The ideas in this book are excellent, and I've shown my copy to others to expose them to some Open Source concepts. It is even possible that after reading a "free" (as in free download, not free beer) version I might even have decided that buying a copy for the sole purpose of showing it to others might have been worth it.
However, now I just have a bad taste in my mouth about the money I spent, and regret giving O'Reilly money. I think that I will be quite a bit more likely to hunt for O'Reilly books in the (free) library than give them more cash.
I don't think it's necessary to decide if it's funny to argue your claim that it's pandering or ridiculous.
It's humor (or attempted humor, take your pick) comes from examining a particular sub-culture and attempting to find funny things in it. It's no different from Andy Cabb or Dilbert in that regard, and hardly qualifies as pandering. Most comics have a setting, and use "jokes" that derive from that setting, it's just how the comics work.
I can certainly accept not thinking it's funny, but to somehow think it's bad for Open Source software because it doesn't click for you, I disagree with that concept about any comic.
If people think the strip is funny and buy the book, maybe they'll even discover ORA and buy a "useful" book next...
You probably don't even like the colophons from ORA, either.
That's right - ORA - O'Reilly - that ultra-serious no-nonsense publisher of such hard-core *NIX books as "Smileys" and "Travelers' Tales: A Dog's World True Stories of Man's Best Friend on the Road"...
I suppose if User Friendly was some kind of a ranting political pamphlet you might have a point, but the damn thing is funny. Funny!
Get a sense of humor about your operating system and your productivity will increase.
I already give Mr. O'Reilly a good amount of money, but if he were to make some of their covers (NOT the Oracle bugs - ick) available as a posters I'd probably have to throw more cash his way... Seriously - wouldn't your high-tech office be ever-so-much cooler with a giant Emacs beast on the wall? Or perhaps the cute DCOM doggies for the family room at home? Face it, technical stuff has already taken over everything else in our lives, why not our decorating schemes as well... paul
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The ideas in this book are excellent, and I've shown my copy to others to expose them to some Open Source concepts. It is even possible that after reading a "free" (as in free download, not free beer) version I might even have decided that buying a copy for the sole purpose of showing it to others might have been worth it.
However, now I just have a bad taste in my mouth about the money I spent, and regret giving O'Reilly money. I think that I will be quite a bit more likely to hunt for O'Reilly books in the (free) library than give them more cash.
paul
I don't think it's necessary to decide if it's funny to argue your claim that it's pandering or ridiculous.
It's humor (or attempted humor, take your pick) comes from examining a particular sub-culture and attempting to find funny things in it. It's no different from Andy Cabb or Dilbert in that regard, and hardly qualifies as pandering. Most comics have a setting, and use "jokes" that derive from that setting, it's just how the comics work.
I can certainly accept not thinking it's funny, but to somehow think it's bad for Open Source software because it doesn't click for you, I disagree with that concept about any comic.
If people think the strip is funny and buy the book, maybe they'll even discover ORA and buy a "useful" book next...
paul
You probably don't even like the colophons from ORA, either.
That's right - ORA - O'Reilly - that ultra-serious no-nonsense publisher of such hard-core *NIX books as "Smileys" and "Travelers' Tales: A Dog's World True Stories of Man's Best Friend on the Road"...
I suppose if User Friendly was some kind of a ranting political pamphlet you might have a point, but the damn thing is funny. Funny!
Get a sense of humor about your operating system and your productivity will increase.
paul
At work I live in SQL (inside FoxPro, sadly).
At home, C and if I'm having an RMS kind of day, Lisp...
paul
I already give Mr. O'Reilly a good amount of money, but if he were to make some of their covers (NOT the Oracle bugs - ick) available as a posters I'd probably have to throw more cash his way... Seriously - wouldn't your high-tech office be ever-so-much cooler with a giant Emacs beast on the wall? Or perhaps the cute DCOM doggies for the family room at home? Face it, technical stuff has already taken over everything else in our lives, why not our decorating schemes as well... paul