Monday, February 25, 2008
Contrast... and contrast
As I have been mentioning for a while, I've been toying with Archlinux a bit over the past weekend. It's been an interesting experience, and would have gone MUCH smoother if I didn't have to jump through hoops for networking. This post isn't about that experience, though.

My purpose for writing this post is just to state the sharp contrast between the IRC Ubuntu channel and the Archlinux channel.

Ubuntu:
Let's put it this way: Ubuntu has several branches for their channels, including #ubuntu, #ubuntu-offtopic, and #ubuntu-server. Those are three different channels. THREE.

Most of those new to the OS fall under the first channel. The people who are into the whole "gui thing" and the "why isn't this easy" mostly fall into #ubuntu. If you've ever sat back and watched the rate at which text FLIES on #ubuntu, your head may explode into one million tiny pieces.

Archlinux:
In the Arch channel, it seems a lot of the tech support confusion is non-existent. This should be a no-brainer, as most who use Archlinux "know what they're doing." Discussion is on a much higher level than the Ubuntu rooms, dealing with a lot less problems, but much more in depth ones.

That said, there's nothing wrong with the #ubuntu channel in any way. I pop my head in once in a while to see if I can help with a few easy questions. It's kind-of rewarding, in a way, to feel like you've helped someone. However it's not so rewarding when all you did to help someone was do a Google search.