David Cormier wrote:
Wow, $170 paid for endless thousands of dollars of equivalent software, friendly support (evidence below) and admission into what in any other conceivable discipline would be a select group of longtimers who would not have the slightest thing to do with you. You offer them $170 bucks (I say offer, because you could have gotten it free) for untold thousands of hours of work (figure a dream people have been working on for 20 years) , and you can't get it figured out in WEEKS!!!, so you lash out at those very same people kind enough to accept you.
"Lash out"!!!!??? Come on David... you need to be more diligent in your reading. I feel I was offering a fairly balanced critique. However, I am *not* a "disciple" (of Windows or Linux) so I don't get upset when someone critiques either one. And be aware that I have not used equivalent derogatory terms like "windoze" or some such when describing Linux, something that many have chosen to do when describing the "other" operating system.
I understand your frustration, I'm 2 months in, unsure if I'm with the right distribution, confused about a hundred things, and I have a silver membership. I still use my other boot up (I'm on it now, I needed a work document printed out in exact msword format), and have faded in my all out enthusiasm for MDK. But here it is, right here, all these people are willing to reply to you after you've insulted them. That's the difference. Any amount of research would have told you that the membership was flawed... but it's flawed because they don't have the money. True, and some of that lack comes from a lack of what we are accustomed to calling professionalism.
Once again, I have not insulted them. Perhaps you construe my reporting their lack of response to my emails as insulting but I assure you that it is the honest truth. I would at least appreciate these people saying that they do not offer support because they're too busy, etc. Now I am *not* talking about this mailing list. *These* people have been very supportive.
Walk on to an American football field. Ask them if you can play, they'll 'say' no. (If you're lucky they'll be polite) You're place is in the stands. It's a multimillion dollar industry with access only to a priveledged few. Walk onto a rugby pitch, people will greet you, ask if you'd like to practice, talk to you about the game. It's an odd game, takes a while to adjust to. But you get to be involved, if you want, at just about any level you like.
The computer software "culture" is not comparable to that of pro sports. A culture creates expectations based on generally-accepted values. Expecting support when you have put out money is part of the computer software culture.
- Jack
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