🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <40vt02$8c9@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> rsjohnso@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu (Richard Scot Johnson) writes:

>All these posts about users needing to know source code of their OS
>and having the sophistication of a Unix administrator is ridiculous.
>It's like a comment made by a friend of mine (a linux fanatic) who
>claimed that all artist should know the chemical composition and    
>properties of the paint they were using.  Otherwise they couldn't be
>considered "competent enough" to use their tools.  

The artist shouldn't _need_ to know the composition of the paint, and
you shouldn't _need_ to know what's inside your OS either.  But sooner
or later, this being the real world, something will go wrong.  If
something goes wrong with the paint, you can call up the manufacturer
and ask for a material safety data sheet which will tell you what the
contents are.  Likewise, you should be able to call up the manufacturer
of the OS, and get the source. 

Sure, you might not personally be able to read the source, but there
are people out there who can, and those guys directly benefit you by
fixing problems.  If you don't care about getting bugs fixed or features
added, then why bother with the whole thing at all?
--scott
-- 
"C'est un Nagra.  C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."