking a keen and
active below average coder would be more useful than a
brilliant coder who never codes. It's a lot harder to get
people to code than it is to teach people or fix their
mistakes.
So take some of these people under your wings and teach
them your collective brilliance.
On the whole I've noticed a degree of superiority amongst
the community as a group, which also acts as a barrier for
people to enter. Recently on one of the many mailing lists
I frequent a person got mercilessly torn to shreds, flamed
till his bones were mere dust. Now in some instances after
fair warnings etc this is entirely acceptable and in some
cases necessary or recommended. But shouldn't we be
embracing people who show an interest in OS/FS?? Don't' we
need all the people we can muster to spread the word? Hands
up if you've never posted inappropriately anywhere on the
net?? Or maybe you haven't but you had to wait and read the
mailing list or whatever for six months before you felt
comfortable enough.. Should everyone be forced to do that?
Say what you like but the push for Linux etc is towards
where MS now sits. Useable (yes yes I know it's not really
but most people don't think and/or know that) Ubiquitous
and Unchallenged. And to be practical about it to do that
you have to make things easy. Hopefully while still
allowing those who want to hack code or customise
themselves into oblivion to do. The best of both worlds. If
this is the case ,and I'm sure it is, with the
actual ``program/OS/code'' then why not with the community.
Shouldn't the same principals apply? How many people out
there who do consulting/hardware/tech stuff have had to
deal with a stupid client or an idiot customer? Now you do
because they are your livelihood and the reason you are
there.. Shouldn't the same thing apply to the users. If a
tree falls in the forest is there really a noise and all
that crap.. well if an Operating System is OS and no-one
(bar the developers) uses it is it really an Operating
System??
I've been around long enough and know my abilities and
strengths, and happen to be thick-skinned (and stubborn)
enough that, now I'm able, I'm not likely to be put off by
these things but newcomers might not be like that. And if
they leave they may never return and a tree no matter how
strong that never gets any new shoots will die. It's just a
matter of time.
So I'm gonna dive in. Find a project I like or that looks
interesting, there's so many that that shouldn't be a
problem. Then I'm gonna see what they need done. Even if
it's just testing it. *shrug * Or maybe writing the doco
(uurgh I can't believe I said that LOL) But for every me
and for every one of you reading this there might be ten
people who've been scared off or just outright intimidated
into leaving. Just think how strong the movement would be
with a tenfold increase??
Something to think about eh?
Until next time :-)
