[CS-FSLUG] Just the change the subject

[Ed Hurst]

Let me offer my latest blog posting:
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Plain Package <http://ed.asisaid.com/blog>
8/13/2004

Heard on the Radio


"This just in. There is an unconfirmed report that an Open Source coder
actually communicated with an ordinary user. Further, it appears the
coder even used human language to do it. It is alleged the exchange
took place on a bug reporting list. Our reporters are currently
investigating this claim. We here at Computer News Radio believe it is
a hoax, since we are told the exchange did not include crude insults,
foul language, or even any put-downs. However, we are always on the
cutting edge of events?

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"But, Sir! I just want to get some work done. I like the old version;
it runs fast, has all the features I really need, and the output is
great. There?s just this one little bug..."

"Look, you are just an idiot user. I am the Code God. You work for me;
I don't work for you. That version is obsolete and I don't support it.
I am completely revamping this thing, and I need testers. How else can
I add these new features that I like? Nobody cares what /you/ want. Now
go download all the dependencies. I don't care if it's incompatible
with everything else you use every day. Then download this freshly
hacked code and compile, and let me trash your machine." [maniacal
laughter] "Ungrateful, pea-brained..." [mumbles]

                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A primary element of humor is exaggeration. Satire is one of the oldest
forms of humor, found in many ancient writings, and is closely related
to parody. Ezekiel used it in his prophecy to devastating effect
(Ezekiel 16:25). It's the artistic version of logical extremes --
pointing out a fundamental flaw in an argument by pursuing the
principle beyond the current context. In terms of pure logic, the
tactic fails several tests, but it certainly grabs the average
observer's attention. It's entertaining, even while often misleading.

At the same time it can be used to call attention to a need for
improvement. The image of elite snobbery regarding the masses goes all
the way back to the earliest of human communities. It will continue
until Christ returns. In some cases, it is justified. Pure democracy
can easily become mob rule. The best advancements in human comfort
arise from individuals who frankly are a cut above the average, and are
experts in something few others understand. Yet we use the term /noble/
not just to label those claiming birth into a higher order, but those
who possess the grace to deal gently with others clearly inferior.

Caring for the ragged masses does not necessarily mean sugar-coating
every encounter. Clearly, it is at times in their best interest to play
rough. How you judge the rightness of such an encounter will most
likely depend on the part you play in it. When a good coder, working in
his spare time, is bombarded with demands for things completely
inappropriate for his project, it's easy for him to justify ignoring
such requests. It's also easy to develop from such experiences a
negative attitude toward users. Our culture has taught us to be
assertive and clamor for what we want, confusing it with what we
actually need or deserve.

While we note that nobody actually /needs/ what computers do, the world
at large finds them rather useful. As with anything technological, there
is constant effort to find the limits, to see what is possible. This
"gee-whiz" factor fires much that developers do, especially in Open
Source. For many, the highest accolade is to hear a chorus of "that?s
cool!" for some particular new feature. The majority of such features do
not enhance productivity, but the experience of the user in producing.
This becomes the "because we can, we /must/" of feature growth. As a
writer I confess I could probably accomplish plenty while bathed in the
amber or green glow of a mere character terminal, but who wants to work
with that?

More than once I've written of getting off the upgrade merry-go-round.
For almost two years, barring a few months, I've been using the same
box. I added some RAM, a bigger and faster hard drive, a slightly
faster video card, and a flat-screen monitor. I've also lost my CD
burner, but gained a used DVD burner. In theory, I could upgrade the
hardware a little bit more, but I'm reluctant. As it is, I'm still
using SuSE 8.2, which was released more than a year past. Sure, I
played with other OSs on this box, but I've settled on this one. In
fact, when each experiment failed, I went back to this release of SUSE
every time. This is not a rant about the superiority of SUSE, but about
having found something that works so well, upgrading has become
unthinkable.

The only way I'd consider running something else would be if I got a
newer machine. That isn't likely to happen anytime soon, considering my
current income. Aside from major security issues, it's just not
important. Why not? Because my primary purpose in breathing right now
is following Christ. He has called me to reach out to a lost and dying
world, and to help blaze a path to bring His children yet closer to His
side. While the path remains the same, the impediments that grow in
that path are new and fresh, in that human perception of the world
continually shifts. Each generation is equally lost, but the flavor of
that lostness is ever-changing. Following that flow of culture does not
necessarily require I stay on the cutting edge of computing. As long as
this machine, with this OS and version, serves that calling, it's a
waste of God's resources to invest in major changes.

The primary expression of that calling is for me to write. In the next
two years, it would be all too easy for my current writing tool -- this
computer I'm using -- to become relatively close to that old character
terminal when compared to the latest hardware and code. Who knows what
discoveries will find their way into production machines? I'll be
trying to follow those developments because a major part of my calling
is to coders. I can't reach them very well in their world if I have no
idea what that world is like. Thus, I joined the founding of a new
project, GoneME, and try to keep track of what they do. Never mind what
I think of the rightness of the project versus GNOME. That's just
background, the excuse I used to offer my services. While I'll spend
plenty of time working on the few things I can do for them as a writer,
the foundation of it all is my calling from God to serve Him by serving
the coders.

That brings me back to the jokes that started this post. I chose this
project over many others because a primary reason for GoneME is the
apparently large number of coders who feel /they/ were the target of
contempt. Not from the users, but from the GNOME Project leadership,
they have felt used and abused. How much of that is par for the course I
am still trying to gauge, but it is their obvious emotional wounds that
awakened in me the burden for coders in general. While there is just
enough truth in my jokes above to make them funny to many people in Open
Source, the real point is that no one likes to be taken for granted.
Let?s imagine for just a moment a world where coders hear from a
particular, identifiable group of people that their work is truly
appreciated. Imagine these coders being engaged by folks who are able to
gracefully remind them that the primary reason computers exist in the
first place is that they are a blessing to human life. Imagine people
who lovingly absorb the vitriol and return peace, because coders are
after all not mere extensions of the machines they feed. Imagine all the
other ways you can rain down in their lives the gentle showers of
Christian love.


-- 
Ed Hurst
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Software Freedom Day - 28 August 2004
Got freedom?
http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/
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