Re: [orca-list] Off topic discussions

[Jason White <jason jdc jasonjgw net>]

I agree with all of Willie's suggestions. 

I would also like to point out that there are many sources of assistance for
people who want to ask general Linux questions that are unrelated to Orca.
These include mailing lists for your distribution of choice, your local Linux
user's group, and mailing lists for the particular program that you're trying
to use.

Many of these mailing lists are also available on the Web and via NNTP at
http://www.gmane.org/ which is a highly useful resource.

There are many distributions of Linux, and there is no doubt that there will
be many more in the future. What makes free and open-source software different
is that no one needs to agree to a non-disclosure agreement or a proprietary
licence to change or adapt the software; anyone who wants to create her or his
own distribution, whether for personal use or for sharing with friends, or for
more general application, has every right to do so. The same goes for starting
a software project: anyone who thinks he or she can do better has the
freedom to write software accordingly. So, although cooperation within this
community is fundamentally important, I think it's counter-productive to
criticize people who decide to write their own solutions, create their own
distributions, etc., since that's part of the fabric of what makes the
community a lively and creative one.

I agree with Willie that the purposes of these discussions should be to make
Orca better, and to share ideas, usage suggestions and experiences of using
this most enabling of tools.