[mythtv-users] "get the sources and fix it yourself"

[Bearcat M. Sandor]

On Thursday 27 September 2007 in an email titled "Re: [mythtv-users] "get the 
sources and fix it yourself"" Jay R. Ashworth wrote:

>Happily, Eric Raymond and Rick Moen have taken their valuable time to
>explain this to you and everyone else at almost nauseating length:
>
>	http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
>I commend it to the attention of everyone here *who did not pay a dime
>for the thousands of dollars of software running their mythbox*.
>
>Cheers,
>-- jra

That misses my point entirely. Actually, i agree with the ideals of almost 
everything in that link which i have read over and over. It's full of great 
advise. However i wish Ramond had never written it. It's unkind, snide, 
sarcastic and if i showed one of my clients this, they'd go screaming back to 
Windows

My problem is that i feel i have to say to my clients "Look, please go to XYZ 
place for help but be aware that there are assholes out there who will call 
you stupid and tell you to RTFM, even if you have to say 'i don't remember 
what the manual is, or "Step off. I just started using Linux yesterday. and i 
just wanted help rather then search aimlessly through the tangle of google."

Most people are not able to do some of the things in this smart-questions 
document. I have clients who call me for Windows problems because they can't 
figure out how to change the font size in their email or they don't realize 
some other thing that we find trivial and can do in 2 seconds.  These are 
average people who are smart in other areas, but my wife were i not around, 
would never use Linux.  

As far as your comment about the thousands of dollars worth of software, no 
one is entitled to help, but does the fact that the help is free mean that a 
slap in the face is acceptable along with it?