DMD v2.066.0-rc1

[Nick Sabalausky via Digitalmars-d-announce]

On 8/7/2014 11:34 AM, Manu via Digitalmars-d-announce wrote:
>
> It's not because it's hard, it's because it's perceived as totally
> backwards, and it undermines the trust in the ecosystem. It's all about
> perception.
>
> The Windows/Visual Studio development culture is pretty immature, and
> expects nothing less than the level of polish and presentation that
> Microsoft put into Visual Studio.
> I have direct experience with hundreds of these sorts of developers. The
> prevailing opinion is that Linux is rubbish for nerds, and if the ecosystem
> presents itself in that style, it won't be taken seriously. You can't gain
> the confidence of this community of developers unless you appeal to them on
> their terms. First impressions and basic presentation are extremely
> important to perception.
> I think configuration friction in particular is extremely important to
> eliminate; you are dealing with someone whose investment in D can be
> measured in seconds, probably knows absolutely nothing about the ecosystem
> technically, and is not yet sure if they even want to. Any friction between
> them and a helpful little wizard that generates a hello world project for
> them so they can start hacking about and see how it feels may quite
> possibly dismiss it on contact.
>

While I (unfortunately) agree with everything you've said here, I can't 
help chiming in with one thing: Speaking as a programmer who's primarily 
used Windows ever since 3.1, anyone who earns a paycheck writing code 
*and* believes "Linux is rubbish for nerds"[1], needs to grow the fuck 
up, both professionally and intellectually. It's absolutely no different 
from a grown adult being a console fanboy. It's just pathetic and 
completely inexcusable for any so-called "professional".

[1] And you're right, such people *do* (inexplicably) exist. I've known 
some.