Kudos to DetroitGeek

Story: An apology to the Debian communityTotal Replies: 18
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BernardSwiss

Nov 22, 2011
2:32 AM EDT
Well, that's sure a change from the last "mea culpa" we saw.

Pretty recently we saw a "professional" technology/IT journalist (you still remember who), making a great deal of his technological expertise -- up to and including kernel hacking -- rage about his recent experience with a Linux server. He blamed his own, plainly self-induced Linux catastrophe on the alleged deficiencies of of Linux, and then, after a slew of comment and advice (ranging from constructive and sympathetic to nonconstructive and derisive) subsequently "took responsibility" for his earlier, rather confused and confusing complaint by spewing a less heated but nastier rant blaming both the problems and the previous rant on the alleged deficiencies of Linux, and the alleged deficiencies of Linux proponents as well.

DetroitGeek, on the other hand, appears to have re-assessed his earlier blow-up, identified his problems, fixed them, and offered a succinct, informative summary, quite politely, with thanks for useful comments, AND an apology that actually apologized. Classy -- that can't have been easy, and I doubt I could have done half as gracefully in equivalent circumstances.

I think I'm going to keep an eye on this guy's blog for a while.



cr

Nov 22, 2011
3:30 AM EDT
+1 trustworthy. Thanks, DetroitGeek; you just got added to my blogs bookmarks. I'll be watching to see what your bottom-line handout distro ends up being.
linuxsavvy

Nov 22, 2011
9:44 AM EDT
@BernardSwiss: Which was the last "mea culpa" you're referring to?
Koriel

Nov 22, 2011
2:44 PM EDT
Yep, nice apology a rarity nowadays +1
djohnston

Nov 22, 2011
3:37 PM EDT
@linuxsavvy

Quoting:@BernardSwiss: Which was the last "mea culpa" you're referring to?


Could be wrong, but I believe he's referring to the "technical" writer whose initials are KH.
cr

Nov 22, 2011
4:00 PM EDT
I believe the "apology" in question is referenced here:

"Mea culpa: coming clean about my n00b Linux mistakes"

...ZDNet at its finest.
BernardSwiss

Nov 22, 2011
8:14 PM EDT
@ cr

Yep, that's the one I had in mind.

Which, for reference, was a follow-up to:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/diy-it/why-ive-finally-had-it-with...

As one commentator put it, his mea culpa was, "a whole lot of culpa, d**ned little mea".

Steven_Rosenber

Nov 22, 2011
9:03 PM EDT
Windows servers exist for the comfort of the sysadmins and the discomfort of the rest of us.
mbaehrlxer

Nov 22, 2011
9:28 PM EDT
steven: eh, what? i'd say they exist for the discomfort of sysadmins and for the comfort of anyone who doesn't know any better...

greetings, eMBee.
mrider

Nov 23, 2011
12:03 PM EDT
I'd say Windows servers exist for the comfort of "sysadmins" and the discomfort of sysadmins. :)
dinotrac

Nov 24, 2011
7:54 AM EDT
Guys, I am deeply disturbed by the unpatriotic and mean-spirited tone displayed on this thread.

In these tough economic times, we should appreciate the valuable jobs program known as Windows. How many people would be out on the streets if all the world's servers worked reliably and well?

Just sayin'.
helios

Nov 24, 2011
9:34 AM EDT
I couldn't put my kid through college without Windows.
gus3

Nov 24, 2011
9:42 AM EDT
You're succumbing to the "broken Windows fallacy".
helios

Nov 24, 2011
9:50 AM EDT
No...I'm making a decent living from fixing broken Windows. I'm not concerned with the broader philosophical arguments of the phenomenon...Just taking advantage of the realities.
Grishnakh

Nov 25, 2011
2:39 AM EDT
The "broken window fallacy" really is a fallacy, but that doesn't mean it doesn't benefit some people. The person who has a business replacing broken windows can make out like a bandit by going around smashing peoples' windows. But the economy as a whole suffers from wasted productivity. Same goes for Windows (the OS). MS has been making out like a bandit for decades now with their cr@pware, while it's caused an enormous amount of lost productivity and money for all their customers who've had to waste so much money and time dealing with all the problems it's caused.

Anyone who profits from dealing with MS software is in this same boat; they're getting rich off of other peoples' misery. The ethical problem, however, is that these miserable people are basically asking for it: they insist on using MS cr@pware, so if you don't help them with it (and profit in the process), someone else happily will. There's not much you can do; you can suggest better alternatives, but if they refuse to listen, then you might as well make some money. If you refuse to help them the way they want to be helped (by cleaning off the viruses, rather than installing Linux), and insist on your own solution, they'll never listen to you. At least by offering both solutions, you'll effect some positive change.
helios

Nov 25, 2011
10:34 AM EDT
That is the ethical thing to do,,,,show them Linux and offer to install it. Unfortunately, most people in userland just won't. When they turn down the option, I then have no qualms about charging them for my time, even though I know that if I put Linux on their machines, I will probably never hear from them again.
DrGeoffrey

Nov 25, 2011
11:23 AM EDT
Thought for the day:

"Stupidity is a condition, ignorance is a choice."
tracyanne

Nov 25, 2011
6:29 PM EDT
@DrGeoffrey, that means I was wrong about my sister in law. When I called her ignorant, and she misunderstood it as calling her stupid, I was wrong.
DrGeoffrey

Nov 25, 2011
11:31 PM EDT
If I had one U.S. nickel for every mistake I've made. . .

On a related matter, I made the same mistake with a brother in law.

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