The Age Interviews Linux Advocate Rick Moen

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.

Comments

Re:A software generalist?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Same question I asked, actually

[rickmoen]

Well, I'm not sure I understand, either. Sam Varghese is a really good reporter, and I always enjoy talking to him, but I wasn't really clear on why he wanted to interview me. (And the term "Linux advocate" was Sam's, not mine, by the way.) 'Hope you enjoyed reading it, anyway.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

I've got to say...

[AlfaGiik]

I've seen many more people more deserving of a major interview.

But having said that, I must say that I agree with him on a number of major points.

1. Linux is NOT for everyone. In my line of work, many people complain if you move their taskbar, nevermind changing their OS.

2. BUY LINUX. only support for the companies that create your distributions will keep them creating those distributions. (I have bought every version of RedHat since 6 and a couple of copies of SuSE, etc)

3. Linux is not the next wave of the desktop... yet. In the server field, Linux has most things tied up. Stability... Rock Solid. Usability for the uninitiated desktop user... Still sucks, sorry.

Just my 2cents. -jk

Rabble

[Seumas]

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.

FYI - The Age

[tqft]

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.

Re:FYI - The Age

[maw]

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

Re:Picked the wrong advocate

[rickmoen]

That's an extremely odd sort of view for you to attribute to me. Visio's a rather nice application, and I have nothing against it. Or MS-Project, particularly.

And I certainly couldn't imagine telling people not to use them. Perhaps you're thinking of someone else entirely?

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Re:Picked the wrong advocate

[rickmoen]

I'm sorry, but -- whoever you are -- I can only assume you've confused me with someone else. I've never had anything against usage of Visio, let alone any inclination to advise people not to "use Visio in any circumstance because it's MS junk".

The rest of this seems to be pretty generic attempted mudslinging from behind cover of anonymity, but I was really rather startled by those characterisations, e.g., the bit about moralising at people they need to "take a stand against MS".

As you'll see if you read the article, I have no interest in convincing people to "take a stand against MS". I personally prefer Linux (mostly); when/if other people prefer different software, that's entirely their business.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Re:Rick Moen is a liability, not an asset

[rickmoen]

Well, I'm sorry you feel that way (whoever you are).

I've certainly been known to tell people they "don't have to load Red Hat", if they seem to have picked up that impression and are asking my advice. For most people running desktop setups, if they ask, I tend to recommend Libranet, Lycoris Desktop/LX, Linux-Mandrake, or SuSE.

But I'm glad to help people with RH. I think three people at the last SVLUG installfest used my CDs of RH 8.0, and I duplicated a set on the spot for someone else. Currently, I also have ISOs of the post-8.0 "Phoebe" beta. A couple of days ago, I invited anyone interested to visit and make copies.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Re:Picked the wrong advocate

[rickmoen]

No, I understood that anonymous attempt at character assassination -- and frankly, all of these sound very pretty like they're from the same person. It's just that I didn't see any real point in commenting.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com