Generation of public key

[Anthony E. Greene]

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On Fri, 19 Oct 2001, Nick Andriash wrote:
>Hello Anthony,
>
>On Friday, October 19 2001 at 04:43 PM PDT, you wrote:
>
>> Your response to my list of options was rude, which is why I
>> responded to you the way I did. All Dale did is respond to you the
>> same way I did.
>
>Then please accept my apology, because that certainly was not my intent.

No problem.

>My thoughts were that if the GnuPG Development Team is wanting GnuPG to
>be thought of as a replacement for PGP, then surely they are the ones
>that should be responding to those who have OS specific problems,
>instead of the end Users having to write their own code, or short of
>that having someone else write it for them.

This paragraph is so Windows-centric that I'm not sure how to respond. The
whole mindset is different.

Okay, here goes.

The comment "instead of the end Users having to write their own
code" implies that the end users are somehow different from the
developers. That may be true as a practical matter, but really, who is it
that you think contributes code? The contributors are end users who also
know how to write code and took an interest in this project. Anyone who
knows how and has an interest can contribute. This implied dichotomy
between users and developers is a false one, no doubt based on the fact
that developers of proprietary software are the only ones who have access
to the code and the legal right to make changes to it. In the proprietary
world, there is a real dichotomy between users and developers, but in the
Free Software world, that just isn't true.

That's why suggestions that people who find problems attempt to fix them
themselves (ie; "write your own code") may only be half-facetious and
could actually be meant as a real suggestion. Often the developers have a
day job or are otherwise very busy. A useful patch may be very
appreciated.

I'm not a C/C++ guy myself, but I've written HTML for years and I have a
fair grasp of English. So when I have a few hours, I do some work on the
Linux Documentation Project. I don't program for a living. I'm just a guy
who has an interest in Linux and has found a way to contribute. Do my
contributions to the LDP make me somehow different from those who use the
documents? No, but if they're from Windows World, they may not realize
that getting a HOWTO updated may be as easy as typing up the changes and
sending them to the maintainer, or directly to the LDP if the maintainer
is not responsive. If the person is sufficiently interested, they can take
over maintenance of the document. I've seen that happen several times. The
database that tracks document status documents many cases where documents
have changed hands over the years.  Each time the new maintainer was an
"end user" who saw a need to fix the documentation and had the will and
skill to "write their own code." In the Free Software world, the end users
and the developers are often the same people.

>My other question to you about which were the 'supported' OS's, was made
>in earnest because the GnuPG Web Site specifically states Win 2K is one
>of those supported OS's, so I just wanted to make sure we were talking
>about the same thing.

Hmmm... I looked on the download page, and all I saw listed were versions
up to WinNT. I did not look at the main introductory part of the site
however, and Win2k may have been listed there. I can't look right now, but
no doubt you're correct. If so, then any Win2k users who has a problem
should, at a minimum, try to repeat it and send a good description of the
problem to the maintainers.

Or they can just start writing code ;-)

Tony
- -- 
Anthony E. Greene <agreene@pobox.com> <http://www.pobox.com/~agreene/>
PGP Key: 0x6C94239D/7B3D BD7D 7D91 1B44 BA26  C484 A42A 60DD 6C94 239D
Chat:  AOL/Yahoo: TonyG05
Linux. The choice of a GNU Generation. <http://www.linux.org/>
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