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Re: Logo and text
> From: Bud Beckman <n7su@micron.net>
> Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 20:53:09 -0700
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> Jean,
> Have mad some corrections and changed text around to try to make the
> meanings more clear.
>
I have some technical and non technical remarks to do.
The technical ones is that the <em> mark in not very goodfor
emphasizing so I guess it would be better to use the <bd> mark in
several places, particularly for the "we need YOU" part
Then there is the non-technical part.
I am not a good writer and in addition I am not writing in my native
language: the text could be improved in the form instead of just fixed
syntactically.
What are the ideas? In order to expand Linux use we must make it
easier to use but also more adequate. The biggest reservs of
potentail new Linux users are _outside_ traditional Unix world.
Present distributions still largely ignore the personal user, the user
who has to self teach, the small company, the workstation (giive a
couple of examples) that is precisely those kinds of users who are
crucial to Linux future. Problem is distribution designers have got
"classical Unix training" so they largely envision Linux use as a
server in a large ornaization attended by people who got plenty of
training before having to take charge. The result is that there are
users whse needs have been unattended for yers and that we are angry
about this (Well I am). So it is time that the people of Linux take
charge. We have to distinguish ourselves from the dozens of distribs
around so being "the people's distribution" is IMHO a good theme.
Also look at the logo: it is Liberty leading a mob against the
monarchy: the 1830 revolution depicted was not a bloody one but it is
obvious people had to be angry in order to risk being shot during the
riots.
I would like a real writer writing a text experessing these ideas (if
you find them good). The text should be something of a revolutionnary
manifesto with elan and contained anger, not a clean PR work. At
least this is my idea but I would like seeeing other ideas than mine
in the text.
> Bud
>
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> <H2>Independence Linux: The user's revolt</H2>
> <BR CLEAR=ALL>
>
> <p>We want Linux to become the dominant operating system. But this
> will not happen if Linux remains a system for an elite, it will not
> happen if Linux follows the steps of a system (Unix) that never made
> significant inroads in two vital areas: the desktop and the personal
> computer.</p>
>
> <H3>A distribution belonging to us, the users</H3>
>
> </p>
>
> <p>
> Independence is not just one of the regular commercial distributions that
> have appearing daily for the last months. Its aim is to be a
> distribution which allows users to make their voices heard in the
> distributions design. It is built by volunteers who no longer accept
> having an aristocracy of distribution designers providing solutions
> that have little relation to problems faced by most Linux users.
> It is built by people who don't accept present distributions to continually
> neglect two areas vital for the future of Linux: the desktop and the
> personal computer. </p>
>
> <H3>Why do we revolt?</H3>
>
> <p>
> Year after year, version after version distribution designers have
> been living in a nice little Unix world that has little relation to
> the Linux world, where we are now.
>
> <ul>
>
> <li>Unix was never used at home so distribution designers have mainly ignored
> the problems of the dialup user, and have made distributions that are basically
> useless for a personal user by assuming that people would leave their computers
> on 24 hours a day.
>
> <li>Distribution designers still ship distributions that are
> unforgiving of user errors and start far too many daemons by default.
> <EM>each unneeded daemon is a potential security hole</EM>. In fact they rely
> on the Unix model: an expensive system used in organizations that will
> provide an experienced system administrator to fix problems.
>
> <li>Distribution people still assume that Linux will remain confined
> to the server role like its Unix brethren. Thus they didn't care
> about manual mountings : <EM>a minor problem in servers, a sizable loss of
> time in work stations</EM>, neglect productivity software and don't seem to
> know that you probably need much more than Samba when interacting with
> Windows computers.
>
> </ul>
>
> <p>
> The problem is: Linux is inexpensive and that does not make it an
> inexpensive Unix but a system that will be used for tasks Unix was
> never used; by people who are different than traditional Unix users.
> Linux needs to expand in those areas where Unix is absent and
> presently neglected by traditional distributions. For
> Linux to grow until it displaces Windows, we have to learn to
> <A HREF="/thinklinux.shtml"><em>Think Linux</em></A>
> </p>
>
> <p>
> We at project Independence are tired of seeing people asking for help
> from Windows because nobody cares about the problems of the dial-up
> user, we are tired of distributions that assume we don't have a life,
> we are tired of unforgiving distributions built on the assumption that the
> Linux user has a nanny to fix problems until he knows how to fix them
> himself. When at our office we are tired of being unable to get the
> messages of the NT print server and we are tired of the sardonic smile
> in the face of Windows activists when they see us struggle with
> smbmount. We are tired of waiting for a distribution designed for the
> <A HREF="/thinklinux.shtml">Linux world</A>
> </p>
>
>
> <H3>The Independence distribution</H3>
>
> Independence is a free distribution designed for the users by the users.
> We built it because we feel that by ignoring those people who don't
> fit in the classical Unix schema the distribution designers are treating
> them like second class users. They are also slowing Linux growth
> outside Unix ecological niche that is 95% of the users.
>
> You can find more info about the distribution in the
> <A HREF="/distribution/"> distribution page</A>.
>
> Independence is volunteer work, we will make faster progress if
> <em>you</em> participate. If you believe that the Linux user is
> different and needs <A HREF="/thinklinux.shtml"> <em>Linux</em> solutions.</A>
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