[NBLUG/talk] Linux 's Missing Manual Coming to a User's Group Near You

[Conrad OHO]

This looks like a good source of very knowledgeable speakers for our
NBLUG meetings... Conrad OHO

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Linux 's Missing Manual Coming to a User's Group Near You
By Tom Adelstein on Thu, 2007-03-29 19:43.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000203

Would you like to get your hands on "Linux System Administration" and
have Bill Lubanovic or me show up to your local LUG or UNIX User group
meeting? Then you should contact Marsee Henon at O'Reilly -
marsee at oreilly.com  Of course, if you would rather have another author
and another book she can handle that too. Marsee works with various
groups around the country to make sure they have books and speakers.

Publishers have handed out books for free for some time now. They only
ask you to write a review. That seems easy. You pick up a $50 book and
agree to write a review - nothing to it - right?

If there's nothing to it then how come so many people take the book and
fail to write a review? Do you think it has something to do with the
decline of morality in America? Does everyone want something for free
and not want to do anything in return - and then gripe about it?

This is one of those "who knows" questions. It's one of the great
mysteries of life. Solve this mystery and you get a Pulitzer and a
Nobel prize.

I'm a little baffled by the attitudes of some users of Free Software.
You have probably heard the famous turkey call:

"Hey, how come my Ubuntu doesn't do ......".

Of course you can fill in the blank. He or she gets the operating
system and an incredible number of applications and takes issue with
the guys that gave their time, effort and money to make Free Open
Source Software available to them. Again, this is one of the great
mysteries of life.

What has Linux done for me lately?

Back when UNIX owned the server market, you would have to pay around
$20,000 for a Sun Workstation with Solaris 2.4. That's correct. Those
Sparc 5 pizza boxes you can get for around $100 on eBay used to cost as
much as a college education. Oh, and if you wanted to become a UNIX
administrator, then you'd have to lay out a bunch of money for that
too.

So, here comes Linus and the kernel team, the Free Software Foundation
and the next thing we know, we have a UNIX type OS for free. Plenty of
UNIX admins and programmers learned their stock and trade on Linux.

Now, in addition to the teams that brought your Linux, let's not forget
Tim O'Reilly types. Many people I know and with whom I speak credit Tim
with boosting Linux during infancy. I remember seeing those books with
odd looking colophon covers like the one with the llama on the cover of
"Learning Perl".

I always wondered about those animal books. Then I read this little
snippet: "Our look is the result of reader comments, our own
experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive
covers complement our distinctive approach on technical topics,
breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects."

I can testify to the statement above. Someone has to breath personality
and life into dry technical subjects. People need inspiration to keep
going. Sometimes the only inspiration a free software developer gets is
the satisfaction of doing a great job - finishing what he or she
started - bring a dream into reality.

Who will do the decent thing and at least acknowledge the people who
work for you for nothing? I believe they deserve our admiration instead
of our stinking comments. Think of the contribution so many people have
made to our lives.

Now, I hope you contact Marsee. If you wind up with one of her books,
remember to pay for it by following through with your promise. Oh yes,
one more thing. If you owe a review from earlier times, then how about
writing it now to keep your honor? Or if you won't do a review, send
money.

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