Sorry, but computer users are a subset of the general population, and the ones who care at all about the actions/behaviors/attitudes of any of the developers of the software for those computers is a subset of that subset. Within that set, the vast majority have never even heard of (nor do they care about) any kernel mailing list nor do they care about e-mails that have nothing to do with them. They just want their systems to work and do the things they need them to do. Period.
I am NOT a Linus fan-boy, but the man was absolutely right here:
Linux suffers far more in the public view when it looks unstable or incomplete than it does from any other peripheral matters. Given that most of the developers of the code that sits on top of Linux are also unpaid volunteers, it's doubly-bad to make changes under their feet that keep breaking their code. Developers of good applications get very frustrated by unstable platforms where the rules keep changing, and the sort of change that Linus attacked here is just plain BAD. The fact that a kernel developer risked making a bunch of apps look bad (and without good justification) is a major problem and actually a symptom of a severe Linux-on-the-desktop problem: too many people making too many poorly-thought-out changes (often where not needed) while neglecting many of the things that are in serious need of fixing. Unfortunately, when everyone is a volunteer and working for free, it's hard to find competent people to do the un-popular grunt-work to fix many long-term usability issues - but there can be a surplus of people who will happily change lots of other stuff on a whim (because it's interesting to them, or because they think they've had a clever idea and they don't feel like "running it by" other people FIRST). Some might want to complain about Linus's tone here (which did no actual harm to anybody, but might have gotten the attention needed to avoid repetitions), but the real offensive act was by the guy who decided to break other peoples' stuff without consulting anybody else first; that's borderline narcissism.
KDE and Gnome are excellent examples of this general phenomenon: neither one became fully stable with all advertized functionality "just working" before both teams made major changes in the look-and-feel of their projects ..... and then they repeated this idiocy! Sure, both Gnome and KDE are visually much more shiny baubles, but they are much more obnoxious to adapt to and use. They are still both loaded with confusing and/or redundant garbage, and they still lack some basic functionality that Windows (dating back to Win95 or possibly even Win3.11) had. This is dumb, and much-more deserving of attention than Linus's latest (and this time, at least) barrage.
An average user (not a geek) needs to be able to sit down at a Linux system and easily manage printers (add them, test them ,use them, remove them - locally AND on the local network) manage files (find them, use them, edit them, copy them etc on the local machine AND the network) adjust things like the time and date and screensavers and power-management, manage network connectivity (config firewall, ping hosts, get MAC and IP numbers, etc) without a manual and without any hand-holding. This is what enables them to become happy with their primary use of their computers: getting installing and using the applications they need to do e-mail, web browsing, office tasks, etc which in-turn enables them to do the activities they actually care about. As long as any of this is a problem, most developers need to focus on these things before doing other less-necessary things.
If the guy Linus blasted is too "hurt" by this to go-on, then he was not worth having around. If, on the other hand, he was a productive "good guy" who just screwed-up, then this will improve him and he'll be even better in the future. People need to stop wringing their hands over the wrong stuff.... if the guy's an adult, he'll be just fine.