[wplug] Advocacy vs. Fanaticism

[Weber, Larry A]

You are so right.  Fanatic techies rarely get to make the final business
decisions.  Let's be honest and realize that Linux still has its problems,
and work to correct them.  Otherwise Linux will just become that "neat op
system that we played with, once, awhile back".

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Evan DiBiase [SMTP:evand at wplug.org]
> Sent:	Wednesday, July 18, 2001 3:15 PM
> To:	wplug at wplug.org
> Subject:	[wplug] Advocacy vs. Fanaticism
> 
> 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
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