And this, ultimately, is why Linux is doomed on the desktop. It isn’t the lack of apps (there are so many of them!). It isn’t the shoddy quality control; after all, people shop at Poundland for a reason. It’s not even the total lack of a compelling reason to switch from Windows or OSX.
It’s because of arrogant, self-regarding, obnoxious little schmucks like Helios.
It was a pretty simple thing. I sat with a 12 year old girl and her dad as I explained how to use their new Linux System. I spent the better part of 90 minutes working with them and felt confident that I had done a good job when I left.
What follows is a horror story of incompetence, misguided belief, unrealistic expectations, and general snottiness.
Now, Helios would have you believe that this applies to the father of the 12 year old girl upon whom he has foisted a Linux dumpster-station for “educational” purposes.
I maintain that it applies to Helios himself. Of the two, I would assume that Helios is better-educated than the father. I would assume that Helios is far better acquainted at finding his way around a strange computer system than the father. I would assume that Helios has had far more experience in an IT learning environment than the father.
What I wouldn’t assume is that Helios is any better than a steaming pile of purple/brown pus at Customer Relations, because customers are, y’know, like: Inferior? And like, they just don’t listen? And they want stuff that only works on Windows, even though I told them?
This is why the Loons are doomed; because they stink at ordinary human interaction. Their default mode is an unsubstantiated assurance of personal superiority. Can’t read the code? Well, start right now, goddamnit!
Sooner or later a proper IT charity will hit Austin and environs, and it will take Helios out, because he just does not belong in the field. Charity is not about hectoring people who know less than you do on your chosen subject.
Mostly, charity is about being nice to people who really need it at the time.
I will leave you with that thought. Happy Thanksgiving!
Comments
Actually, I think he has a point. The father does appear to be abusing his generosity, and the problems he was asked to deal with were genuinely inane. With that in mind, it’s understandable that he got frustrated.
I certainly agree that a charity should not be indoctrinating children to hate Microsoft and love Linux, but that’s tangential to the article.
I think the reason for his rage wasn’t that he had to spend 20 minutes trying to troubleshoot Linux problems, his rage wasn’t even caused by the fact that the guy tried to install client for supposedly pirated content.
He has been enraged by the fact that stupid-Windoze-user wanted to use his precious “gift” to install Windows. It contradicts with the whole reason of this charity: they are trying to early indoctrinate children before they get used to that-other-OS.
> wanted to use his precious “gift” to install Windows software.
selffix
Oh, and I suppose they don’t really have the financial burden. I myself have several computers/laptops retired which I would like to donate somewhere just to not deal with all that recycling stuff.
So basically, they use someone else’s hardware to try convert children into brainless zombies. Disgusting.
To be fair, these priests at least don’t rape their underage flock. Yet.
@Pete:
That would make sense if “The Helios Organisation” was at heart a charity.
At heart, it appears to me to be one man’s rancid obsession, transferred to the local poor who don’t get much choice but to suffer for his obsession. I’ve highlighted him before in earlier FUDs; he hasn’t changed.
Basically, it isn’t charity if you bitch about it afterwards. It’s just proselytizing, and, worse, it’s picking on people who have to put up with you for ninety minutes of what they, probably, see, as another unavoidable Guvmint lecture.
And after that, if you care to read the link, Helios promises to come around and diss your computer abilities in front of your 12 year old daughter and to tell both you and your daughter that he needs to spend time with your wife because “in my experience, women understand me better.”
I’ve met Roman Catholic pederasts who had more shame than this.
@Pete:
I should probably re-present that.
I don’t have a problem with strange, yet authoritative, men knocking on the doors of the poor and asking to see the little wifey because the man of the house is clearly mentally incapacited…
... well, actually, I do have a problem with that, but “that’s tangential to the article”...
... but I take serious issue with a bog-standard charity worker doing any such thing. Is the man trained or licensed or in any way professionally responsible?
Of course he friggin’ isn’t. But that won’t stop our Helios.
In this case I suspect that he is truly dealing with a mental illness.
And to return to my rebarbaration, he is — his own.
@Linsuxoid:
If you look far enough back in Helios’ blog (two years, to the memory), you’ll find all the disgusting details about how he finagles discarded hardware from other people, up to and including the warehousing costs.
I mean, all of that stuff costs somebody money. And I would presume that the Windows license doesn’t: it comes as part of the deal.
Until Helios takes it upon himself to trash the original OS and replace it with a half-baked 2011 edition of *buntu which is highly unlikely to recognise more than 50% of the hardware.
I mean, it’s no wonder that the man gets calls from confused customers.
Well, even if Helios isn’t a rapist, he certainly is an idiot, let’s take a look:
“So this guy lunches on 20 minutes of my time while I chase around phantom Internet problems and then tells me he is using a computer given to his gifted child for movie piracy.”
Users will always make you chase the real problem around, it’s a common issue – that is why support personnel needs to be payed for their work (to pay for the drugs they need to take to cope with the work they need to do).
Then he writes:
“I spent well over an hour going over this stuff with him then spent another 10 minutes on the phone with him explaining the difference between “download” and “install”.
[...]
There was a long silence and just when I was going to reassert my question, he asked me:
“So you mean that if I double click this icon, it won’t download?”“(Can you imagine the rage attack Helios got at this very moment.)
The freetards may rage all they want, but the fact remains that people need a bit of time (weeks, if not months) to get a grasp of new concepts (nothing new here).
In this case, the user seems to mix software logistics routines and has no understanding of compatibility concepts, again, this is normal.
We can clearly see why MS spends so much time and effort to make sure people can treat different versions of Windows as if they were actually just a new paint job on an otherwise unchanged product (MS is so good at it, that even the Durden fanatics fall for this all of the time).
And Helios, well, he managed to demonstrate how badly designed his beloved DurdenOS is (bravo to him, slow-clap).
My point exactly.
And consider one other teeny tiny thing.
This man, who let us assume is a concerned father of an extremely gifted 12 year old daughter, and who therefore wants to get involved and actually figure out how the damn thing works …
... not an unusual male position, I might add. The single worst invention for malekind in the last ten years was the GPS, which insists on giving us directions, even when we know where we’re going …
... this man has to spend 90 minutes of his “lunch” on the phone to a recalcitrant moron who isn’t giving him the information he needs.
Well, that would be his point of view.
IMHO, it’s at least as pertinent a point of view as Helios’.
After all, Helios is theoretically in the business of having his time wasted by clueless morons.
Therein lies the problem, Helios is not in a business, he just doesn’t care for his clien… I mean victims.
That there is the central issue – if he had to take responsibility for their computers, he would be overwhelmed by the amount of work required by the Crapola Di Durden – soon enough he would start to install Windows (to reduce his work-load).
And I know this, because I saw it in real life on a friend of mine – the fanatics will stop once they have to take care of the mess they cause.
So much arrogance, both in the article and the comments.
I’m sure these dicks would love such a condescending attitude from a mechanic, because they don’t know how to set the spark advance, or what it is.
Why is it so hard for freetards to understand that for most people, a computer is a tool to get a job done? People don’t want to learn before using it. People don’t want to be told about philosophy of free software. People don’t care what OS they have. People just want the job done, as fast as possible.
@RC:
Actually, he does indeed to be “in the business.”
As far as I can make out, his business is, indeed, a self-organised charity with an ostensibly pleasant goal.
I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect that this is how he pays for his Cheetos and Mountain Dew.
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