This is just one of those posts I am having to make on my personal blog because it’s controversial and highly critical. It goes without saying all opinions here are my own. I’m not going to draw the line on this one because OMG Ubuntu! has just cured my writer’s block by making me obscenely angry. They have made me angry because their writing puts my in mind of a spoiled child who expects everything to be put on a platter for them while neglecting to give any respect to the people who put it there.

I guess the easiest example to pull from this is their first, publicly acknowledged, faux pas in which one of the writers accused the entire *nix community of being uninspiring social idiots with over-inflated egos large enough to fill their beards. Unfortunately the irony of this is that – while protesting that the current developers and game-shapers are completely ignorant to the consumerist image of today – they were completely ignorant to the feelings of perhaps the largest demographic of people who have made free software technically equal to its proprietary rivals. It seems that the writer was an uninspiring social idiot with no beard to put their over-inflated sense of ego. Unfortunately for OMG Ubuntu!, the open-source model means everyone contributes publicly rather than being hidden away by the PR wizards. Apple is a company based on PR and proprietary software and as such can afford to look trendy.

Put quite frankly, it’s these quirky developers who power the modern world. Just because an eccentric/genius (they’re usually the same, in my experience) may not be conformist to regular social norms doesn’t mean they haven’t help shape the modern world.

I didn’t judge them for this the first time. People are allowed to blow of steam and they were making an, albeit half-baked, observation and suggestion on how open-source software can become more accepted in a mainstream manor. I got a little bit rattled when the same author apologised publicly, which I have respect for, and then followed it up a few days later with a video from ‘Live at the Apollo’ where a comedian was doing a set on how being offended is taken as such a big deal. Which is fine, we do feel offended and that doesn’t make you any less of person; just make sure you know we wont care when you get upset because we all think you’re an arrogant cock-head and we would rather put our eyes into an orange-juicer than read any more of your obviously unapologetic, discriminatory, content.

I think it’s important to note at this point that OMG Ubuntu! have made some meaningful and useful contributions that benefit the community. To my knowledge, the Ubuntu Manual project is run by one of the authors and it has proven to be useful, and sometimes necessary, to help people get to grasps with basic computing with Ubuntu as their primary operating system. Also, when not filled with discriminatory whining, they do produce good content and reviews. I have been introduced to useful pieces of software many times through their website.

From good, the bad to the ugly now. I was finally put off their website today because of a Broadcom article they published. It was a good article, and even better news, with one single problem: yet again developers were the butt-end of a derogatory comment. The developers who worked on the devices were referred to as, ‘nerds and nerdettes.’ Despite the fact they were to receive, ‘applause’ as the website put it, it was still quite a harsh noun to use when more socially acceptable terms (such as, ‘geek’) would have been more appropriate.

nerd

n : an insignificant student who is ridiculed as being affected

or studying excessively [syn: swot, grind, wonk, dweeb]

geek (g[=e]k), n.

Hence: An intellectually inclined person, especially one

who is interested in scientific or technical subjects; as,

a group of geeks wearing pocket protectors; — originally

a deprecatory and contemptuous term, but in the 1990′s,

with the increase in popularity of computers and the

frequency of accumulation of great wealth by computer

entrepreneurs, it has come to be used with noticeable

frequency by technically competent people to refer to

themselves, ironically and sometimes proudly. [Informal]

[PJC]

You may see this as a slight over-reaction and, in any normal circumstances, it is. The problem lies in the fact they have consistently bit the hand that feeds them with fangs of abuse while reserving almost god-like praise for marketing gurus rather than the people who matter: the people who make it work in the first place. It’s kind of like calling your staff wankers, meaning it and brown-nosing your boss so much you’ve lost complete sight of who matters.

Anyway, this concludes this little rant. You may be wondering how it is I’m allowed to abuse and criticise other people and OMG Ubuntu! isn’t. The simple answer is that I AM a cold-hearted wanker who is so ignorant he believes he is correct in every aspect of life. It’s the reason I write opinionated and entertaining posts. Also, I am completely right about everything I’ve said.

Sweet Dreams, Folks.