Ethnographic research

[dazang]

Hello fellow Gentoo users! I have somewhat of an interesting project. I am a University student, and as a term project for my anthropology course I am conducting ethnographic research. This type of research is simply observation of a culture. I have chosen the open-source community as my chosen culture.

Firstly, I believe this project will allow me to better understand the ideals and values that the culture shares, as well as some of the points of contention within its ranks. The point of this project is simply observation and learning from that observation; not necessarily to come to any specific conclusion or to prove any hypothesis.

Along with observing behavior here in the forums and at local events, I am also posing the following questions here in the forum for those who would like to participate in my study. The questions are basic. If you do choose to participate, please be as honest and personal as you can be. This is as much about you as it will be about the larger community. Also, if you can think of any other questions that would be helpful for my research, please don't hesitate to share!

Thank you!

The questions:

1. What drew you to the open source community?
   
2. What operating system(s) do you use daily?
   
3. What architecture is your favorite?
   
4. Have you been a part of a development team for open-source software?
   
5. Is there any part of the open-source mission that has it's downsides? If so, what?
   
6. What types of projects do you see happening in open-source software in the next ten years?
   
7. What other hobbies do you have? Please list them, and share stories if you like.
   
8. What is your opinion of Microsoft? What is your opinion of licensed software in general?
   
9. What is your favorite aspect to the open-source community?
   

[Muso]

[energyman76b]

[BoneKracker]

[*]What drew you to the open source community?
Freedom of choice. The ability to actually get into the source and change things if I so desire, and to configure my systems the way I want to and free myself of inefficient and intrusive software.

[*]What operating system(s) do you use daily?
Gentoo, Windows 7, Windows XP

[*]What architecture is your favorite?
PowerPC, but it's so unsupported now that I don't use it anymore.

[*]Have you been a part of a development team for open-source software?
No, although I have contributed patches and bugs.

[*]Is there any part of the open-source mission that has it's downsides? If so, what?
Too many Eurofags and commies. Just kidding. I didn't know there was an open-source "mission", so I guess I can't answer that question.

[*]What types of projects do you see happening in open-source software in the next ten years?
Less desktop-related stuff (like the god-awful Freedesktop.org project) and more projects oriented at virtualization, clustering, datacenters, software-defined networking, semantic data analysis, and of course (in terms of sheer numbers of small projects) mobile computing apps.

[*]What other hobbies do you have? Please list them, and share stories if you like.
Reading science fiction, small engine repair, saving lemmings from the so-called "progressive" echo chamber.

[*]What is your opinion of Microsoft? What is your opinion of licensed software in general?
Microsoft is a great company, and desktop software wouldn't be where it is without them. However, they frequently engage in competitive practices which are to the detriment of end users (such as designing products and standards to create vendor lock-in). Also, they patent things which seem pretty obviously to have been prior art.

[*]What is your favorite aspect to the open-source community?
The people are of a higher average level of intellectual capacity (well, excluding Ubuntu, which really doesn't count).
_________________
Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
-- Headline of a document on Winston Smith's terminal in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, seen briefly in the background in one scene of the movie rendition of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

[runningwithscissors]

[dazang]

Bump

[pitcrawler]

1. What drew you to the open source community?
An old boss of mine introduced me to Gentoo, but I'd tried linux before then just to see what it was like. I think I got it from a magazine cover CD.

2. What operating system(s) do you use daily?
Windows 7, (Gentoo but not every day)

3. What architecture is your favorite?
amd64

4. Have you been a part of a development team for open-source software?
I've been in a team of one. My code is still being used in a different project now and I'm not a part of it.

5. Is there any part of the open-source mission that has it's downsides? If so, what?
You can't always get the best hardware drivers.

6. What types of projects do you see happening in open-source software in the next ten years?
Anything that is currently lacking.

7. What other hobbies do you have? Please list them, and share stories if you like.
Spending time with my missus, computer/video games, cycling, 10-pin bowling, cinema.

8. What is your opinion of Microsoft? What is your opinion of licensed software in general?
They're doing some things right and some things wrong (Windows 8 interface). Aside from games, I try to find free software alternatives first.

9. What is your favorite aspect to the open-source community?
There's always something new to try and see how it works.

[BoneKracker]

Shouldn't you be developing some new hobbies by now, such as "monster truck rallies, cow-tipping, catfish noodling, tractor pulls, anvil shooting..."?
_________________
Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
-- Headline of a document on Winston Smith's terminal in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, seen briefly in the background in one scene of the movie rendition of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

[dazang]

[BoneKracker]

I was talking to pitcrawler. He's a redneck from Oklahoma.
_________________
Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
-- Headline of a document on Winston Smith's terminal in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, seen briefly in the background in one scene of the movie rendition of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

[Muso]