Positive Linux PR

[Jared]

It is refreshing to see the LUG conversation turn toward
a positive image for Linux by means of leaving out the
negative. I still believe the best means of evangelizing
an idea was used by Larry Wall as he first began telling
others about the Practical Extraction and Reporting Language.

Larry was a regular on the shell scripting discussions, and
obviously knew shell scripting very well. Rather than simply
introduce Perl as "better" than shell scripting, with no proof,
thereby creating contention where there was none, he began
answering shell scripting discussions in the following manner:

He first answered the question with the shell script solution.
Then, at the close of the email, he wrote: "But here is the
Perl way of doing the same thing," and casually gave the Perl
solution. He left it to the reader to make an informed decision.

I firmly believe this is the reason that Perl has always had
an excellent reputation, across the board. As we do this with
Linux, its credibility improves, because people see us as
able to competently answer tech questions, as well as casually
offering a better solution, rather than seeing someone to contend
with.

Such patience takes time, but the perfection of patience is a
friend, convinced of his own free will.

-Jared