Matt Welsh on NPR

ian writes "Yesterday, Matt Welsh was the guest on Public Interest, an NPR talk show: "It's Tech Tuesday. This week, Kojo and guests discuss the growing popularity of the Linux operating system and answer your questions about installation and use of this free, open source, system." You can listen to the show on RealAudio. " Alan McConnell also joined him on the program.

Comments

Thanks everyone

[Matt Welsh]

I'm sure that the interview on NPR yesterday could have gone better, that much is true. But please bear in mind that this was done entirely unrehearsed, on the spot, and live. Unlike a magazine or newspaper article, or even a talk in front of an audience, neither Alan nor myself had a chance to carefully think through our responses to the questions -- we simply spoke off the top of our heads. As such some of our responses may have been blundered a bit, but that's the best you can do on live radio.

I regret that some people are so narrow-minded as to flame Alan and myself for getting out there and simply trying to promote Linux to the masses in the best way we know how. Would you have rather had guests who were eloquent speakers but knew nothing about the system? I doubt that you could have found two people qualified to talk about Linux who would have done much better under the circumstances.

Please, folks, have some patience. Whether you loved it or not, the point was that Linux got an hour of airtime on NPR.

Matt Welsh

Rambling narratives instead of simple answers.

[Louziffer]

I believe that the average computer user is going to get very confused by this particular show. Even having used Linux since 1993, I found myself wondering when a question would actually get answered without someone rambling off on OSS, their own history with Linux, or terms that only Linux users would be familiar with. Not once did I hear a question that had a clear and concise answer. I understood what they were going to get at eventually, but that's only because I knew the answer already.

Perhaps when choosing people to interview, one should not simply pick the most learned individuals they can find. The ability to prepare an on-the-spot lecture is nice when you're in a classroom, but it doesn't seem to work very well in an environment where every minute counts.

I see this as a bit of a wasted opportunity when it comes to "educating the masses". Instead of giving a brief, basic overview of the pros and cons of a good OS... I heard the interviewer constantly losing control as our knowledgeable interviewees plumbed the depths of Linux while dragging the audience with them.

Perhaps it wasn't a total loss... but I still think it could have been a lot better.

Re:Update for g2-a1 Real player?

[dattaway]

I would love to, but my copy of the G2 alpha for Linux expired yesterday and I can't spot a new one on the Real web site.

I'm not sure why this was marked offtopic, but this was the issure I faced when trying to find something under real audio's web site that would run Linux. I found the link off freshmeat for the download. Its a bloated 4.5 megabyte rpm, typical of proprietary software. Why people do not wish to use something slightly more accessable and reasonable on resources, such as mp3's is beyond me.