Clueless Linux User - NSFW
Here in the Linux Journal offices, we sometimes get phone calls that give us a laugh. People call us because they either want to "talk to the Linux company" or buy some stock in "Linux," or have some criticism of "the Linux programmers." We thought this time we'd share one with you. Hope it gives you a chuckle to brighten your day. :)
Note: there's a bit of profanity, so you might want to plug in the headphones.
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Comments
The main point!
He sounds like Ducky (David McCallum) in NCIS who is from Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Anyway, He deserve (the caller not Ducky) to be laughed at; because he didn't even bother to show any sign of basic research before going and blaming the wrong people!
Why .mp3 format file?
Talk about promoting the cause, providing the sound bite in the mp3 format, rather than something like Ogg Vorbis or another patent-free format?
"Why .mp3 format
"Why .mp3 format file?"
Because that's what normal people use.
M2TS Converter
M2TS Converter
Don't Be Hating.
1. If you're going to sell a computer with a pre-set root password, make it really evident in the documentation that comes with it!
2. I couldn't understand what his second question was ...
3. It's not that outrageous to get stumped by installing a JVM. Could happen to anyone.
4. You think that's NSFW, you should hear me on the phone with Comcast. I'm surprised they don't have a restraining order out on me.
Cmon ...
C'mon all of you - you DON'T THINK that there's never been a call like this to a Windows Reseller, or an ISP, or a hardware distrubutor, or heck even just some poor company who sold (if you can recall) "Y2K compliant Mice"????
To sit around and hash about how this is some fault of Linux is foolish - it's about some people CLEARLY not having enough horsepower to be purchasing computers on their own. It's why there's Geeks at BestBuy! And those Geeks are NOT spending even 1% of their day helping Linux users! They are spending 90% of their day helping Windows users, 5% helping Mac users, and the other five is for the junk the store makes them do (clean a counter, etc).
So, to interpret this as as some GRAND problem with Linux is ridiculous - the guys working the help lines for VACUUM CLEANERS get stupid calls like this! If you don't think so - you've NEVER worked or seen a call center or help service in action. Period.
Best one I ever got at our help desk - guy calls up and confidently says,
"I want to learn Unix, TONIGHT!"
And - this was in the days before a GUI desktop was available from our computer center for the users!!!
We howled for days, whenever he was heard of seen, we always called him the "Super Genius" (think it and say it like Wile E. Coyote says it), because his brain was capable of learning an OS in a day.
Funny!
Many years ago ...
Back in the early days of Linux and Linux Journal, we tried to get vendors to include a card good for a free issue of Linux Journal in their packages. This was mostly software vendors because, well, there wasn't anyone selling a "computer running Linux". Our intent was "win-win" but it would not be "win-win-win".
The two wins were the user and Linux Journal. The third win, however, would have been the vendor. Most didn't see the advantage of doing something that would make "their customer" aware of the competition. Thus, the idea of offering the buyer an information source pretty much went away.
Now that there are Linux systems being sold by "big box stores", maybe the vendors/stores could be convinced to include something that could help the new user. This could be anything from a pointer to a web page listing Linux User Groups to a company that offered Linux support with a "first call free" policy.
My guess, however, is that the "maybe" will be controlled by Microsoft. One of the comments was about Fry's telling the poster that Lindowns was garbage so spend the extra $100 for the same hardware with XP on it. So, as long as Fry's will make more money selling a non-Linux system, getting them to offer the buyer any useful Linux help is probably not going to happen.
Phil Hughes
What is so baffling about
What is so baffling about seeing a clueless-linux-user. Everyone has to start somewhere. I'd help the new guy, but he probably wouldn't even want to use windows after I gave him my knowledge. Google IS your friend.
good point
Yes, I may have emailed him some links had he left any contact info at all. I agree that we do all have to start somewhere.
Katherine Druckman is webmistress at LinuxJournal.com. You might find her chatting on the IRC channel.
Get a grip
I agree with the webmistresses statement, that if a person has the audacity to ring up a magazine and leave abusive messages on an answering machine, prattling on and blaming the software when it is clearly PEBCAK (problem exists between chair and keyboard) then he got just what he deserved. It is not a fault of Linux, nor the Linux Community, that these days the only level of intelligence required to be a "computer user" is to be able to push a power button. If people actually took the time to educate themselves a little bit in the first place, then clearly they would not find themselves in such a dilemma, and then worse still, feel the need to not just blame but even abuse a completely innocent party for their own complete and utter ignorance. As for the availability of support in the use of Linux, well....I've been using it in many of it's flavours since about 1994, and have found that there has always been an incredible and vast amount of support and technical help freely available for new and experienced Linux users alike, if ONLY people actually open their eyes and look for it, and put a bit of effort in to it, instead of pointing fingers and expecting every body to do everything for them. Get a grip, and keep it in perspective. This guy is clearly a tool. ;-)
Lug
http://lug.org.uk/lugs/all
Assuming the larger linux community wants to keep this kind of user we need to get them to a Lug.
These people are going to need hand holding some won't want to learn the Linux way others will be incapable of learning.
c'mon that guy do is stupid
When you have a technical problem with your new pc, which you got at CURRYS, is from ACER, shows a big sign LINPUS during boot up who will you call?
Acer? no!
Linpus? no!
the stupid idiots at Currys that sold you something you can't even begin to use? no!
you call a magazine from another country and argue with a voicemail!
Funny & Sad
This is actually a bit funny but still sad. Always seen Linux Journal as a serious magazine but this treatment to any person is just out right wrong.
The fact might be that this is just one more of the clueless users who think they got a grip when it comes to computers but really don't have any more idea on how to send a person to the moon(No cheating and buying space on a Russian shuttle) than to install a package or to partition a disk.
Linux(in this case a distribution "Linpus Lite") might be just enough for checking our mail, reading a few blogs and maybe just view a few pictures. The real problem as I see it comes when the user as described above tries to change things without the proper knowledge and screws up not knowing what he has done and and blames Linux. He could as well have blamed the salesperson for selling him something that was over his knowledge level or Acer for selling such a incomplete bundle of hardware and software.
For comparison how would you unrar a file in Windows 2k/xp/vista without third-party software or use that new graphics card without the right drivers? Linux might not be perfect and hopefully it will never be but somewhere along the line there's no doubt in my mind that Linux is here to stay and grow stronger for every day.
This call says more about the Linux community than the user
The lessons I draw from this are:
1) There is a need for more publicized support forums, telephone hotlines, etc for new Linux end-users. The fact that this poor person had to take a stab in the dark to call a magazine office on another continent shows that the hardware manufacturers, and yes, the overall Linux community is not all that it can to grow the Linux userbase. The fact that Linux-based netbooks like the Acer mentioned in the call are 4 times more likely to be returned than Windows versions after purchase is another indication that this is the case.
2) Rather than reflect upon this and learn from it, the immediate reaction of the staffers at LJ are to laugh at this man by posting the MP3 as an amusing tidbit for the website, which even garners more sneering comments from the fanboy audience. Sad.
i find it interesting
that some feel we should not have shared this voice mail. Yes, I find it funny, but there is a larger issue. I think there is an important message here about the vast ocean between the "average user" and even your average Linux user. Perhaps this goes back to the entire discussion of the netbook market spreading Linux into new territory. Take what you will from this. Laugh, encourage the community to be more inclusive, or do whatever you like, but I don't feel that it is in any way wrong to post something like this.
To those who may feel like we are treating someone poorly, I must disagree. Leaving a fairly hostile, profane message sort of opens the door for heightened scrutiny, don't you think?
Katherine Druckman is webmistress at LinuxJournal.com. You might find her chatting on the IRC channel.
complaint about linux
Does anyone of you recall what the original problem was? I doubt it was this guy's accent.
I only noted the accent
I only noted the accent because the very first comment said he gave people from England a bad name.
Well, this is just another
Well, this is just another proof that Linux is clearly "frankly stupid" from an ordinary user point of view.
He sounds "indy" to me.
He sounds "indy" to me.
Accent
It's not a standard proper English accent, but it does sound English...There are people I have met who are from England who sound like that. Infact it's pretty normal. But then again, I'm from Yorkshire...
Speaking of clueless. ;)
Speaking of clueless. ;)
He's from England
He says right in the beginning that he's from England.
Says he _bought_ it in England
As I said before that is not an English accent.
We have over 300 languages spoken in London, something like 25% of the population of London is born overseas. For example, London has so many French migrants it is ranked in the top ten French cites.
...
I didn't understand a word he said, anyone care to "translate"?
Thats why Linux has hard time
Instead joking about that poor guy, we all should try to make linux easier, explainable and less confusing for "dau" (who we call here in germany in a short "dümster anzunehmender user" = most stupidest assumed user).
This is why Linux is not yet on desktop, average users do not want to take care whats cpu, what are device drivers, whats /etc or registry. They all care about that their PC can do their taxes, write letters or emails, get daily dose of poker or porn. Thats them, they do not jack off on compiz or aero graphics, but on pictures of some ladies.
We have to teach them like kids, and linux distro has to tell the users that it is not windows, but that it can do same things as windows, but in tiny different way.
Greetings from Germany,
A.
Well, Im pretty sure he is
Well, Im pretty sure he is not really from England. Sounds very much like an swedish accent to me.
Not Swedish, could be from
Not Swedish, could be from Finland. But than again as people already pointed out, he might be British. I am living in Edinburgh at the moment and I meet people from Glasgow all the time and I dont understand a word they are saying.
Definitely not Scandinavian.
Definitely not Scandinavian. I'd say mixed british and eastern-european.
clickjacking??? what is this guys??
I clicked the link and got a nasty warning from NoScript that I might be the victim of "ClickJacking" due to a redirection via your evil flash player... Come on and get with the program. Just put the file as a link instead of these flash bits of lameness.
thats just my humble opinion... I'm just a Linux geek who wants my freedom \\\\
"download audio file"
You don't have to use the player. Just click the download link.
Katherine Druckman is webmistress at LinuxJournal.com. You might find her chatting on the IRC channel.
Judging by the accent
@Dieter_be
That is not an English accent, definitely Scandinavian but I am not sure which? Norway? Denmark?
Finnish!
This guy sounds, from how he pronounces "Linux", like he's native language is Finnish. Could it be Linus himself???
/Swede
Linus speaks swedish
Swede-Dude,
Linus is from the Swedish speaking minority in Finland, so his accent would actually be Swedish.
The (english) accent of
The (english) accent of Swedish-speaking Finns is not the same as that of Swedes.
Sidetrack
His accent doesn't sound neither Swedish nor Finnish to me, so marginal differences between Finnish-Swedish and native Swedish accents seems quite irrelevant.
Not danish
That's definitely not a danish accent.
Definitely not Scandinavian
There is an England outside Chelsea you now.
--
A Scandinavian
That is not an English
That is not an English accent.
- An Englishman
One couldn't agree
One couldn't agree more
/also an Englishman
Clearly not native
He's clearly not native British, but to me he sounds like a foreigner who has spent quite some years speaking UK English. British colonies, anyone?
HA HA... please post more of those!
That's hilarious!! Please post more of those. Ignore the guy whose knickers are knotted because we had some fun at this guys expense and didn't also provide tech support (unless you did end up helping, in which case whats your phone number in case I need help?!).
More more more!
Well, we all wanted "linux"
Well, we all wanted "linux" to be popular at the turn of the century, NOW, it's more popular, He He.
Since Linux, I've developed a small computer business, I can tell you, that 'caller' is not much different from the average Windows-Computer user -- They have no clue, even worse, some don't know that they don't have a clue, it's just downright painful sometimes.
It's such a pleasure to talk to a Windows user who actually understands the word: "Partition" and "CPU" Such a person, a WOMAN I might add, I talked to today.
Flash?
I'd've thought that a magazine/website devoted to FOSS would put up audio in Ogg Vorbis, instead of a proprietary format.
here ya go
Ogg format
Katherine Druckman is webmistress at LinuxJournal.com. You might find her chatting on the IRC channel.
You better be helping this guy.
I don't care what he is thinking or if he is clueless about everything. If you are posting this on Linux Journal, you better be helping that guy as well. Linux doesn't have "target customers". Everybody is helped and everybody is welcome.
Feel free to help him
If you heard him leave some contact information, then please feel free to help him...
I am willing to help this guy.
F'ing geeks. Laughing at a poor ol' first timer... I am in USA, but I am willing to help this guy on the phone at my own expense, if somebody were kind enough to tell me the phone number this guy used. I am sure the wise guys at "Linux Journal" can get the number from the voicemail, unless they already deleted it. This is too stupid...and it is funny to imagine, you guys want to take on Microsoft... Can you ever picture Bill Gates laughing at someone like that? or Steve Jobs for that matter... or Mark Shuttleworth? But then again none of you guys are ever going to be like any of them...
I think you missed the point
I don't think anyone is laughing because he doesn't understand how to use Linux, or because he is a first timer, or any of that. He called Linux Journal. THAT's the funny part. It is funny because people do not understand that "Linux" is not a company. It is funny because he has cursed us for selling him an inferior laptop. But... we don't sell laptops.
I can't tell you how many people have asked me, "So, do you work for Linux?" I am always caught off-guard, and I look at them like they have two heads, and it all gets very awkward.
What is also funny is that I am explaining why it is funny. See, now I am making myself laugh... again. :)
Katherine Druckman is webmistress at LinuxJournal.com. You might find her chatting on the IRC channel.
Several points
You've got no evidence that a number from England will be available on an American answering machine - he could be sitting behind a company switchboard that only sends a default company number, he could have a hidden phone number, etc. Heck, sometimes when my wife calls me, her number doesn't show up since we use different phone companies.
So please stop blaming LJ for something that you don't have any evidence for!
Second, if you take a look at this old Microsoft ad, you'll realize that Microsoft and Bill Gates have been laughing at Linux for years, so don't waste time declaring them saints - we know better. And feel free to top that one with the "Get the facts" campaign from Microsoft.
And you don't know jack about how I and others are treated when we note that this and that site doesn't work with Linux, Firefox, or what ever.
You're probably right that we shouldn't laugh at him for being ignorant about Linux. But for calling a US based magazine to get support for a product that he bought in the UK, his whole attitude, ... Definitely yes!
Man, you've got to admit that there's a lot else to laugh about than his lack of Linux knowledge, so please stop trying to be holy, especially on behalf of Bill Gates.
Java Installation
I have used Ubuntu since 2005. I still am at a loss to know exactly what is going on with my java. I have several versions, several jdks, vms. One program wants this one, one wants that one. Gcj, 1.5 1.6 !!!!
Setting up paths (Export JAVA_HOME=????) Sheesh! And this is with Ubuntu and the great community to turn to. Imagine the special distros such as those used by the eeepc.
I would expect a distro to be able to handle common archives such as zip and tgz (maybe stuffit is macs still do that).