Slashdot Mirror
Unix-Haters Handbook Available Online
prostoalex writes "The Unix-Haters Handbook, publication year 1994, is now available online for free as a single PDF file. Apparently some suburban Seattle company has agreed to host this 3.5MB file on its servers. The anti-foreword is written by no other but Dennis Ritchie, who proclaims: 'Here is my metaphor: your book is a pudding stuffed with apposite observations, many well-conceived. Like excrement, it contains enough undigested nuggets of nutrition to sustain life for some. But
it is not a tasty pie: it reeks too much of contempt and of envy.'" This is what should happen to more out-of-print books.
Its not? It must just be a complete coincidence then that Daniel Weise (A) Hates UNIX (B) Works for Microsoft and (C) was allowed to have it on one of Microsoft's servers. Ya think Microsoft would have minded had Daniel been one of the co-authors of the I Hate Windows book?? Do the math.
AAAAAAAAHHHHHH. My god, is ALL of Slashdot fools these days? THAT "story" was the April Fools joke. Do you also still believe that Microsoft adn Disney give away free stuff to people who forward emails, or that stepping on cracks actually breaks backs?
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
Microsoft has researchers? Or is it just the one? If so, that would indeed explain the inability of such a huge company to come up with anything even remotely innovative that they haven't stolen from someone else.
Although 'respected' would something of a stretch by any measure....
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
This isn't a fault of the system, it's a strength - the strength called 'job security'.
Any idiot can become an MCSE. Hell, just about any generic power user would qualify, since the MCSE really can't do much more than the power user can no matter what his training. If you can't even see the code you're stuck with the same tools as the power user (plus perhaps a few you've crafted yourself, but then you're already beyond 99% of the MCSE's out there).
However, in Unix or Linux it takes some serious dedication to even find some of the fucking tools, much less understand how they're applied. Do you think that was done by accident? No way, Jack; some canny Unix dweebs said "hey, if I make the bloody thing as difficult to master as possible I'm set for life! Sweeeeet!"
And lo! We have commands which do not follow logically from their names, as well as the godawful man pages and info system. It's simply an extension of an old programming truism often used by the unscrupulous: make the code twisted and the documentation nonexistent and company x will be calling you back for support for the life of the program.
Note that I'm not blasting Linux, from when I write this post, but after all these years, and with the advance of age, I find that I've forgotten more about Linux than most of the noobs ever learn. The pain of that is that if I vaguely remember doing operation x several years back and want to do it again, I have to hunt for the bloody information all over again, and with some measure of frustration as now I *know* it's around, I just can't precisely remember *where*.
The thing I want most for Linux: comprehensive documentation. I mean freakin'-fucking-comprehensive, all in dead tree format. Screw job security, I don't have any in this economy anyway.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
'd really like to see you design airplaines. Maybe fighter planes. Just to make sure pilots are *extra careful*, the button for "drop bombs" should be right next to the button for "lower landing-gear".
If you find unix to be this hard or complex perhaps you should focus on something more your speed, like PS2 or XBOX.
You continually build up strawman arguments in almost every one of your responses (not just in this thread). I don't know if you consider that to be a valid form of discussion or debate, but it isn't.
--- I do not moderate.