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GNU-Friends Interviews

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the read-all-about-it dept.

Jonas Öberg writes "GNU-Friends is doing a series of interviews with long-time free software hackers that I think people would be interested in. Check out interviews with Arnold Robbins, Karl Berry, Andrew L. Moore, Guido van Rossum, David MacKenzie and Chet Ramey. More to come, but that should keep people occupied for a few minutes." The GNU-Friends should have a show right after Superfriends.

26 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. GNU/Friends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    So I can't even have friends anymore, I have to have GNU/Friends? Damn you RMS!

    1. Re:GNU/Friends by grammar+fascist · · Score: 4, Funny

      So I can't even have friends anymore, I have to have GNU/Friends? Damn you RMS!

      That's right, and GNU/Joey, GNU/Chandler, GNU/Rachel...

      Admit it. Without the GNU tools, those people would be nothing at all.

      --
      I got my Linux laptop at System76.
    2. Re:GNU/Friends by uochoa · · Score: 2, Funny

      Only if you are willing to freely share any modifications you make to GNU/Friends

      then it sure won't be GNU/Girlfriend, that is something that won't be shared

    3. Re:GNU/Friends by psamuels · · Score: 2, Informative
      then it sure won't be GNU/Girlfriend, that is something that won't be shared

      Sigh, another misunderstanding of the GPL. You don't have to distribute your GNU/Girlfriend at all. It's just that if you do, you also have to share a complete sample of her DNA.

      The DNA sample can either be provided with the GNU/Girlfriend, or you can keep it on file and run off copies as people request them, for a reasonable media (test tube? DVD-ROM of sequence? not sure) duplication fee.

      --
      "How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
  2. GNU superfriends? by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 2, Funny

    The GNU-Friends should have a show right after Superfriends.


    GNUsaders! Open Source crusaders for justice!
    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
    1. Re:GNU superfriends? by fidget42 · · Score: 2, Funny
      the GNU-Friends should have a show right after Superfriends.

      Wouldn't that make them the GNUperfriends?


      just a thought

      --
      The dogcow says "Moof!"
    2. Re:GNU superfriends? by FortKnox · · Score: 2

      Where do the Slashdot Gladiators fit in? Arch nemesis? GNUperFriends wanna be's (a la Mystery Men)??

      --
      Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
    3. Re:GNU superfriends? by EricKrout.com · · Score: 2

      GNU people never give up with your open-source GNUmor, do you?

      monolinux.com :: Five Years Later Than Taco. Five Times Better Than /.

  3. hmm... by KatieKaput · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...you would think that at least ONE of the first set of interviews could be with a girl or a woman... it's not as if there aren't any "free software hackers" who are ladies. hmm.--katie

    1. Re:hmm... by JoeBuck · · Score: 3, Funny

      Unfortunately, the number of free sofware hackers who are women is very, very small, on the order of 1%, and almost none of these women has any leadership role. However, there is one woman who would make an excellent interview subject, and who does have a leadership role (at the Gnome Foundation): Telsa Gwynne.

      She herself would probably deny being a "free software hacker", though her testing and documentation work is critical to making the Gnome desktop a high-quality product.

    2. Re:hmm... by smallpaul · · Score: 2

      ...you would think that at least ONE of the first set of interviews could be with a girl or a woman... it's not as if there aren't any "free software hackers" who are ladies. hmm.--katie

      There really aren't that many famous female free software hackers. I can think of a famous female free software MANAGER and a WRITER but few software developers. That's really amazing and deserves further investigation. Female software developers are a small minority to start with but somehow open source/free software seems to weed them out even more. I could hypothesize why this is (probably a variety of reasons) but I think it deserves indepth study. It would be great to poll male and female CS graduates on a variety of ambitions and emotions and then track which ones become open source hackers. It would also be useful to track their career paths. If most women are pushed into relationship-oriented jobs (management, marketing, phone support) then they may not have the opportunity to even play with open source software enough to want to contribute to it.

  4. GNU/Friends! by sharkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    GNU Twins Powers ACTIVATE!
    Shape of ... a Version 20.0 Gnu!
    Form of ... an ice Compiler!

    na.na.na.nah.na.na.na.nah.na.naaa....

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  5. Just so all you lonely geeks know.... by nob · · Score: 3, Funny

    I read the interviews, and they don't tell you how to make GNU friends. We're stuck with our old D&D playing, zit faced, smelly friends until we can afford that 'vette.

    --
    daed si luap
    1. Re:Just so all you lonely geeks know.... by godlee · · Score: 3, Funny

      "they don't tell you how to make GNU friends"

      ./configure
      make
      make install

  6. Would like to have a contest... by pinkpineapple · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Who is the sexiest hacker in the BSD/Linux community? On the male side, Eric Raymond, Dick Stallman, Linus Torvald, Alan Cox, they all look terribly ugly and unattractive. Robert Love is kinda cute. Who else really could win the prize? What about female side? I can't think of anyone...

    PPA, the girl next door.

    --
    -- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
    1. Re:Would like to have a contest... by JoeBuck · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, three of the four guys you mention are married, and the fourth has a girlfriend (yes, shocking as it may seem, there is a woman who finds RMS very attractive), so I guess they are sexy to someone.

  7. GNUperfriends? by swordboy · · Score: 2

    The GNU-Friends should have a show right after Superfriends.

    Yes - GNUperfriends!

    --

    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
  8. DOA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    I click on the links and get GNO-Friends.

    I mean here's Gnothing there.

  9. is this a new DNS entry? by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 2

    I tried the link and my machine can't find the name gnu-friends.org - is this a new DNS entry that just hasn't propigated to around these parts yet, or is something wrong here?

    --

    Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    1. Re:is this a new DNS entry? by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 3, Informative

      The slashdot effect shouldn't hamper DNS lookups. The slashdot effect would only play a role *after* my machine knows the numeric IP address. If anything, the slashdot effect should speed up the DNS lookup if it has any effect at all, becuase it increses the likelyhood that upstream name servers have the name cached from previous users.

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

  10. Karl Berry mirror courtesy of google cache by emptybody · · Score: 2, Informative

    interviews:
    Karl Berry

    --
    comment directly in my journal
  11. GPL? by Yoda2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have a few GNU/GPL friends, but unfortunately I have to share them with everyone.

  12. Good looking people by Steveftoth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    are too busy looking at themselves to be bothered with things like 'coding' or 'open source'. It's the people who are ulgy/really screwed up that always get the real work done.

  13. Good Point! by Uruk · · Score: 2

    I seriously doubt that Jonas, the guy who runs GNU-Friends, is sexist in any way. And I for one would also like to see some interviews with some female hackers.

    If you mail the people who are running that site and suggest some female hackers who do good GPL'd work, I daresay you might actually see some of those interviews go up too. I know they'd attract a lot of attention, and they'd be a good change of pace, you're right.

    Now, not to be sexist, I know that there are GNU hackers out there that are female, but I really can't think of any of their names off of the top of my head. Many people have heard of some of the core GNU hackers, but I'm having a hard time remembering the names of some of the female ones I've heard about.

    Change that! Mail the people at gnu-friends and make some suggestions! Please just don't sit back and gripe about the lack of interviews with women if you're not willing to suggest anyone. :)

    --
    -- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
  14. FLOSS survey-takers 99% male by mbrubeck · · Score: 2
    it's not as if there aren't any "free software hackers" who are ladies.

    Only one in a hundred, if Rishab Ghosh's FLOSS Survey is a representative sample.

  15. Free as in Freedom by extrasolar · · Score: 2

    Free as in Freedom. Its Free speech, not Free Beer.

    You gotta pay if you wanna play.