Slashdot Mirror
Changing Face of Linux?
standards writes "Reuters is reporting that pony-tailed Linux Users have been seen mingling with executives in short-sleeved golf shirts. The article suggests that real technology guys don't wear shorts, T-shirts or baseball caps." the article is mostly about the business focus of Linux these days, although I think the writer is a couple years late since I think this was really the case about 4 LinuxWorld's ago ;)
the article is mostly about the business focus of Linux these days, although I think the writer is a couple years late since I think this was really the case about 4 LinuxWorld's ago ;)
;)
If so, doesn't this mean Slashdot is ALSO a couple years late with this story
I really don't think the "appel of Linux" has anything to do w/alternative PHYSICAL appearances.
.02
The draw of Linux is speed, stability, cost.
"Hippy hackers" aren't necessary going to come w/the product. Those that have already been working for a company that is going to begin using it are going to either a) already be familiar with it or b) will become familiar with it.
"Linux-geeks" are growing-up just the same as the actual OS itself. That's why we are seeing more and more in the real-world.
Just my worthless
Rant level: high.
Why, oh why, must every non-technical magazine make these 3 stupid things every time there is a linux article?
stupid thing 1: Every linux article seems to mention that only X% of the _sold_ servers are running linux.
And non-internet servers? What about intranet servers. file servers and so on?
What about all those servers that the admin has bought a $5 magazine with a linux CD and installed linux on?
stupid thing 2: Linux users spent only $80 million on the software, less than one percent of the amount spent on all operating systems for all computers.
yes, what is so suprising with this? even if you buy a boxed version with support it's still a lot cheaper then windows.
Why can't a single article mention this?
stupid thing 3: Linux sales are expected to grow...
yes... that's good. But what about _actual_ usage?
Don't forget all those computer that uses a downloaded or magazine bundled copy.
I all basicly boils down to one thing.
There is no way to really know how many computers/servers are running linux.
So stop compare it with how many windows/other servers there are.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
I've been a sys admin for about 10 years now, and I've spent plenty of time in front of clients. Maybe it's just the companies I've worked in, since they are IT services and integrators, maybe not. It has ranged anywhere from executives and clients taking tours of the data center to being the technical lead on various projects for the clients to architecting the solution for contract bids. Just because you are a sys admin doesn't mean appearance and hygiene isn't important. I have yet to see a company, at least a traditional IT company, that would have found what you describe acceptable.
In my universe I'm perfectly normal, it's not my fault you don't live in my universe.
Are you sure? I opened up this here linux package, and now I've got this big hairy bear shambling around my living room, going "Gnuuuuu, gnuuuuu...." ;)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
In the regular world, the computer that the "outsiders" use is Apple, if statement-making is your goal. Linux users are percieved more like auto junkies who rebuild transmissions on their own and the like. A Thinkpad with Linux on it looks the same as a Thinkpad with Windows XP on it being carried around. A TiBook or an iBook stand out.
Being a geek used to be bad (80s) then trendy (90s) and now it is seen as necessary.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Actually, I have been everything from the guy who administers the servers while sitting in an air-conditioned room eating Doritos to a desktop support manager to a technical lead for project teams to a consultant supporting external employees. In every case I interacted with clients.
As it stands, I'd rather keep my dignity and do a job that can be respected than sell my soul like that.
Funny, I haven't changed, I still have my dignity, and I have a hell of a lot of fun in my job. I usually wear Dockers and a polo shirt, my hair isn't particularly short, but it is well groomed. Currently I'm a senior technology consultant. My job can be respected, my customers save money and implement better systems because of me. Some of the implement Linux because of me. Or is it somehow not respectable to provide expertise to people who don't have it? What is the open source business model? It's about providing services rather than intellectual property.
As a consultant, I can understand how your appearance would make a difference, though.
My first job in IT was as a help desk technician for a small ISP. I did that part time while I went to college. The owner expected decent appearance as well as ability. It's been that way ever since. It's not "as a consultant" that appearance makes a difference, it's in general. It is a matter of perception by employers, co-workers and customers. No matter the old saw about not judging a book by it's cover, perception and appearance is reality.
In my universe I'm perfectly normal, it's not my fault you don't live in my universe.
Well in the corp I work for, a dress code is mandatory. Sure, it's business casual but that does imply collered shirts and pressed slacks.
Sure, some of those dudes have the classic pony-tail and guru beard, but the clothing doesn't make the man. Hawaiian shirt or not, the guy in the polo and dockers is just as big of a loser as the rest of us.
Wait a minute...
What is music when you despise all sound?
Really?
(/me looks down at shorts and "Got Root?" t-shirt, as well as Teva sandals)
Hmm, guess I must not be a "real technology guy".
Seriously, who do these people think they're kidding? There will *always* be a contingent of us who wear shorts and t-shirts, and quite frankly we don't *care* what other people think of that.
To conclude, I leave you with a quote:
Nathan's blog
Strange how fashion at times has come down to un-practicality, proving chic-ness and how rich you are by how impractical your actions are.
Blue bloods were called that because they were so pale that their veins showed through their skin. They weren't like the field workers, out in the sun all day, and they wanted to prove it. Now that normal jobs are inside and not outside, I find it a bit ironic now that having a tan now is chic, showing that you're not stuck inside all day.
A couple Halloweens back I had one of those long frilly shirts (don't ask) with the lace on the cuffs. I was thinking as I wore it, I'd end up ripping them to shreds or accidentally killing myself if I wore it regularly. Totally impractival. But it proves I don't have to do anything, I have servants to do it. How cool I am!!
What is so bad about slacks and polo shirts? I like jeans like everybody else, but after 10-12 hours in front of a keyboard the jeans stretch and look like crap. At least dockers look the same way by the time you are out of the office.
Plus let's be realistic. Until you own the business, somebody else is going to set the rules. It is obvious that if you are going to spend the day laying down ethernet cables and shifting racks and PCs it is completely retarded to force you to wear slacks, but if you know that for the whole day you are going to be playing meetings jockey or sitting at your desk answering emails and phone calls, then the slacks don't hurt.
At my previous job we got rid of the dress code and let managers set it to whatever. Within operations we let the production guys wear shorts, since they were spending the whole day lugging around video equipment. Everybody else was free to wear whatever they pleased as long as:
1. It was clean.
2. It was not torn, ragged, etc.
3. If it had any text printed it was a neutral messsage ("F*ck Microsoft" was not tolerated, but "All Your Base are Belong to US" was ok, etc.)
4. You understood that with reasonable advance notice you will be required to dress up to business casual or full business attire (client visits, business trips, etc.).
When I started interviewing for my new job I noticed that new employers did not really care about wearing a suit for the interview. They told me it was too hot to make me wear a suit plus they trusted me as a professional to know when and how to dress up. My current dress code: geek casual (dockers and golf shirts). The owner could care less as long as you don't walk into the office in flip flops and a mesh top, but he cares about our investors and clients walking into the office and see us looking like total slobs.
And yeah, I play golf too.
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
I saw "Revolution OS" yesterday. I was very surprised at the range of personal appearances. RMS was the only one that looked the sterotypicl hacker. ESR and BP looked like typical geeks. But Michael Tiemann and Larry Augustin looked like suits, dressed like suites, but talked like hackers. They don't fit the mold at all.
And we all know that Linus looks so much like a family man (well duh!) that no one would ever suspect him of hacking code if they ran across him on the street.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
NB: joke... I keep it in a ponytail, outside the comfort & security of my own home...
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Is freedom, relative ease of migration for UNIX LOB apps from legacy systems, and the flexibility of the open source development model.
Let's face it, very little of your cost is in the upfront licensing costs. A Lot More is in the development of business tools etc. The more reusable code that exists, the better. The better application stacks that exist, the better, the better environments for server software development, the better.
But Linux is not yet the most scalable operating system in the world (probably Unicos/MK is). But it is getting better.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Yeah, but now we have showers, and running hot water, which do help. I used to buzz my hair, because combing it was a pain. Now I'm letting it grow, because keeping it cut was a pain. And I have a beard because shaving is a pain. I'll bet a lot of other long-haired, bearded professionals have a similar reason: the less you have to do to be ready for work when you wake up in the morning, the better.
I hope that's not true... in most cases creative types are hard to manage. Then again, what good does it do to even TRY to micromanage someone like that? Creative problem solvers don't need it. As my boss told me, "I want to be able to point you at a problem and have it fixed. I don't want to have to tell you how to do it, and I don't want you asking for direction 10 times a day. At that point I could do it myself. I'll step in if I think you're off on a tangent, though". Which works well for both of us. And yeah, we have a dress code (not supposed to wear jeans unless it's Friday, etc) but it's not enforced. You would really have to push it to get called on a dress code violation.
I agree... if the marketing droids in my company tried something like that, and my boss didn't try to stand up to them, I'd see more problems ahead than dry-cleaning bills. Companies do stupid shit like this when they're so desperate for ideas that when a marketing droid spews out some crap like this at a meeting it actually gets implemented. Not good.
It's not entirely necessary for someone thoroughly familiar with technology to have a scraggly beard, pony-tail, and D&D tshirt.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The casual mention of MS's booth at LWE really pleased me. Yeah, just another company making Linux credible to the business types. No mention of any MS FUD or speculation on their possible ulterior motives. Just the bald fact: they were there, lending credibility. Somehow, I doubt that's the spin MS wanted (though I'm sure they were aware it was a possibility).
The rest of the article was pretty mundane, but no worse than I'd expect from the mainstream press (as opposed to industry press). Yeah, we've had suits at the shows for years, but the reputation of a system for "freaks and geeks" is still alive. Yeah, they got a few details wrong, but that's the press for ya. But the oh-so casual mention of MS I liked.
Five years ago, a small upstart company wouldn't know it had made the big time until it was bought out by Microsoft. These days, we can tell that the "revolutionary OS" is a success, because dependable, non-revolutionary corporations are investigating ways to profit from it. That's always been the nature of most revolutions: They either die most miserably, or end up becoming part of the establishment themselves.
Of course, the ideas inherent in the way Linux is written and distributed may nevertheless go on to infect these established businesses. I'm interested in watching how things change because of it.
But which sort of rebellion will the next generation choose? Perhaps they could try showing their contempt for stuffy social norms by wearing their baseball caps backwards. Seriously, though, I doubt it will have anything to do with computers. They'll use them, sure. And no doubt Moore's Trend^H^H^H^H^H Law will give rise to some very disruptive killer apps. But computers themselves may be too much a part of the everyday landscape to be the focus of much revolutionary energy.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
Some software is created just for fun. Other software is created to insure that you have control of your computer. Don't confuse "commercialism" with the evil practices of current commercial software vendors. They are stupid and will be replaced. Much software created just for fun is of great use to all of us becuse it was licensed as free. Go visit clarity to learn what why and how.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Yeah, that's just Richard Stallman. You can safely ignore him.
You think you can ignore him until he starts singing the "Hackers" song. I'm still having nightmares from that. Watch The Code sometime..it's all over giFT.
That's not a bear. That's RMS.
But, you need to treat RMS just like you would any other wild animal. If you don't feel that you're up to the task of care and feeding of RMS, you should call animal control. They'd be happy to relocate him back to his natural habitat.
Hippies aren't outsiders anymore, I hate to break it to you.
And either way, you partly proved my point. I'm saying that the hardware defines the outsider these days, not necessarily the operating system you run on it. I run Linux on old iMacs and that tends to scare the normal computer people I know alot, for some reason. First I'm using "crappy flower power idiot" Apple hardware, and then I'm running that weird Linux crap on top of it, but the important (to them) part is that I'm using an Apple. Running Linux on my PC gets me a moment of "of cool, I've heard it's neat" and then that fades out.
So, I was merely saying, if outsider status is what you crave, you've got to start with an Apple machine. If you really want to scare/awe people, sure, put Linux on it, but the Apple logo on the hardware is what will put you way ahead of the outsider game.
[calls animal control] Will you come get this noisy beast outta my house? he's scratching my Windows!
:)
And I think he IS singing... egad, what a racket!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?