[Freedombox-discuss] Initial User Experience

[Joshua Spodek]

On Mon, 2011-05-09 at 17:38 +0000,
freedombox-discuss-request at lists.alioth.debian.org wrote:
> > Making something that works, however non-geek unfriendly, may
> require 
> > skill sets many individuals have. Then their results can be picked
> up 
> > by others with different skill sets to make them non-geek friendly.
> 
> Uhm, That unfriendly thing is called Debian, and we are the ones
> picking 
> it up and make it non-geek friendly, right?
> 
> Or how do you see it? 

Just that something unfriendly is better than nothing, however friendly,
because something unfriendly can be made friendly more quickly and
easily than something non-existent can be created, at least that's my
belief.

I feel like this list is dreaming of a Hurd equivalent when an 0.02
Linux kernel would get the job done faster and better. I'd love to read
someone posting the FreedomBox equivalent of Linus's release:

        As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of
        a minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers.  It has finally reached
        the stage  where it's even usable (though may not be depending
        on what you want), and I am willing to put out the sources for
        wider distribution.  It is just version 0.02 (+1 (very small)
        patch already), but I've successfully run
        bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it.
        
even if followed by his

        I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?".  Hurd
        will be out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and
        I've already got minix.  This is a program for hackers by a
        hacker.  I've enjouyed doing it, and somebody might enjoy
        looking at it and even modifying it for their own needs.  It is
        still small enough to understand, use and modify, and I'm
        looking forward to any comments you might have.

Once the version by hackers for hackers exists, those hackers can make
it for non-hackers.