A bit of controversy on the forums today
I love the FOSS community. I love people who get caught up in issues and become agents of change in the world. One thing I am not thrilled about is how willing we sometimes are to latch on to controversy and participate in it, often before we are fully certain we know what is going on.
On one side, I applaud what a user did today on the Ubuntu Forums, finding a problem with the BIOS of a motherboard from a manufacturer. He discovered an issue, went to the manufacturer to discuss it (perhaps not as politely as I would have, but then that might be beside the point), and when he was not satisfied with the response, he wrote and published a fix for the world to see and benefit from.
He also published a pretty angry rant, using quotes from emails and messages swapped between he and the company…at least that is what we are told. Perhaps that is true, potentially it is not. Without confirmation, we can’t be sure, but it looks like either something sinister has been done by the company in question, or something incompetant, or perhaps they have simply chosen to use their freedom to do as they wish and ignore Linux users. The truth is probably a bit of a combination of those options.
What concerns me is not the discussion, but the rancor with which some have chosen to participate in it without having any third party confirmation of the facts. What we have seen thus far merits an investigation, but not yet a trial.
There is probably one thing I hope to see more of in the FOSS world, a willingness to step back and investigate further before reacting. After all the facts are confirmed, then if you want to fight a revolution, go ahead. At least people will be more likely to listen.
If the higher-ups simply had the visibility to know how much certain lower level managers are destroying their business.. It never ceases to amuse me really, it’s something that seems to be happening all over. All it takes is couple rotten eggs in strategically good positions.
Just like the Sandisk announcing “Ewe must Vista-optimize SSDs. They will cost more and there will be delays because of it.”. Sheesh.
Anyways, I don’t believe Foxconn is entirely bad. I still wouldn’t buy anything from them though.
+1 on taking a step out of the emotional and having a good look at the situation. I think quite a lot of flame-wars and the like are due to the impersonal nature (i.e. not face-to-face) of most FLOSS communication.
Banal, castrated communication is not always desirable. Passionate dialectic is the crucible in which strong logic is cured.
Strong, clear speech, made politely and with respect, does much to convince the masses. Obfuscated or malicious verbal meanderings assist no one.
Phoronix, who is the leader on Linux hardware and news (and has more inside tips than we all know of) confirmed that this isn’t the first case with Foxconn:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjYyMA
(Foxconn Does Hate Linux Support July 25 - We’ve Known It For Years)
So there is your confirmation, enjoy.
Thank you, that at least confirms the attitude and is quite helpful! As a result, I have reopened the thread for comments.
Thank you for re-opening the thread.
Initially when you closed the thread I felt betrayed and very angry. My feelings had gone better of me and I posted a very angry outburst against you and the other forum admins in my own blog. Now since you have done the right thing, I apologise for my preposterous judgement.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
All I can say is that I totally agree with you, Matthew. I think people too often “jump the gun” and get riled up before they have any confirmation/verification of the supposed facts.
Well in light of Vadim\’s comment, I\’ll just say \”assholes.\”
I am thrilled to see this story today as a follow up. It seems that Foxconn has acknowledged the problem and publicly released a test patch. That is encouraging and I wish them well.