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Top 10 Most Important Tech People of the Decade
KarmaWhore writes "For it's 10th anniversary Network Computing has put together what they consider to be the top ten people of the decade. Linus is number three. Gates is number two. " I dunno - lists like this are certainly useless - but it's always a fun debate.
This would be funnier if Gore actually said that. He didn't. What he did say was an exaggeration but evidently not enough of one that his opponents could refrain from exaggerating his exaggeration. And their spin seems to have worked really well -- every gullible sucker in the US (of which there are evidently tens of millions) thinks that AL Gore said that he invented the internet.
heehee just kidding... although you have to admit that for a while "Free Kevin" was pretty much a rallying cry around these parts...
Free music from Jack Merlot.
October 2, 2000 - Network Copmuting Corporate Headquarters - Manhasset NY. - After reviewing numerous letters, Network Computing has reconsidered the companies Top Ten individuals in the technology sector and issues this revised list. We apologize to our shareholders (and to the FTC, SEC et al) for the erroneous posting of the previous list and its inclusion of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, we had no idea that mentioning thier names here would lead to such a rapid plunge in the value of our stock. Additionally, in order to place a proper perspective on the technology sector, we will be forth coming with out new 'Meglamaniac Top Ten' as soon as the results are tabulated. The Meglamaniac Top Ten will be sure to include Mr. Gates, Mr. Jobs, Mr. Perot, Mr.Gerstner and Mr. Ellison. There's something about the computing industry that lends itself to achievements by the following individuals... 1. Tux
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2. Dilbert
3. Ren & Stimpy (tie)
4. Tick
5. Kenny
6. Kyle
7. Cartman
8. Stan
9. Chef
10. Brian Boitano
Disclaimer: Network computing is in no way responsible for the results, outcome or bias displayed in the Top Ten list and assumes no liability for it. Please don't email us with your questions or comments as this is out final list. This list is in no way an attempt to placate the script kiddie who has sent us 3 million emails since 10:00 AM EST voting for Dogbert.
Note to self: IF s/N ratio>=facts(old news +
Prospecting Stinks. Stop Wasting Time on Cold Calling.
The nice people at NC are just posting things people will read.
They are pretty much right about the people on the list, though of course they're too mainstream to pick up any unsung heroes that have more to do with the way the web turned out, for example.
They also make some fairly silly statements, like "AppleTalk is still the easiest method of file and print sharing for casual computer users" or "Attribute all this, if you will, to Jobs' vision of the Macintosh: It's for people who `Think Different.'" I know, I know, I'm picking on the Steve Jobs part of the article. But let's face it, NetBEUI is just as easy as apple's networking, possibly easier since you can use a standard folder/file context rather than the chooser or network browser. And the Apple People may want to think different, but apple's sugar-sweet (sugar-water?) packaging can't be rationally seen as anything but an encouragement to think the same.
I personally would have liked to see people on this list that I hadn't ever heard of before (Not just people whose names I'd forgotten, and people whose names I can't escape.) Oh, and here, I just found another inaccuracy: "In his early days at Sun Microsystems, Khosla participated in the creation of the first and, today, the most successful RISC-based platform, proving that there's a world beyond the Wintel phenomenon." BZZZZZT. Thank you for playing. IBM put together the first RISC architecture (though possibly the least successful:) The ROMP architecture, which was found in the IBM RT-PC. Thank you, Network Computing, for consistently getting the facts wrong.
They seem to have Berners-Lee's microbio written out fairly well, one hopes out of a sense of reverence. And of course, as one would expect, they are ritualistically (perhaps even fetishistically) correct on the BillyG front, perhaps more out of fear of lawsuit than for any other reason. But even in the large print at the top of Linus' data they hose things up; Linus created a kernel. He no more created an operating system than I created a waste treatment plant in the bathroom this morning. This is not to denigrate the man or his achievements, which are nonetheless very important to the point we have reached today. But please, let's try for some precision.
All in all, another mediocre article from a mediocre publication. Personally, I'd like to see a "top ten slashdotters" article. Can you imagine the height of the flames?
I can only dream.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
And I'll bet that he later refuted that statement by claiming he was tired when he said it.
/HUMOR
Anyway, I definitely agree with Bill Gates' position on that list. Like the article said, whether you love him or hate him, there's no doubt he helped shape the computer industry into what it is today. (For those of you who doubt this is a good thing, we're HERE, aren't we?) Windows isn't the best OS on the planet for a lot of things, but it's inspired competition - and rigorous competition helps everyone. (I'm anxious to see an interface that can rival the Windows interface. It may not be the best OS there is, but there isn't an interface that comes close to the ease that Windows provides. That's the problem with X.)
If we had an interface that was as good as the Windows UI (and provided the same continuity! Important!), with the power and stability of Linux - the sky's the limit.
I was disappointed I didn't see MY name on the list, but....
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Hm, well if you weren't so gestapo and close minded you'd understand I was more or less referring to dependance.
Right now, a linux system is typically gnu libc. Hence it relies on GNU.
See my point here?
Just because it uses utilities or whatever doesn't mean jack, and it is because of zealots like yourself that make me cringe at the RMS-tangents that enforce Linux is not an operating system.
Bull shit.
Linux is not an operating system it is a kernel.
GNU is, well.. it's just a bunch of applications and libraries. It's not an operating system either.
Linux is more of an operating system then GNU, because you can get Linux running quite functionally without GNU software.
Am I bashing GNU? No.
Am I saying GNU sucks? No.
Am I saying GNU is necessary at the moment? Absolutely, and it has benefited tremendously.
But Linux is far more of a contribution on both a social level and technical than GNU in my opinion, and until firm evidence is provided otherwise, and not the incessant "RMS said this!" crap that his blind followers spew constantly.
RMS is a hippie, that is the bottom line. He has a idealistic approach -- but c'mon. This is capitalism, and his approach is just like communism. A great system if you kill all the greed. Hell, I'm greedy. I code for money. I enjoy it.
Linus Torvalds understands that, RMS still thinks that people will understand the errors of their ways and just get along.
Until then, I run Linux.. I have GNU utilities that I use on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I think I am so strongly opposed to RMS because of his incessant desire to promote calling it "GNU/Linux" and in that desire often times coming across as either an asshole, or an idiot. Sometimes both. It is a shame because the man is brilliant.. but brilliance doesn't win by itself. You have to have a degree of common sense, and I think that is where RMS is failing miserably at.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
Where would Linux be without GCC and GNU Libc?
So just because Bill Gates outranked Linus Torvalds, this list is "pretty useless"? Why do I suspect that if Linus was ranked higher than Gates, Slashdot would be holding a rallying cry and citing it as a sign that Linux really is the greatest achievement in the history of the world?
For more information, click here.
If that's your "best argument", you're neck-deep in buffalo dung, my friend, for that argument is exactly backwards.
Many of us were not only working on GNU software before Linux, we were using it, on a reasonably wide variety of underlying kernels -- SunOS, AIX (or whatever ran on RS/6000's in those days), and so on.
And I'm pretty sure when I started running Linux 0.96pl2 or whatever patch level it was, it already came with GNU utilities.
If there was indeed a time when Linux came without GNU stuff, the number of people using it was probably less than .1% of the number of people who were already using GNU software without the Linux kernel running underneath!
Not that I insist you change your mind now that you've been given a clue about GNU/Linux history...but you might want to consider either calling it GNU/Linux sooner, or maybe when (or if) people use Linux with non-GNU tools in greater numbers (and this has long been "threatened", anyway)...
If the FSF uses "Hurd" to denote both the kernel and the OS, that certainly suggests it's okay to use "Linux" to denote the whole GNU+Linux(+otherstuff) OS. But if they call it "GNU/Hurd", they'll be risking suggesting that "Hurd" is no more a creation of Project GNU (or the FSF) than is Linux, as well as implying a useful system could be put together out of the Hurd kernel plus non-GNU utilities (and these are, respectively, false and true), which might be too risky for them. (Then again, maybe the GNU toolchain will be considered ubiquitous by the time the Hurd gets widespread usage?)
In the meantime, the fact that RMS couldn't get through a slashdot interview (or response), in which he continued his attempts to promote the "GNU/Linux" name on the basis that honesty in naming is important, without himself resorting to "name games" to smear George W. Bush, calling him by the invented nickname "shrub", strongly suggests that RMS doesn't have sufficient moral authority to persuade anyone to use "GNU/Linux" over "Linux", even if he has many other good arguments for such a choice.
But, in case I have any moral authority (which does not seem likely to me), I do prefer "GNU/Linux" to denote the class of OS that combines the Linux kernel with GCC, glibc, and other GNU utilities, without denoting anything about a windowing system, graphics capabilities, or all that much about networking, etc., FWIW. And I still wish, or recommend, that Linus would decide to wean Linux off its dependency on GCC, which, last I checked, was quite excessive, leading to too many cases where Linux depends on being compiled by a particular version of GCC, and making it harder for a true non-GNU Linux OS to develop.
Practice random senselessness and act kind of beautiful.
Steve Jobs would undoubtedly earn a spot in the top 5 in a list covering the 1970s or the 1980s. But in the 1990s?
Jobs turned Apple around, but Apple isn't really important to computing as a whole anymore, not with an 8% market share. They make nice, leading-edge machines, they have a nice UI, and they're swell at industrial design again, but with the exception of case design, Apple--and Steve Jobs--don't shape computing anymore.
Where's Jeff Hawkins? He's arguably the inventor of the first practical PDA. Just as Apple deserves enormous credit for making existing "outsider" technologies palatable in the '70s and '80s, Palm should get props for making the handheld computer into something for the masses back in '97.
Most of my early motivation in computers was do to my desire to figure out "How did that do THAT?". Which quickly followed by "How do I do that myself". I am sure many geeks today feel the same way.
Don't forget Sierra on-line was one of the early companies to promote sound boards (especially theRoland MT-32), they stared on-line gaming a long time ago (remember the Sierra Network), and they also became heavily involved in 3-D after they bought Dynamix. They also were early adopters of CD-ROM based games. I have to say part of Sierra's problems was they were ahead of their time by about 2 years. They were in markets that didn't exist yet.
I have to mention that there is a strong Internet bias in the top 10 list. Some of these people I have never heard of. Remember that the Internet only became main stream a few years ago, but games have been main stream much longer (and therefore have influenced more people).
If you still want to see the Unix creators' names in lights, then go to another top ten list. Or better yet, go in a cave and make your own. And don't come out until you can live for today!
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
Hey, it's really nice to see that Elias Levy made the list. He's a hell of a guy and really deserves it. Lodes of congratulations to him. ;-)
--
Perl, Perl, Perl!!! Where would Apache be without it? ...or Slashdot for that matter.
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