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The Age Interviews Linux Advocate Rick Moen

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the stories-from-the-trenches dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Age interviews Rick Moen, a software generalist from the Linux community and an advocate for Open Source software." Rick's been a real catalyst for the Linux community over the years, helping organize the LINC Expo, Windows Refund Day, Linux birthday parties, and more. An entertaining read.

6 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Re:A software generalist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    Just get a few paragraphs in to the article and you'd get this:

    Rick calls himself "a software generalist" in the Linux community, who answers technical questions on-line, concerning all aspects of Linux. He does this on the mailing lists of various Linux user groups (without respect to geographical boundaries - he is very active on the Linux Users of Victoria list), on Usenet newsgroups, and as a member of the answer gang of the monthly e-magazine Linux Gazette.
    So basically.... um.... he answers email and posts on message boards. A lot like a customer service rep, only with Linux.
  2. Rick Moen is a liability, not an asset by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    I've been on several mailing lists Rick has been active on over the years and in nearly every case eventually it's turned into a flame war between Rick and nearly everyone else. Rick has this George-Bernard-Shaw-wanna-be style where he doesn't technically insult people but it's very clear that he's doing so that offends nearly everyone eventually. The problem is that he does have a large amount of knowledge and does actually help people who are willing to put up with him so people tend to attempt to tolerate him for as long as possible. His obnoxious style is ok for the likes of crackmonkey where the teeth are sharp, but having watched him interact with clueless newbies and be overly picky and calling them on every tiny political misstep is not what we need in a "software generalist".

  3. Rabble by Seumas · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't post on Slashdot much anymore, but I think a lot of people seem to be suffering from a bit of an attitude problem here tonight.

    I've never heard of "The Age", but the article certainly puts forth the qualifications to consider Rick a linux advocate and probably a more experienced/knowledgable member of the linux and open source community than the vast chunk of Slashdot.

    It is an article promoting his advocacy and talking about his efforts. It isn't like they reported that he wrote the Linux OS and he was going along with the assumption.

    He's done what any reasonably capable linux advocate would have done when asked to interview with an outlet - he _promoted_ linux. Wow! Imagine that.

    I don't see that he has said anywhere that he deserves attention beyond anyone else and he's not taking anything away from anyone who contributes to the cause.

    Damn people. Be humble.

  4. FYI - The Age by tqft · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just so you know - The Age is an old and venerable institution in Australia (been round 100 or so years) as a "quality" broadsheet. It is based in Melbourne Australia.

    Now in the Murdoch stable (part of news corp_ is still does a reasonable job of annoying politicians of all persuasions and beuaracrats, as well as having excellent cricket reporting. It has a reputation as a bit left-wing (I think it was more from being an agitator in a conservative country) but that has slided a bit with Murdoch ownership.

    --
    The Singularity is closer than you think
    Quant
    1. Re:FYI - The Age by maw · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Age is part of the Fairfax group. News Corp's offering in the Melbourne market is the Herald Sun.

      --
      You're a suburbanite.
  5. All ships, prepare to retreat! by Eso · · Score: 0, Informative

    In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar,

    "It's a trap!!"