Why Linux needs help

Can free software geeks learn how to write for "stupid users"?

By Andrew Leonard

Apr 15, 1999 | Linux is hard. No matter how you slice it, there's no avoiding this truth: the operating system cherished by hackers everywhere is a pain in the neck to install, configure and use. Forget about the fawning press accounts, the surging market-share numbers and the tide of Microsoft-hating corporations paying homage to this jewel in free software's crown. Linux is a morass of arcane text commands, bewildering options and incomprehensible Unix concepts. Linux sucks.

I speak, of course, as a "stupid user." If you're a smart user, preferably one with ample free time, Linux is a breeze. All you have to do, as the hackers will eagerly hint, is RTFM -- "read the fucking manual." The Linux world boasts no shortage of frequently-asked-question files, "HowTo" documents and newsgroups and mailing lists populated by helpful veterans. If you are motivated, fearless and willing to learn, the secrets of Linux will readily open up for you.

But if you're a stupid user who just wants to get on the Net and surf for Spice Girls pics, and the words "command-line interface" send spikes of terror through your bone marrow, then Linux is gruesome. It is not designed for you.

Linux, in other words, needs help. Sure, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of supersmart programmers hard at work perfecting graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Linux that look and feel practically identical to your basic Windows or Macintosh desktop. And yes, there's no question that these programmers are making astonishing progress -- moving much faster and further than even the most hard-core Linux evangelist would have predicted two or three years ago. But there is still little sign that Linux's weakest area -- the provision of user-friendly "help" -- is anywhere near being shored up.

The problem is that, as one author of Windows-based help systems observes, "Help isn't cool." And in the free software/open-source world, hackers like to do things that are cool. A whiz-bang graphical user interface that allows you to configure your desktop to look absolutely any way you please is cool. But plodding through the grunt work of writing documentation that will hold even the stupidest user's hand is not.

Linux devotees aren't shy -- they may smile when they say "world domination," but it's no joke. Sure, there's a vocal hacker minority who would much rather that stupid users stay in their Windows and Mac ghettos and not soil the purity of Linux with their clueless newbie questions. But their voices are increasingly drowned out by those whose goal is to conquer the software universe.

There's just one problem. Supplying their operating system with usable nongeek support forces Linux's advocates to confront the Achilles heel of their open-source software development model -- the need to get cool people to take on uncool tasks.

"Open-source projects are successful because the people who contribute to them are interested in the work and find that work fun to do," says David Mason, a technical writer employed by Red Hat, the leading commercial distributor of Linux, specifically to write help documentation for systems such as the GNOME desktop interface for Linux. "There are few people, including those who choose the career, who like to write user docs. No one wants to go home on the weekend and write a user's guide, especially those who don't think they can write well to begin with. Yes, there have been those who have done it, and it is a great way to get involved with a project if you are not a programmer, but it doesn't make it any more fun."

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