Slashdot Mirror
Linus Is A Hero
oever writes "The dutch broadcaster KRO has chosen 365 modern saints or heros. One of them is Linus Torvalds, chosen for his work in on Linux and 'Open Source'. Too bad RMS or Saint Ignuciuis he wasn't chosen, even though he was recommended."
Two other free compilers:
lcc
TenDRA
If not gcc, there would be even more free compilers. Writing a compiler is not as simple as writing another ICQ client, but it's still not rocket science.
Linus Torvalds
Linux Open Source
Over the last couple of years the free Linux software has become a fierce competitor to Windows. Finnish Linus Torvalds is the hero of the Open Source movement.
Finnish student Linus Torvalds wrote his first version of Linux in 1991. He asked a number of programmer friends to take a look at his creation and provide comments. This created a collaboration that is still driving continuous improvements to the operating system. By now there is a fixed group of about 1,000 internet users that contiuously tunes Linux.
Apart from that fixed group there are many more people that provide one-off enhancements. Midnight chat sessions take place to discuss possible additions or enhancements of the collective property. At first, Linux seemed primarily an operating system for hobbyists, mostly employed in academic circles. Towards the end of the nineties Linux started its transition to the data centers of large companies. System administrators would download Linux off the internet for free and started using it in large numbers as web servers (the central computers that host internet sites), often without their superiors knowing. Whenever a problem emerges, this is brought up on internet news groups, at which point tens of thousands of programmers around the world are available to come up with a solution. There is a myriad of advantages to Linux according to the proponents of Open Source. First and foremost this software is free. Contrary to other software there are no license fees and the system can be downloaded from the internet for free.
Sure, I respect Linus for his work and contributions to the IT world and the "liberation" from propertairy software and unethical licenses. However, the REAL heroes on that page are two victims of "zinloos geweld" as we dutch people call it, or "senseless violence" if translated into english. These two people I'm talking about are René Steegmans and Meindert Tjoelker (both on the same page as Linus) who were killed for no reason at all. Maybe not such a big thing in the US, but remember that the Netherlands is about 1/232th the size of the US. (according to the CIA factbook, ahem) Meindert Tjoelker was killed when trying to calm a fight between a few people and René Steegmans was killed when he questioned a bunch of guys wether they had any respect for an old lady who they almost ran over on scooters. They are real heroes to us Dutchies.
Hate me!
Bono has actually done a HUGE amount of work to save small countries from financial collapse. He meets with government officials in the USA (and now a few other big countries too, although I can't recall which ones), and persuades them to forgive billions upon billions of dollars in debt. Because of Bono, some small counties have been able to remain in existence.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &