Open-Source Software and "The Luxury of Ignorance"

Bootsy Collins writes "Using the recent experience of trying to configure CUPS on his home network, Eric Raymond has written an interesting new screed on poor design of user interfaces in general, and configuration interfaces in particular, in open source software, entitled The Luxury of Ignorance. A sample quote: 'This kind of fecklessness is endemic in open-source land. And it's what's keeping Microsoft in business -- because by Goddess, they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we usually manage.'"

Well there's yer problem..

[NickABusey]

There's your problem right there "I have a desktop machine named 'snark'."

-1 Troll

[nmoog]

What a rant! Im going to send mod points to Eric Raymond's house by mail.

Goddess?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is he talking about?

Has he been spending too long on slashdot, such that he now worships Natalie Portman or something?

In other news....

[iMMo]

...ESR was found beaten severely, with the names of several CUPS developers found tatoo'd on his forehead....

Re:Open Letter to ESR

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear Anonymous Coward, The entire slashdot community considers your written and spoken rants both enlightening and amusing. Please, be our leader, and write more opinion pieces. Thank you, Everyone.

Re:Here's all he actually says

[potpie]

1 What is a non-technical user doing with Linux anyway? They need to crawl before they can walk.
2 Why not put in endless loops of windows that lead back to the same place over and over again. That would be funny.
3 Nobody likes documentation... except 4 n00bs
4 oh yeah... about those... er...
5 I like to think of Linux as a sort of technical boot camp. I started using it because I wanted to upgrade my status from "windozer coder of ascii art" to "codeNINJ4"

those are my thoughts.... anyone else?

Fecklessness?!?

[crapnutassneck]

I honestly have not ever heard someone use that term outside of The Clash. I shall use it tomorrow a minimum of twice.

Re:Here's all he actually says

[endx7]

3. The requirement that end-users read documentation is a sign of UI design failure.

I consider anything you have to read to be documentation.

...I guess that means we'll have to label all our buttons and menus with smiley faces and funny tree symbols now?

Re:Open Letter to ESR

[ChanxOT5]

Dear ESR -
We will accept your critcisms of CUPS when you fix it. It is, after all, open source :)

-Your OSS pals.

OS X

[Anonymous Coward]

I know that something called "CUPS" exists on my iBook. I just don't know what it is or what it's supposed to do. And yet, I've never had any trouble accomplishing any task on my iBook that I've set out to achieve. I guess this is why OS X is better than Linux in some ways.

This one time

[savagedome]

Talk about luxury of ignorance. I pitch open source software to family/friends/bosses every chance I get. Now this one time, I was telling my boss about OpenOffice when MSOffice bailed out on him.

Boss: Damn. This MSWord thingy sucks.
Me: You should try using Open Office once. Its a good sub and its free!
Boss: Free? I am telling you one more time. Stop downloading things off of KaZaA damnit
Me: No. No. No. You got me all wrong. Its free as in 'free as a beer' free.
Boss: Does it have Clippy?
Me: What?
Boss: I looovvvvee Clippy. He is so cute
Me: Well, it doesn't really have a Clippy per se but...
Boss: Oh common. How do you expect me to use it if it doesn't have Clippy. I am a PHB
Me: What?
Boss: I am a pointy handed boss
Me: Handed? Ohhh well. Nevermind.

At that point I just walked away defeated by clippy and luxury of ignorance.

Re:Not neccessarily true

[Anonymous Coward]

Denial is not just a river in Africa.

Re:Wow..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeha, I visited a tribe in Tanzania, their chief was complaining about lack of Postfix configuration books.

Re:Yeah, a real surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi!

Well no actually, they're working on GNOME to beat KDE, because RMS declared jihad on the infidels who dared to expect to receive money in return for their labor.

Cheers,
GNU/Wolfgang

Damn...

[Mephie]

So, let's review. In order for the nice, user-friendly autoconfiguration stuff to work, you have to first edit an /etc file. On a different machine than the one you're trying to s set up. You have to read the comments in configuration file to know that you need to do this ubn the first place.

He got so pissed he couldn't type straight!

no no no no no!

[mekkab]

The way to get help with your linux problems is to troll and say "Linux is teh suxx0rz because XYZ doesn't work!"

Then 4,000 penguin-fanboys will come out of the wood work, each with a distinct solution to your problem!
Now had you asked for help, they would have said "Read the man page! n00b!"

As for me, I can't really help you. I run AIX. And some other window'd operating system that allows to to remotely access my AIX boxes.

Re:In other news....

[liloconf]

they would have just left a note but they couldn't configure the software right....

So true

[bunhed]

I remember trying to get fetchmail to work. What a nightmare.

Re:no no no no no!

[lavalyn]

As for me, I can't really help you. I run AIX.

I would say you're beyond assistance there.

Re:but he's right

[NormalVisual]

... if you're on your own...

(+1, Spelling/Grammar)

Re:Flame???

[rhysweatherley]

I was thinking: "Finally, someone has written down how to troubleshoot CUPS so that I can get my damn printer working!".

The demotivator I have in my office

[hayden]

Meetings: None of us are as dumb as all of us.

Re:Here's all he actually says

[pbox]

Here is a wierd thought:

Maybe Microsoft's usability design benefits from the fact that they have a bunch of pointy haired guys around, while the open-source projects exclusively consist of collections of Dilberts?

Scary, but it would justify the pointy-haired bosses existence. At absolute minimum all open-source projects should have (pet) lamas assigned to them, and a continuously rotating basis (to prevent tainting them with knowledge) and their whining should be taken as the word of authority...

Re:In related news

[mrroach]

If you want good interface design, look no further than ESR's own beautifully [linuxjournal.com] designed [linuxjournal.com] fetchmailconf [linuxjournal.com].

Not to say that he doesn't make good points, but... well... just look at the screenshots.

-Mark

Re:My experience

[Handpaper]

I don't have A4 paper, I don't want A4 paper, I've never even *seen* A4 paper.
Well I've never *seen* 'US Letter' paper. But I now know why it's set as default on my LaserJet 4 Plus and in Konqeror's 'Print Properties' dialog.

Look at Apple

[SJ]

Here is my quick account of setting up a Mac (10.3.2) to print to a Brother MFC-8820D.

I plugged one end of there ethernet cable into the printer and the other into my laptop. So far so good.

Being a highly competent user, I then went straight to the Printer Setup Menu and click add printer. I chose IPP printing. Then I turned to the sales guy and asked for the default IP address of the printer. He didn't know. I didn't know. It wasn't in the manual either.

I cursed. I yelled. I was annoyed. I sent two people off the go and find out the default IP of the network card.

While sitting there quietly spouting profanity I looked in my list of currently configured printers. Well buff my nuts and serve me a milkshake! There, in the list was the Brother printer all configured and ready to go. I didn't have to do anything.

I selected it and pressed the "Configure" button. It launched a web browser and brought up the configuration page.

I fell off my chair.

I later learned that the printer supports ZeroConf [zeroconf.org] network discovery. Apple takes that further by selecting the correct driver automatically. It work just as well via USB, only if I think want to share it to other Macs I then have to follow the very complex task of clicking the "Share Printer" box in the System Prefs.

Re:Here's all he actually says

[Sheriff Fatman]

"maybe a dictatorship in terms of final word or a democratic vote will work."

Linus.

Kernel.

The defense rests, your honour

Re:In related news

[daviddennis]

I don't think he's a has-been. Judging by his nightclub web site, I'm going to guess he's having a lot of fun, meeting a lot of people, and having some kind of love life, all traditional failings for geeks.

That being said, I wonder why he doesn't port xemacs himself.

He surely has the ability, if anyone does.

Unfortunately, I suppose he doesn't have the free time, considering his dedication to his nightclub -- but maybe if he took the time he was spending trying to get Linux to work and put it into the port, we'd all be a lot better off.

I know I would. I use MacOS X and sure would love an xemacs port. Sadly I simply don't have the knowledge or ability needed to do it, but I sure would love to have it :-(.

D

Re:Here's all he actually says

[prockcore]

Or just split the difference, keep everyone happy, and decide to do both proposals. Hence leading to configuration boxes from hell adorned with approximately seven thousand checkboxes.

Ah, I see you have discovered KDE's design guidelines.

Re:In related news

[nutznboltz]

Well, nobody is stopping JWZ from switching to Windows or Macintosh.

I am beginning to suspect there's some hidden running joke going on. JWZ's livejournal has entries that claim the reason that he's stuck on Linux is XEmacs. Huh? Bitching about UI's when you are stuck on XEmacs? There must be a running joke, that's the only way this makes sense.

Feckless!

[Neillparatzo]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm just stoked that "feckless" is an actual word. That's the big story here.

Re:In related news

[SewersOfRivendell]

Maybe I can interest you in Maxis' latest, SarcaSIM?

Open Source have heap big problem

[spikenerd]

...too many chiefs, not enough braves.

Re:Here's all he actually says

[Sivar]

Saved pulling the computer out from under desk as I accidently used the wrong hole (found it by feel) then I knew what I'd done wrong.

Taken out of context, this has quite a different meaning.

"Aunt Tillie" again

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently, ESR's still trying hard to popularize the term "Aunt Tillie" [slashdot.org].

Any mention of GhandiCon in the article as well? :)

Re:In related news

[Spruce Moose]

Yeah and the audio-cock technology is just such a classic line to use when someone suggests something stupid.

Whenever a programmer thinks, "Hey, skins, what a cool idea", their computer's speakers should create some sort of cock-shaped soundwave and plunge it repeatedly through their skulls.

Rule 0 of writing software for nontechnical users

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't do it.

We get the point.

[Anonymous Coward]

The author seems to think that every other sentence must italicise words so he can get an idea across. I personally think that it gets annoying and may hurt your brain to stress too many words. You try and ignore his mess but you get some feeling you're missing important points. Rereading the sentence wastes valuable time and causes much frustration in such a long article. Can someone please tell me where I can get an html tag filter?

Sincerly,
aiyo

Re:Here's all he actually says

[codepuke]

Saved pulling the computer out from under desk as I accidently used the wrong hole (found it by feel) then I knew what I'd done wrong.

Next time try putting some hair on it, that always helps me find the right one...

It's not CUP's fault

[bhima]

It was meerly defending its self from the threat of use with a dot matrix printer!

Re:Imagine if OSS people made cars..

[Endive4Ever]

Furthermore, it isn't like it is with cars, where half the wrenches needed are Metric and half the wrenches are English. There is a custom-unit set of tools that you need to service each and every part of the vehicle. Putting on a new alternator? Better make sure they included the wrench in the set that fits the provided bolts to install it. Better make sure you didn't lose the wrench used to install the old one.

Eric Compliments Microsoft?!

[Sgt_Jake]

"...they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we usually manage.'"

Now that's what I call a compliment.

Well, duh!

[dethlejd]

TechnoElitism

The firm belief, that because and individual has the cognitive capacity to figure out a solution, that that solution is superior to all others.

Has it really taken this long to identify this problem among the Open Source Community?

OSS is most often developed as a response to a need or a desire by a technically adept individual or group of individuals.

I think of it as the "There's-more-than-one-way-to-skin-a-yak-but-this- one-works-for-me" Syndrome.

I have a problem, and I can solve this problem. I don't want to solve it over and over again, and I don't want to pay someone else to do it. I think solving this problem would be cool. Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes , I have an idea to solve a problem that no one else has even thought of yet.

I write some code. The code is good; it does what I want it to do. I don't need to document the arcane way it does what I want it to do, because I wrote it. I know what all the variables do. I know the string manipulation algorithms. I understand the connection sequences, and where all the configuration files go.

All is good in my world.

I have proven, once again, that carbon is smarter than silicon, and my carbon is smarter than most other people's carbon.

This may make it cryptic and cumbersome to others. So be it. To some extent, deep down inside, I am proud of this.

It's equal or better than any work Microsoft, or Symantec, or Cisco, or.. or.. or.. whoever could have done.

It's better because "I" made it, and "I" understand it.

Fast Forward

"Hey, look at my code, isn't it cool? It runs faster and smarter than other code like it, and it never crashes. Well, yeah, it's kind of a bitch to install, but it will solve that pesky problem you have with X. And it's FREE! Yeah, check it out, lets install it on your machine. You got a couple hours?"

"Well, yeah, you could just install Windows... Yeah, that is easier to do, but that costs MONEY! And it doesn't do all the cool things that mine does! Yeah, well, they do have support, but don't you understand that this is FREE! Didn't I tell you it's better too? I included a FAQ and a Readme file, what else do you want? Oh. Simplicity, well, that's fine and dandy, but wouldn't you feel better, knowing that you're running better software than the rest of the cattle? No, you wouldn't eh?"

"Feh! Who needs you... Go suck up to some corporate greed-mongering capitalist innovation wrecker. It's people like you that keep people like me from writing the GOOD software."

Can you taste the irony?

It seems to me quite obvious.

We need an OSS InstallShield. Not a package manager, not "tar -xvzf", and certainly not "make menuconfig\make dep\make clean\make zlilo\make install\reboot".

We need a tool that your AFR (Average F*ing Retard) can run and install software. Sure, that takes the elitism out of being able to run our OSS, but we will kick the piss out of the "pay me for crap" crowd.

At least I know, as an elitist, that people are stupid, and they're just never gonna get it.

Jim

Re:In related news

[Giggle Stick]

... being ugly doesn't make in UNUSABLE.

I don't know. Ugly porn is pretty much UNUSABLE. At least I've never been able to get it to work.

Re:In related news

[dave420]

Seriously, if you can't get a windows PC to play a DVD, I wonder how you manage to get out of bed in a morning without killing yourself with your slippers.

I've authored video on different windows PCs, and even low-end crappy PCs do a good job of it (provided you have the disk space to spare).

What do you suggest is better for video production and watching? It certainly isn't Linux, that's for sure, and it certainly isn't a mac.