[wplug] Advocacy vs. Fanaticism

[Evan DiBiase]

Fellow WPLUGgers:

While browsing through the discussion on Slashdot regarding CmdrTaco's
suprisingly sane "essay"
(http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/18/1445233&mode=nested)
entitled "Why Linux Won't Ever Be Mainstream" I saw a link posted to
"Real Live Trolling - On the South Shore Railroad..."
(http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/3589/1/)

I pulled what I believe to be a very valuable and insightful point
from this LinuxPlanet article: Linux advocacy is not about shouting
"LINUX RULES, WINDOWS SUCKS!" or even the slightly more enlightened
"Linux is better than Windows, so there." Linux advocacy, to break
down the word "advocat" into its Latin roots, literally means "to
speak to Linux." Advocating Linux isn't about trashing Microsoft or
Adobe or HP; it's about telling people what Linux does and why it does
it so well.

As I write this I'm reminded of that time so long ago when I had first
joined the mailing list and was giving a speech to the ProPC Users'
Group in Pittsburgh. Alex Landefeld had simply instructed the
presenters to explain what they used Linux for and why they used
it. When I presented to all those strange faces that night, I didn't
tell them that I thought Microsoft should be burned to the ground or
that I had serious concerns regarding Bill Gates' presence of
genetalia. Furthermore, those thoughts never crossed my mind. I simply
did what I was asked to do: advocate Linux by describing my
experiences with it. When I was done with my speech, I was innundated
with questions. Towards the end of the meeting, I talked with many
people who were really, truly interested in what Linux was all
about. I can almost guarantee that the response I received that night
would have been far less positive, if not negative, if I had acted
like the two "fanatics" that the author of the LinuxPlanet piece met
on his train ride.

I'm not going to be Saint DiBiase and pretend that I've never resorted
to some degree of fanaticism. It is worth it for all of us, however,
to keep in mind what advocacy really means. The next time your
company's NT server crashes, pause a minute before sending off that
company-wide email proclaiming, "NT SUX0RS AND BILLY G IS LINUS'
LAPDOG," consider instead sending a well-reasoned, fact-filled message
to whomever is in charge of making your server OS decisions.

Or, more succinctly, to quote the LinuxPlanet article's author: "'Your
hearts may be in the right place, but the attitude has got to
change. Or no one's going to want to listen to you at all.'"

-Evan