Re: Oh dear...
Krypt, you're doing the same as John has, you've focused on things that are utterly insignificant to the end user. Code quality matters to those who write it, debug it, and document it. Not to those who never see it, or understand it, or care about it. If it works, and works well enough, that's all that really matters to the majority of users. So again, from a technical standpoint you're correct in the need for quality, but it's just not important if you're not a coder.
"Linux users know how to build tools..." - What, ALL of them? I can pretty much disprove that immediately, with something that'll shock you. I run Maemo on an N900, and I wouldn't have the first clue how to do that, much less need to. All the apps I need? I just (wait for it!) download and install, and wouldn't you know it, some are just plain crap. There are many apps and widgets in the various repositories, and about half to three quarters are just variations on the same things. A couple of media players, some hackneyed open source games with names that aren't quite the same as the proper version but invariably persist on keeping the ill-fitting 'open' part of the title, a few custom apps that will be of bugger all use to anyone other than the author and 3 mildly insane people (List of bell towers, anyone? Or an app to measure the correct steeping time for tea?).
It goes without saying, just because you CAN build apps and tools, doesn't mean they're going to be good, useful or necessary.
"The world is running more instances of Linux than anything else" - I'm not going to argue that, but I WILL point out that the vast majority of those will again never be seen by those who use the services of which they provide. All people want is the easy to use UI, or the web pages that server provides, or whatever service is provided. If the server kept popping up little notifications every now and then to say 'Hey! You're using something powered by Linux!', then relatively few will understand what that meant, and even fewer would actually care. It's on OS, it's not the universal panacea for all of mankind's ills and shortcomings that some seem to portray it as.
As for being naively optimistic, I'm sorry to burst your little zealot bubble, but I'm not pro-Microsoft. Sure, I use their stuff, but I'm not out there preaching all the benefits of anything they sell. Hell, I'm usually warning people against upgrading to a new version of Windows until it's been out for a while, and we can see what needs some attention to rectify whatever shortcomings and cockups there happen to be. I would wager that kind of thing even happens in the Linux world, although precious few would admit that. So reign in the vitriol and just be thankful you have a choice of what you'd like to use, and maybe let others have that same choice as well, even if it's not the one you'd prefer.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
