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Linux in Movies?
chicagoan asks: "Last weekend I, like many other people across the US, saw Scary Movie 3. During the movie an actress gets on the web to help her in her quest. Looking closer I noticed that the Desktop environment she was using was GNOME and the Web Browser was Mozilla's Firebird. Where have you spotted actor's using Linux in movies or on TV shows?"
i thought they were using linux in the matrix on screen... matrix 1 that is.
I think Antitrust was one of the first 'hollywood movies' that I saw that had some form of Linux on some of the workstaions.
Claire Forlanni, and Rachel Leigh Cook..
What a great movie.
Poor Teddy.. he just wanted to Open Source his code...is that such a crime!?!
I spotted one. I was watching a commercial for Earthlink. It featured two dudes trying outbid each other on Ebay on an item with only 30 seconds left. The guy with Earthlink won because his connection was faster. The guy who lost, his page was still loading. If you look carefully, he's running KDE as his desktop. I found that quite amusing. ;)
(Note: I couldn't tell you what OS the 'winner' was using.)
"Derp de derp."
Can we really accept a GNOME/KDE/whatever GUI as proof that they are running Linux?
AFAIK, the movies which people are claiming to be featuring Linux don't show off any proof (a uname would be helpful) that it's actually Linux, and now *BSD, IRIX, Solaris or even UNIXWare...
I don't think so, why not ask this question, I'm bored and I don't mind reading things like this, chill out.
Its a skit based show on comedy central.. one of the skits was a spoof of a company policy video shown to employees at a copy store (think kinkos) "if a customer brings in a windows disk, tell them we only use macintosh. if they bring in a mac disk, tell them we only use windows... if they bring in a linux disk, tell them the computers are down."
I saw a lame computer movie with Julia Roberts that had the blue steel theme from Enlightenment running on it.
I guess the tech consultants they hire probably do this for the coolness factor, but maybe they don't display MS Windows because all the other companies pay them millions for product placement. So why advertise MS Windows for free?
The only thing I can think of thats close is IRIX in jurassic park. Something like: "This is a Unix System .. I Know This!"
to be a scary movie isnt it.....
The lunatic is in my head
Was the movie any good?
There was the SSHnuke from Matrix: Reloaded. Also in Jurrasic park the scene where the girl goes. "I know this. Its UNIX". Even though she had a 3d graphical file browser that SGI had written.
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
You all talk about a hacker nuking ssh and some lady browsing the web with FireBird. That's all small 'taters. If you really want to see Linux in a movie check this out. Oh yes.
WTPOUAWYHTTOTWPA
What's the point of using acronyms when you have to type out the whole phrase anyways?
I went to saw Nicotina a few weeks ago, and every computer on screen was running KDE.
:-)
They even zoom in on a Russian guy working on his laptop and we discover that he is actually playing the KDE version of Tetris
adl
My boring ramblings
See my newsgroup thread on KDE. There's even Ping Pong game (xMame?). Sunday night's showed Marshall using a compiler! :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I like playing "Find my laptop", ala the Powerbook G4/Tibook. It's amazing, the nubmer of apples you see on TV and in movies. Most people suggest that they use apples, as they're what they already have laying around, as apples tend to be used alot in the entertainment buisness, plus they look pretty on screen compared to a beige box. I'd agree with that.
I heard someone suggest that most of the "OS"es in movies are simply flash programs that are full screen, and will do the correct sequence of events, regardless of the input. Can anyone verify this?
moox. for a new generation.
Can't believe no-one has mentioned Antitrust yet... one of the greatest computer & programming movies around.
Linux is used by Milo quite often in this movie
(\(\
(^.^)
(")")
*This is the cute bunny virus, please copy this into your sig so it can spread
...they feature all kinds of operating systems every now and then. Well, maybe not what you'd expect... :) They either go all to way to fantasy land and make up something like they did in Lain (which in turn inspired a real life OS interface -- LainOS), or they humorously mimick real life OS -- think "Windaws XXXP" (seen on "Happy Lesson Advance") or "Red Hot Linux" (seen on "Chobits").
i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
When Sam Fisher is watching the web broadcast on his PC, he's using GNOME as his desktop.
The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
If I was a gambling man, I'd put money that the 7-head terminal in Swordfish was running linux or *bsd. Can windows even handle seven indpendant video outputs at once? Also, the dell laptop ui stan uses in the club looked very much like bash if memory serves.
In the video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Solid Snake uses a computer to upload photos and when he turns it on it's a verbose linux boot.
Even says "linux" several times, which isn't surprising since it was developed for the PS2 originally. I wonder if it was kept for the XBOX version?
With Demi Moore (mmmmmmmm) and Michael Douglas. If you look at the scene where she logs in and starts nuking files, she's clearly at a *nix command prompt.
Only on
People dont want to pay a Windows License just to show a computer in a 5 second clip.. Linux on the other hand, as we all know, is free!
Hrrm... I usually just sign my name.
That we recognize it is beside the point.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
The Movie Anti-Trust used Gnome exclusivly throughout the movie. The interfaces that you see that are not the gnome desktop are still running on linux - Miguel de'icaza, credited for have founded the Gnome project, makes a guest appearance in the movie as well, offering some computer science award to Ryan Phillippe.
Sphere had several 'long' sequences in which the main characters manipulated and passed commands to a UNIX shell of some type (possibly bash or csh). Its been a while since I've seen this movie, but they definitely were using Unix, and unlike many movies that show a single glimpse of linux, its on the screen for a decent amount of time.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
The commercial for Dateline advertising the interview with Princess Di's Butler, if you look in the upper right hand corner of the screen, you can see a Linux shutdown sequence.
It looked like RedHat but it was only shown for a few seconds.
Worst Sig Ever
I have only seen the movie once, but has anyone figured out what OS Seth Green is using on all those Dell's?
Of course there they were also *hacking* a linux box (or maybe it was OpenBSD?) in that movie, so...
Actually, what you see in that scene is real. The computer's running fsn, File System Navigator, which shows files as columns of different heights.
I do not recall the last time I have seen M$ Windows in a movie or a TV program. In my experience I have seen mostly what looks to be MAC OS or some flavor of *NIX. I have always wondered what prevents windows from being displayed on the tube? Is it a legality issue with M$ or some other reason?
The geek who was hired by De Niro's character was running linux. In his mom's basement. I remember seeing a penguin, but I don't recall if it was a doll, or a graphic on the screen.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
I don't remember, was it Mac or Linux they he used to hack the aliens? Would be funny if all he did
was send the ship
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
There was a skit on Crank Yankers last season -- Special Ed calls a tech support guy, and brags "I got mail!" over and over. There's a big "Linux Inside" (like the "Intel Inside" logo) poster in the background... there's also a poster of a Bill Gates muppet, too :)
Search for the "crank yankers got mail" video on Kazaa or Gnutella.
Features a IRIX machine made to look like Windows.
I recall at least one TV show where Windows XP is shown (or faked) running on a Macintosh laptop.
Anyone have names?
FLUKE by Christopher Moore has a scene where a local geek comes to assist the researchers by writing a computer program for them "in Linux" so its not a great reference in that the author (while IMHO the best working novelist of our time) seems a bit unclear as to what Linux is, it is - I think - a good example of the comprehension of the non-Geek public of the Linux phenomenon. i.e. something coders/computers geeks use as opposed to "normal" computer users.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
In "Three Days of the Condor"
they have a DEC PDP-8 which gets a few seconds of camera time at the beginning.
Movies
My personal favorite is when the little girl 'hacker' is using a 'Unix-system' to visually navigate a 3 dimensional facilites managment system. She's so 1337!
All the pcs seem to be using gnome
Drew Carey anyone.....thats where you got to see all the new macs shown off..i remember seeing the cube and other new macs
Two notes, in reverse order:
On-screen computer activity is, as a rule, never "live". One missed mouse click, one badly-timed BSOD, one random error message, a typo on a hidden xterm or remote prompt, and that's a serious shitload of money down the drain. (Think costs of film, lights, salaries...) It's always done in advance, done to perfection, and then simply played back on screen.
Not that experimental. I went to ftp.sgi.com and downloaded the source from the anonymous public area. Took a while to get it to build on the Onyx servers, but I was eventually flying around my home directory. I forget what the shapes and colors indicated, but I think height represented file size.
Wasn't so much "experimental" as much it was "really freakin slow".
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Remember in Mission Impossible when Tom had to search the Internet and his only clue was JOB... it was amazing how after typing in (you guessed it) JOB - the search came up with the just the top secret information he was looking for. Computers are generally totally misrepresented in the movies. And did you ever notice how in Star Wars the space ships make noise - well thats impossible in space!!!!!
Not linux i dont think, but a MacOS look-alike running on beige boxes. Probably the fullscreen flash thing someone mentioned earlier. MacOS bars, but an hourglass and not a watch while waiting for the file to copy, and he was definitly playing the same version of tetris i had on my old Win 3.1 box in an earlier scene.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
It was a real filesystem? Wow. I remember watching that scene and thinking how fake the thing seemed: "Who would navigate their filesystem by moving around big pink cubes?"
It seems like given the choice between real boring yet functional interfaces and futuristic flashy yet unimplementable interfaces, filmmakers always choose the latter. Not that I blame them, but it almost always unsuspends the disbelief for me...
Not a computer, but didn't Garth in Wayne's World (can't remember if it was 1 or 2) have a book titled Unix Administrator's something-or-other? And I think he even talked to a girl about Unix for a brief second.
When Edward Norton starts the timer, you can clearly see Linux and bash.
Could be linux, could be DOS, but certainly not a stand alone video game.
If you have a cluster of 1024+ Linux boxen humming in the background, it is REALLY easy to find someone who'd offer a helpful solution to the "Hey, we need a weird+nerdy computer screen here!" problem. ;-)
Paul B.
Actually, in the US product placement on television is prohibited under the FCC sponsorship identification requirements of 47 U.S.C. 317 and 508, and 47 C.F.R. 73.1211. My wife used to be Director of Marketing of a well known consumer goods manufacturer. She says that back in her day TV placement for gratis product was already common, but the shows didn't even ask for money, probably more because it devalued advertising slots than because they were afraid of the FCC. Apparently this is no longer the case.
Hollywood, without advertisers or the FCC to answer to, was never so shy. She didn't pay them, because she was always able to place gratis product, but they always asked.
It is cowardly, and a betrayal of whatever it means to be a Jew, to act as a white man
-James Baldwin
Of course the characters would be using an entirely unrealistic operating system, which no real person would ever use. It's stupposed to be FUNNY you nitwits!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
At the end when Dade is telling Joey where to find the garbage file, he dictates to him a command that is obviously really *NIX-like.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
In this old UK series, I once saw someone hack into a bank's computer using WordPerfect...
Phil
This reminds me of the movie "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks. It was a big AOL advertisement basically, and Im sure really helped AOL come into greater acceptance. The more Linux is seen in movies the better. I can't understand why MS wouldn't want to be seen on film.
Watched it last night, noticed that the minions in TCU (Jack's daughter, for one) seemed to be running some X-based window manager on Dell desktops. Jack, of course, had a powerbook.
I'm pretty sure I saw a few machines in the lab in Hulk that were running some manner of unix... One of them showed a boot screen, I think it was some form of BSD
Something distinct that people will remember better than my name
I watched Willard for the first time a few days ago. Most of the computers in the office are on the green screen, but when Willard comes in with Ben to take revenge on the boss I noticed that the boss is running Gnumeric, Netscape 6, and surfing porn sites. Interestingly enough, peekabooweb.com featured in the movie is registered by AOL but has no IP assigned.
I took some screenshots to put on my website but haven't had the time yet.
Mozilla in scary movie? that is scary! (/me imagines it crashing...)
Frink: Nice try floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.
I was just watching the Drew Carey show(an old Episode), where he tries to get a job at what the dept store has become(the .com). They were saying that the only jobs open were tech jobs. Drew said, "I can do tech." They then asked Drew if he could use Linux. He said yes(naturally), and they asked, "Redhat 7.2?" Made me think of this article, thought I'd post it.
As of 10/06/03, I hate COBOL developers.
I don't recall any mention of OS, but can't imagine the frankenputer in Pi running anything but *nix. Anyone?
At the end "That's a UNIX Book...Cool". http://www.google.be/search?q=cache:pvZfs2J0P4IJ:w ww.theideabasket.com/index.php/article/articleprin t/35/-1/2/+%22wayne%27s+world+2%22+unix
No GNU has been Hurd during the making of this comment.
I noticed last time I watched Jerry McGuire that the agency he got fired from has SGI workstations on everyone's desks. The grey monitors and 4dwm manager are pretty easy to spot.
Not a TV show, but I saw a Dell commercial where the IT man is talking to the CEO, and mentions Linux clusters.
That one movie that was kinda a biography of kevin mitnick used alot of linux/*bsd/*nix.
right now i can remember 2 animes i saw linux in it.
one is chobits - u can see it perfectly, linux is writen on a texbook.
the other is onegai twins. the main character is a programer and he uses linux all the time.
I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
Actually I find the fake ones distracting, but that's because I'm just a geek. I find they're almost always very poorly done with bells and whistles to make it clear what's happening, ie. messages like "Copying virus...".
However, I found the desktop in American Pie's "Nadiavision" sequence very nicely executed. There are lots of goodies to spot if you freeze frame and look at all the overlapping windows. I remember you can see Jim's email address @eastgreatfalls.edu (FYI, the working title of the movie was East Great Falls High), and you can also se he accidentally selects the East Great Falls Directory in the recipients list when sending the email with the link to his webcam. The link was an HTTP URL with correct dotted decimal IP address.
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
While I personally haven't noticed what OS'es are used in movies, I have seen a lot of shows on ABC (The American Broadcasting Channel for those outside the U.S.) using primarily Macs. 'The Drew Carey Show', 'My Wife and Kids', and 'The George Lopez Show' just for starters. My father-in-law has worked for ABC for nearly thirty years as a videotape editor and live-feed coordinator. While he isn't 100% on the reasoning behind using only Macs on some of their top shows, he has heard murmurings from his friends that work on those shows that Microsoft had made some not-so-subtle threats to sue if they weren't paid royalties for every instance of a Windows screen being used. While I personally will not attest to the validity of these claims, I most certainly would not be suprised.
Sure Bill Gates' hair is fugly, but give his barber some credit! At least he managed to cover the horns on his forehead.