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Are Linux Zealots Terrorists?
pair-a-noyd submitted this one choice piece of flamebait, I'll just quote it ".. I have a hard time seeing the Zealots as any different from
terrorists because of the nature of their threats. I expect one of them
-- or perhaps a group of them -- will go too far at some point and do
significant damage to the open-source movement, the ongoing litigation
with SCO or their employers.
I strongly believe that if September 11 showed us anything, it was that
zealots of any movement represent a huge risk to that movement because
zealots do not consider the repercussions of their actions" Like the zealots he speaks of, he goes to far, but he does make legitimate points that the Open Source community has wrestled with in the past.
No it isn't; you obviously don't know the enderle-troll. The whole point of his existance is to get people to respond, which is why he should be treated only silence.
With the OP on the top I'd hoped that this could die as a 15-reply story, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Both the submitter and CmdrTaco need a good LART'ing for posting this.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Remember. This is Rob Endlerle "of the Enderle Group", which as it turns out, is a one man consulting job, aparently payed to write nasty articles about Linux. Remember the last one? The one that claim Microsoft is indeed more secure and an overall better server platform than anything else. He addressed security concerns using such advanced techniques as "block port 80" (which was eventually changed...). It is a payed troll, ignore, continue.
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Crudely Drawn Games
Let's see: We're Linux zealots, say. There's two possibilities:
1. We're NOT terrorists: In which case, this article is Flamebait. Responding to this is a waste of our time. Time that can go to improving our ever evolving baby -- Linux. Conclusion: Don't respond.
2. We ARE Terrorists : (I know, I know,, just assume so, bite the bait for a sec.) Why should we waste our time giving up the game? We don't reveal our hand. Of course, we're a special band of Terrorists. Ones that try to kill IGNORANCE, ARROGANT CORPORATES, BIGOTRY, etc, etc. Anyway, Conclusion: Don't respond.
TO sum up: Don't respond to this Flamebait. Move on. Learn the lesson not to rely on Slashdot for Meaningful News That Matters To Nerds. Learn that these days, even articles can be Falmebait, let alone Replies.
Move on....
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If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
He actually makes some very valid points:
Why didn't the story mention that this is the fool Enderle? I don't even bother to read his stuff anymore, he's so full of shit.
He lost his gig as an "analyst" with giga for writing in public that he is just someone whose opinion is for sale. Now all he can do is stir up shit to grovel for eyeballs.
Don't give adverstisers your eyeballs for this one.
Enderle is so far over the top that even PHBs (I hope) will see this for the nonsense it is.
"that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
Shall we discuss Dresden, Hiroshima, Vietnam, or the bombing of the TV station in Serbia?
Most people in the Western media are certainly classifying attacks on US troops in Iraq, and IRA attacks like the ones in Hyde Park and Regents Park in 1982 as terrorist.
Why flamebait? Look at the two groups he gives you to belong in. Either you are a "pro" who doesn't prefer one platform to another, or you are a "priest" who irrationally favours one platform. (I'm assuming we can all say "well I'm not a zealot" so we can rule out that group, right? ;-)
So that disregards vast classes of people who prefer one platform to another on solid technical grounds. Maybe they can't get the hardware or the hardware drivers on an alternative platform, maybe the software doesn't exist on an alternative platform, maybe the software does exist but isn't as feature-rich as that available on another platform, maybe one platform costs more to buy and/or run than another platform, etc. But this writer says that it is flatly impossible to make a rational decision that one platform is better for your purposes than another. And leading on from that, if you *have* made such a decision, then you yourself are not being rational.
This is *not* an attack on the open source philosophy. It's quite simply an ad hominem attack on anyone involved in open source or using open source software.
Grab.
Disagree with someone but don't want to use reason? Try these labels, they are time tested!
~30 AD-1800: Heretic/Heathen (West)
1775-1782: Tory (US)
1789-1799: Royalist, Jacobian (France)
1862-1864: Copperhead (US)
1865-1877: Carpetbagger (US)
1890-1920: Anarchist
1918-1991: Communist/Commie (West), Counterrevolutionary (East)
2001-?: Terrorist
More to follow, I'm sure!
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
You're confusing fanatics with terrorists here.
Terrorists are a subgroup of fanatics, a group that uses TERROR to reach their goals/obsessions.
Linux "zealots", fanatics whatever you name them, do not use terror to reach their goals. W.r.t. fanaticism they may seem alike, but not w.r.t. to the tactics they follow.
Even if one would accuse Linux zealots of illegal actions, that does not make them terrorists yet. Using terror is a subgroup of using illegal methods in general. E.g. stealing and terror are illegal, but stealing is not equal to terror.
So those who call Linux zealots terrorists need to take a dictionary and lookup the meaning of words.
terrorism n.
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
Arson is not terrorism if it is not aimed at coercing a government or society, if you burn my house because you hate me and not because you want me to stop building in the sticks than its arson not terrorism. If you burn my house because you dont like the fact I raise poultry for slaughter and want me to stop its terrorism... I realize the bash the US bandwagon is the worlds largest SUV so keep feeling smug in the fact that because you disagree with Ashcroft he is evil and you are pure..