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"I draw everything from the common experiences in the open-source community," says Frazer, who often incorporates suggestions he's receives via e-mail and who regularly sits down with fans at conferences for brainstorming sessions. "I do recognize that there's a sense of ownership. They feel the comic strip is their own because they contribute to it. It's like open-source software --- whether or not they've actually contributed source code, they feel like it's theirs."

In fact, Frazer -- who never expected to turn "User Friendly" into a full-time job -- has in the past attempted to take a break from the strip, but discovered that the community that had embraced him wasn't about to let him just up and quit. "The open-source community insisted on it. I knew better to argue with that demographic -- they are outspoken and make it clear when they want something," he laughs. "I learned very quickly to knuckle under their commands -- it was good for my health."

Frazer is no master illustrator -- his work is unpolished and rough, and he readily confesses that his first cartoons "were just chicken scratches -- I was scrawling with a ball point pen and scanning it in." But his raw drawing style somehow fits his subject: or, as he puts it, "like Linux, it's developing, and the rough edges are being smoothed off."

Frazer cites cartoonists like Berke Breathed (of "Bloom County" fame), Garry Trudeau ("Doonesbury") and Bill Waterson ("Calvin and Hobbes") as his biggest influences. But "User Friendly's" closest ancestor is probably the proto-nerd comic strip "Dilbert." The readerships of the strips undoubtedly overlap, though Frazer rejects any comparisons between the two. "Apples and oranges really, the focus is so different," he shrugs. "The only similarity between the two strips is a common pain shared by the readers -- 'Dilbert' is read by office workers, while people who read 'User Friendly' are geeks dealing with the pain of large companies and stupid people who we have to deal with in the IT field." Besides, he adds, "Cartoon strips don't compete. They aren't like operating systems."

Certainly, "User Friendly's" cast of hairy, misfit tech-support staffers make dorky Dilbert look like a benign conformist. And while "Dilbert's" cute puppy and wonky tie have inspired forests of desk calendars and plush toys in cubicles across the nation, "User Friendly" -- which, with its FreeBSD vs. Linux jokes and laments about blue screens, might be a tad too geeky for your average computer moron -- is more likely to be printed off the Web and tacked onto the server-room wall by an unidentified sys-admin.

But not for long, says Frazer -- who has dreams of "User Friendly" matching "Dilbert's" popularity as geek culture goes mainstream. He already has a Dust Puppy Doll in the works (they'll be available just in time for Christmas and office gift-giving, he says), as well as a desk calendar and other merchandise. About 75 college newspapers already reprint his cartoons, and the strip was recently picked up by both the Linux Journal and The Telegraph in London.

"Pretty soon it will be chic to be geek," says Frazer, envisioning corps of techies taking over the comic pages of newspapers around the world. Perhaps the Dust Puppy will surprise the world by becoming as ubiquitous as, say, "Calvin and Hobbes" or "Garfield." Perhaps Pitr will inspire schoolchildren to brush up on their Russian and consider careers in open-source software development. Perhaps even grandma will get a giggle from jokes about dumped cores and network loads. Wouldn't that be grand?
salon.com | Oct. 27, 1999

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