The way that will bring more users to GNU/Linux

Source: http://linuxdocumentation.net/ld/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

How the documentation is important to the GNU/Linux world? Why we need a documentation?

Basically this is crucial point for any project. The documentation is something like a gate to the project, new users go through that gate to enter in the project and if that gate is broken the user could go in the wrong direction.

I am example for that. I followed a wrong documentation with old outdated information. Based on that information I wrote an application and since I trusted it I did not check if the info is relevant. That made my application to crash every 2,3 hours. Very bad for me. Then I tried to fix the problem and spent about 3 months fixing the issue. Of course I found a real howto that guided me to the right information and I successfully fixed my application. This is just an example how outdated and not correct information could make someone's work very heavy.

I am programmer and I have special interest for many programming topics. But one simple thing like the serial port really made my life hard. All that happened because I took the howto seriously and blindly accepted the information without to check it first. Many people would suffer from the same thing. For an experienced user it is not so hard to check if the documentation is relevant but for a starter it would be almost impossible.

So, if we all want to improve GNU/Linux and make it better for incoming new users we should think about the available documents. This is crucial part of the whole path that new user walk through.And for that, I hope all the documentation projects would make their documents up-to-date with the appropriate information.

That is the point where "Linux Documentation" comes to. "Linux Documentation" aims to create place to be home for other documentation not associated to any project. Since many projects have their own documentations and it is not relevant to write the same information twice or to reinvent the wheel at every step. So, the idea behind "Linux Documentation" is to provide valuable documents not existing in other projects or if they are existing then the documents in Linux Documentation to discuss other topics or information. That will safe us from doing the same work again. And basically that is the point to achieve progress but not regress.

I believe in the bright future of GNU/Linux and hope the available resources, information and documents for GNU/Linux would become better and better.

Source: http://linuxdocumentation.net/ld/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...