N00b-untu Others

There is a precedent in the Linux and Open Source IT community of coldness and belittlement toward inexperienced users. Contributors to Linux, as well as experienced users, can forget the time it takes to develop an awareness of and skills necessary to utilize Open Source and general technology. It is easy to become frustrated when others are not on the same level of understanding and communicating ’simple’ concepts seems difficult. There is an important reason to develop simplistic and intuitive user interfaces to help people of all aptitude to benefit from the collective effort of our Copyleft movement: Accessibility.

Accessibility is a key in the Copyleft Culture and Software Libre movements. Accessibility is implicit in the first stipulation of the GNU four freedoms:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).

This freedom has been extended to include people speaking different dialects, people with disparate hardware, people with disability and also people of varying knowledge and experience. By enabling access on multiple levels of dialect and comprehension we can extend the favor of Copyleft across more universal need bases. After all, isn’t it presumable that we have all received some solid guidance, encouragement and assistance along our journey?

“2 is better than 1″ -Tstewart

Section 5 of the Open Source Definition similarly encourages diversity and equality:

“In order to get the maximum benefit from the process, the maximum diversity of persons and groups should be equally eligible to contribute to open sources.”

I realize that these words do not imply kindness, yet I believe the following is a fair extrapolation. In order for the principal “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow” to be the most effective, we might embrace people in all walks of life. There is no telling which use-case will produce a bug and which user might see an application for a software package beyond the developers’ original ambition, or scope.

MEntorship

The GNU also encourages assistance and mentorship:

• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).

If it is impractical to contribute code and/or bug reports back to a free software project it is possible to contribute forward. These tools are designed by people to assist people. When a person is experienced with a free software tool and shares their knowledge of the tool with someone else in need, the community is benefited.

Two characteristics are desirable in this process: patience and gratitude. Patience is important not only for the instructor to have but also the pupil, whom is experiencing new information. It is also key to remember that many people have spent hours of their lives to share the tools and methods at hand and a little gratitude can go a long way to encourage the process to continue. The characteristics of patience and gratitude are double edged, in that both the mentor and pupil should be patient and grateful towards each other.

Companies who have developed business models based around Free/Libre Open Source Software have generally done so through support and/or customization. Support can primarily be considered as training, documentation, and consultation. Customization can include code contribution, interface simplification and implementation. Novice computer users need help in all of these areas and should not be expected to be able to preform most of the aforementioned functions.

Ubuntu Linux

Canonical Ltd. has recognized the importance of making Software Libre easy and accessible for users of all skill levels. Rather than focusing narrowly on corporate or scientific uses of technology, Canonical has created a Linux based Operating System and dubbed it Ubuntu (Zulu for “Humanity to others“, or “I am because we are“). The motto for Ubuntu Linux, “Linux for human beings”, implies that technology can and should be designed to be easy and intuitive for the average user.

As a result of the user-friendly design principal promoted by Canonical, Ubuntu has become a widely used and actively developed Operating System. Making software that is simple and powerful has helped our community to grow into demographics which might not have otherwise experienced the benefits and liberation provided by ongoing efforts. There is also strong community support for Ubuntu, including discussion forums, a community wiki and a highly active IRC chatroom.

It is a little frustrating when I see people deriding Ubuntu Linux for being too user-friendly or “just another clone”. GNU/Linux ideals and the Free Culture movement are about freedoms, including the freedom of choice. There is no one-size-fits-all and people do not deserve do be belittled for choosing a solution which fits their needs.

Summary

We are contributing to an ongoing process of creation and sharing with the intent of benefiting society as a whole. Some people will barely scratch the surface of the movement, perhaps just enough to benefit from some aspect of our efforts. It is not possible for everybody to have an empirical understanding of the technology or the philosophy behind the Software Libre movement. This should not be frowned upon but recognized as a natural limitation of our human experience. Kindness begets kindness and can be considered forward payment for the gifts we have recieved from others.

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