[jgpurdue]

Hi, I'm looking for someone to interview on the topic of the Linux Community as a whole. This is for a project in my ENGL 106 class and I am trying to analyze the Linux community and determine whether it qualifies as a subculture. The interview will occur online by either email or possibly in one of this forum's sections if possible. If you wish to participate in this please email me at hillelbendov@gmail.com or leave a message here.

I will be asking questions regarding:
-size of the linux community
-what would the general user be
-questions about user beliefs (not religion. About politics or other things)
-Why is the Linux community appealing

This is all from an outsider's perspective

[techieMoe]

I'll be a guinea pig.

[MikeTbob]

WOOT WOOT!
This should be interesting, please do keep us posted.

[smolloy]

Originally Posted by MikeTbob

WOOT WOOT!
This should be interesting, please do keep us posted.

Yeah, I'd love to read a transcript if possible.

[jgpurdue]

How about I make this a public discussion where I leave a question and leave it up to the community to provide individual answers. Then I can have a broad range of opinions.

[smolloy]

Originally Posted by jgpurdue

How about I make this a public discussion where I leave a question and leave it up to the community to provide individual answers. Then I can have a broad range of opinions.

It might work, but you'd have to keep in mind that this is a public forum and that carries a risk of attracting some uncouth behaviour

But if you're trying to find out about the "Linux community", a single question on this topic per thread might work out quite well.

[jgpurdue]

That's true but I can just use the answers not filled with nonsense.

All right. First Question:

In general, how fanatic do you think much of the community is?

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by jgpurdue

All right. First Question:

In general, how fanatic do you think much of the community is?

Your instructor isn't taking points off for loaded questions? The term "fanatic" is generally considered negative. You might as well ask someone ask someone at a church how "fanatical" they are.

If by "fanatic" you really mean "how devoted and engaged" the Linux community is, it's still hard to answer. There are several groups that make up the Linux "community." Some are "fanatic" and others are just regular Joes who use Linux because it does what they want for free.

By and large the Linux "community" is made of up regular folks who like Linux and are willing to talk about it to anyone who asks, but they don't feel it's their life's goal to preach the gospel, so to speak.

The vocal minority are made up of groups like the Free Software Foundation and Richard Stallman in particular, who see Linux and free/open-source software as a sort of philosophical framework by which they can convince the world to adopt their own personal views.

Hmm... I guess what I'm trying to say is, can you rephrase the question?

[jgpurdue]

Thank you for responding.
Maybe I should have said "level of devotion." still an excellant response. So how do you view people such as Stallman? Would you say they have a large impact upon the community?

[techieMoe]

Originally Posted by jgpurdue

Thank you for responding.
Maybe I should have said "level of devotion." still an excellant response. So how do you view people such as Stallman? Would you say they have a large impact upon the community?

Let me first say that this is just my personal opinion on the guy; there are probably just as many varied opinions out there as Linux distributions. In my opinion, Richard Stallman is an extremist. He sits on the far, far edge of the "Free Software Philosophy." I guess he might consider himself a monk, denying himself the guilty pleasures of things like 3D games on the PC or wireless internet because there is no Free Software Foundation approved way of doing these things.

His opinions certainly have an impact on the community, but I wouldn't say they're necessarily in line with the majority opinion. As far as I know, most users of Linux (including the kernel creator Linus Torvalds) tend to take a more practical approach to free and open-source software. In other words: if there's a free version of a program I'll use it, but if there's no free alternative I'll use whatever works.

Note that in the paragraph above I'm using the term "free" not as in price, but as in open-source. Is the source code available for viewing and modification? If not, it's not "free" by the FSF standards. For some people (like Stallman) that means you shouldn't use it. If there's no alternative, Stallman would say "don't do whatever you wanted to do." It must be nice to have that kind of black and white view of the world.