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Update on Alan Cox's Sabbatical
seymansey writes "ITWales, a company which resides on the Swansea University Campus has posted an interview with Alan Cox regarding his progress of his MBA. It also mentions his opinions on some legal matters that he shows interest in, as well as his plans for the future, and of course for Linux itself."
The brains of the company should be in the cube farm, not the board room.
I have been pwned because my
Time for a new slashdot poll..
Who would you like to see (temporarily) fill cox's position.
Look at the picture and ask yourself: Can you see this man as a CEO? Would you even buy a used car from this man?
Yes, yes, I know, the man is brilliant. But what I don't understand is: if geeks are so smart, why can't they realize that appearance counts in the business world?
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
if they had the cash probally join him. you forget most of us are lonely.
In other news, this morning Linus woke up at 6:30, showered and shaved, and had a bowl of grape nuts cereal for breakfast, after which he had his morning coffee and drove off to work.
What the hell would /. do if Linus spent an evening partying in a whorehouse?
Be jealous, sigh, and compile the laterst 2.6 kernel?
Alan Cox did a lot of work on the "Alpha Linux" stuff for redhat. He always seemed to have the answers when those of us that used Alpha based machines ran into problems. His "online diary" can be found at http://www.linux.org.uk/diary/ and when he was deeply involved in the kernel, I used to read it constantly because the stuff he was working on was the stuff that interested me. This interview just confirms one thing for me. I owe him a great big Thank You, his help to Linux over the years has been invaluable. Should I ever meet Alan, he's going to get a beer on me.
AngryPeopleRule
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
psxndc
The emacs religion: to be saved, control excess.
What the hell would /. do if Linus spent an evening partying in a whorehouse?
Easy. Do a slashdotting on the whorehouse's website.
Divide et impera!
>> Honestly, who gives a crap?
Actually I found this story quite fascinating. Not because I am interested in any of their personal stories or habits(which I am not), but it shows how versatile he is. He was (and is) an exceptionally talented and focused programmer. And now he is successfully doing something which is usually at the other end of the spectrum. Usually geeks have absolute despise for management. And he seems to be an exception in these cases.
Is Slashdot going to start making articles now whenever Alan/Linus/RMS/Bruce make a bowel movement?
In other news : Linus Torvalds died in a terrible accident under the Alma Bridge Tunnel in Paris. The Ritz Hotel's driver, who was alledgedly inebriated, was driving Linus' Mercedes exceedingly fast to try to evade several Sun and other trash newspaper reporters. The paparazzi were chasing the fast luxury car to get a photo of Linus in Alan Cox's arms, after rumors of a new affair between the two Unix kernel clone superstars. Previously, Linus had repeatedly said that fame and attention were "very tiring". This tragic accident poses the question of the reponsability of the press when covering the life of stars and famous people.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
What, doesn't the UK national health care plan cover dentistry? Bleah.
"A kernel hacker in the employ of Red Hat and widely accepted as second only to Linus Torvalds himself in the echelons of open source illuminati"
First off, he's not a kernel hacker. He's a kernel developer. I'd like to think the changes he makes are well thought out [to the extent possible].
Second, Linux Torvalds is by far not the largest OSS contributor in the world. First off, there are 100s of Kernel developers. Second, what of all the userland and development tools required to build the fucking kernel in the first place? Did those just pop out of the wind?
Sure Linus has contributed a huge gift to the OSS community but it isn't like OSS wouldn't exist without him. For starters, the GNU organization pre-dates Linux by quite a while.
Whoever wrote the article should do some fucking research first and less idol worshiping.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Here's what you need to know:
Number of Alan Cox's SOs: 1
Number of Slashdot Poster SOs: 0
Next...
>> "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash"
corollary: "at the dogside might be Summer" adapted from Heinlein
I wonder if Mr. Cox has read the article on the 235,000 Fewer Programmers by 2015. Maybe this is why he is getting an MBA?
Here's the full "strategically shaved" Black Adder referece
Hannah: One voter, 16,472 votes -- a slight anomaly...?
Blackadder: Not really, Mr. Hannah. You see, Baldrick may look like a monkey who's been put in a suit and then strategically shaved, but he is a brillant politician. The number of votes I cast is simply a reflection of how firmly I believe in his policies.
Supporting minority languages on our favourite Open Source OS is about accessibilty to all. Essential in multi-cultural Europe. At least 500,000 people would be interested in welsh so still a very good audience.
Even Ron Jeremy needs a rest from time to time.
>> There's a je-ne-sais-quoi that makes
>> a geek a geek regardless of his/her
>> outside appearances.
The likelyhood of a besuited geek showing his geekiness to a hardcore suit on IRC is a big fat 0.
I am a part-time suit, and we're explicitly taught to act somewhat superficial and semi-moronic because in most settings this IS the most effective long-term way to extract the best out of fellow humans.
In a way, a suit is complementary to a semi-Asperger type, with a focus switched away from the mechanics of things, and into the mechanics of humans. Not surprising that most suits come across as semi-moronic. They are, just not in the same way as geeks.
If you want to "fool" a suit, or at least not to antagonize hir, it's actually quite easy to pretend you're one, and also eventually to become one. Gates did it very effectively for almost 20 years, even if some claim he's a mild Asperger.
The opposite (suit->geek) is nary impossible, as it involves a lot more cerebral hardwiring that has to be developed over the years, preferably from a tender age.
I thoroughly applaud Alan's choice to get an MBA. An MBA'ed second-in-command in the Linux camp can't but help.
Think of this: Who will dare accuse a masterized AC of being a communist, anti-business, anti-western, anti-American, anti-copyright, or a child eater for that matter?
Adopting a radical hair control policy might be a good idea. Steve Jobs did that when it became necessary to attract capital from Republican-leaning sources. But he wasn't that famous at the time.
Sorry, but I've never respected that attitude. It's idealistic, wasteful, and is more often rationalization than action.
Firstly, what should and shouldn't be is irrelevant in the real world. Idealistic attitudes will get you nowhere but the gutter, and if you don't like it, tough. This is a society - "social" being the same root. Your ideal situation doesn't matter, the actual happenings in the social (interpersonal) world do. I don't think looks should matter either (to an extent), but I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot and declare "if it's not the way I think it should be, I'll boycott it" with respect to society (buying CDs and software is a mainly a personal matter, so it's a different story). You're free to hold your belief, you're free to hold yourself back by clinging onto it, and we're free to not care. Sorry, but your theory will have only one immediate outcome: you will make less money, get worse jobs, and all the trickle down effects of monetary issues will follow. Cheers.
Societal change is a bigger issue than one man/woman looking like a slob; if you want it not to matter, try having intelligent discussions about it with people, and if you're put in the position to hire/fire, do your best.
Secondly, looks have to matter, but to a different extent than current. An unkempt person is a clear sign of an unkempt lifestyle; if you don't take the time to do your laundry, why would I think you'd take the time to do your job well? Throwing on whatever clothes are available suggests you'll do the minimal amount of work necessary for any task - not exactly the person I'd want working for me. Being tall you can't control - that shouldn't matter. If you are willing to invest the energy and time to stay/get in good shape to improve your health (and appearance), it suggests that you're also likely to go beyond the call of duty to present a nice finished product at your job. Your appearance is the simplest reflection of your mind; it's the easiest thing to see when meeting someone, and can tell a lot (though for the most part only negatives). Most people can dress nicely, but very few are willing to look like a slob. Take your pick, but don't blame society when you really just need a haircut.
In my experience (including my own history), the whole 'society shouldn't care so I'll just do my own thing' stance is usually just rationalization. It's an easy way to make your own laziness or hatred of fashion into a righteous crusade. That may not be the case for you, but it is for many (most commonly seen in the goth/punk communities today). It's no surprise that there are far fewer punks/goths/etc over the age of 25 than under. People mature, and when they do, they realize that they're only hurting themselves by shunning societal norms.
(I'm not pointing the finger at you, psxndc, so don't take it personally.)
G
I've always found the People-magazine like fawning over the "stars" of Open Sourcedom alternately nauseating and amusing.
I'm not trying to take anything away from the accomplishments of Alan or anyone else. And there are times where features of people are worthwhile, but only when they've done or said something noteworthy. "Alan Cox went to class today" isn't one of them. "Alan Cox gets a crew cut", however, would be..
Post an article about Alan Cox working on getting his MBA?
I always wondered if the reverse is true, i.e., if you put a non-geek, alpha-leader type in stained geek clothes with unkempt hair, will their "jockness" still shine through?
Will people disregrad such a person as a geek or will they soon come to respect such a person because of the attitiude?
How about unmitigated flamebait, bordering on falsehood?
I mean, the article seems to suggest that he'll jump back into kernel development and not take a management job after his MBA.
More than mere navel gazing.
Alan Cox writes code, you idiot
If you don't take the time to do your laundry, why would I think you'd take the time to do your job well?
If you have a bunch of free time to do laundry, you must not stay late or go to work early.
Throwing on whatever clothes are available suggests you'll do the minimal amount of work necessary for any task - not exactly the person I'd want working for me.
Spending all that time and money on cloths means you'll be more worried about damaging your clothes than in getting the job done. If I wanted a model, I'd have advertised for one.
That said, there is some room to compromize. Showing up for a meeting sporting long hair pulled back and braided (on a man) can be a show of confidence and authority. Grooming shows that there is care, non-comformity shows that the person is certain that their contribution will speak for itself (better be able to back that up, or it won't work). At other times, merely decent-ish grooming can be OK. It can project that there is a lot of work being done and no time for niceties.
The real key is knowing the difference.
Personally, I never wear a suit. The only image I project in a suit is that I'm not comfortable. In business casual, I tend to project a much more credible image.
For day to day work, I tend to be more casual. The impressions have been made and now I'm there to WORK, since I'm not an actor, I don't need a costume.
AC or RMS's appearance is likely appropriate to what they are doing. RMS is not running a company and meeting with investors, he is encouraging programmers and sysadmins to support free software. AC was leading a kernel dev team, and is now going to school. Presumably, should he decide to use his MBA later, his appearance will change to suit the occasion.
I suppose I'm not exactly agreeing or disagreeing with you, just putting things in context.
>1. You can not play games on it.
/usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4
/usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4
l y_2_million_active_sites_running_freebsd.html
Who cares.
>2. It cannot be used by my grandma.
Actually BSD's are more logical and easier to understand. BSD's consist of whole OS, not just kernel with some glued crap on top.
>3. It lacks a GUI of any note.
In FreeBSD:
$locate XFree86
$cd
$make install clean
And of course there's lots of Window Manager for it.
>4. There is no support available for it.
Check bsdmall.com, there's plenty of support options for it.
>5. It is an assortment of fragmented OSes.
As i previously said i would claim Linux as so. as i said BSD's are the whole OSes, not lot's of stuff glued together.
>6. It cannot be run on the x86 platform.
FreeBSD is very robust on x86 and runs it on well, better than Linux imho (overall system response, bootup time etc.)
>7. You have to compile everything and know C.
At least in FreeBSD you can add binary packages easily by typing pkd_add , or use ports which does all the compiling and dependencies for you (similiar to Gentoo's Portage).
>8. Support for the latest hardware is always poor.
This is partially true, though Linux isn't much better at this either. BSD developers usually prefer more robust implementations (For DSL they buy DSL box, not those crappy DSL PCI-cards etc) so hardware that is supported in BSD runs well.
>9. It is incompatiable with GNU/Linux.
How come there is Linux Binary Compability which runs very nicely and without performance hit.
>10.It is dying.
Netcraft's recent study claims BSD's healthy and is growing: http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2003/07/12/near
IRC: Grounded0 @ IRCnet. "I was lucky get into computers when it was very young & idealistic industry" -Steve Jobs
YER A STUPID DUMMYHEAD!
1. emulator7port 2. my grandma is dead 3. KDE/BSD? 4. haha 5. it is an OS
"What the hell would /. do if Linus spent an evening partying in a whorehouse?"
;)
Hopefully post a report with pictures?
Of course I agree - there is a big difference between looking presentable and looking like a model. I'm only suggesting that one should always look respectable, not that they should spend a thousand dollars on a suit. A minimal fashion sense only requires being conscious of what people around you are wearing, and little else. As for the time issue - making yourself look decent doesn't take very much time at all; if you have time to read Slashdot, you have time to shave.
G
*Derived without authorization from Mother Goose's "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a Thief" Nursery Rhyme
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
We need a special episode of Queer Eye for the Open Source Guy.
hate to be the one to tell you thing, but you just fell for a rather obvious troll.
If you had nuts on your chin, would they be chin nuts?
Think of this: Who will dare accuse a masterized AC of being a communist, anti-business, anti-western, anti-American, anti-copyright, or a child eater for that matter?
I can't believe how superficial you are.
First of all there are many well educated, pro-business, American communists. Getting an MBA doesn't change a thing, unless of course the MBA makes you change your political viewpoint and ideas. And ideas is the keyword here.
I was taught not to judge a person by the color of their skin or their religious beliefs. But if you can't judge a person by their ideas what can (should) you judge them by?
It's true, they don't do this valuable operation there. Combined with his appearance, and his uncut shlong, it's a wonder he gets any at all
"I'm guessing that you are a manager who is annoyed that one of your employees showed up in jeans on a Tuesday or something."
Hah, yeah, lots of managers here finishing up at University. I'm headed off to grad school to pursue a career in academia (scientific research). You can point fingers and make baseles accusations all day long, but it won't help your case at all.
The "techie" culture has embraced the "look like shit" attitude, but it to anyone outside, it's a joke. Do you know any people working 2+ minimum wage jobs to put food on the table? I know plenty (including single mothers, etc.), and guess what - they all manage to find 5 minutes during the day to make themselves look decent. It's not a complicated thing, it's a simple matter of taking pride in your appearance.
My experience:
Avg. shaving time/day (electric razor): 1-2 minutes. Cost: pennies (electricity).
Avg. time to make a beard presentable/day: 20 seconds. Cost: $0.
Avg. time I spend cutting my own hair: 15 minutes every 1.5 weeks. Cost: pennies (electricity).
Avg. time/week ironing clothes: 10 minutes. Cost: pennies (electricity).
As I said, this isn't complicated stuff here, and most people who work even 18+ hour days and have kids manage to find the time for it. I seriously doubt you don't have time to do your laundry or shave; I've found that most people that make those kinds of claims find time to browse the 'net, watch TV, see movies, etc.. The problem is with prioritizing, not with a clear-cut lack of time. Setting the alarm clock 5 minutes earlier won't ruin your sleep, but it will give you more than enough time to fix yourself up.
If you don't want to look respectable, that's fine, just don't go yelling that you have no choice. In my life I have not come across anyone with an income that put them over the poverty line (or many even under) who couldn't shave or do laundry. Homeless people don't have a choice; you do. Cheers.
G
Maybe you need to read the true definition of a "hacker", instead of the NYT definition?
It's been said before, and will be repeated until slashdot fucking gets it. A word means what the majority of people using the word think it means. Period. End of line. There is no longer any meaningful debate to be had on this subject, it's already been decided years ago.
You are correct in stating that the Geneva Convention does not recognize the term "illegal combatants". That is a phrase made up to describe those captured who do not, in the opinion of the Bush administration, fall into any of the categories defined by the Geneva Convention. They CANNOT BE POWs under the terms of the GC, nor can they be classified as civilians, by definition. There in lies the problem. The GC cannot provide protection to these people because they do not fall into a group that is defined and protected by the Geneva Convention. Now maybe Bush OUGHT to give them the same treatment as POWs, but you can't say that he is legally required to do so.
----- Question authority, but not ours. Hate the man, but we're not him.
It's been said before, and will be repeated until slashdot fucking gets it. A word means what the majority of people using the word think it means. Period. End of line. There is no longer any meaningful debate to be had on this subject, it's already been decided years ago.
Hardly. Just because the general population misuses such words as "theory" and "science" and "innovation" doesn't mean those words do not have a precise definition, and that we should stop using them simply because most of the population doesn't speak properly.
Hell, should I start referring to my computer as
"the CPU" just because everyone calls the whole fucking box the CPU? Back in the day, I never called a 3.5" floppy a "hard disk" just because it was encased in plastic. Should I start referring to MS-Windows (any version) as "Microsoft?" (As in the start of every support call: "What operating system do you use?" "Oh, Microsoft.")
Language changes; but the term "hacker" is still in active use as a label given to someone who excels at programming.
Hey! Should I stop using the word "excel" except in reference to spreadsheet programs? And then, can I call *all* spreadsheet programs "excel?"
That'd be neat.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
Look at the comment history. He has one post...and it's a reply to a troll...and it's a troll shill...and you have been trolled.
Slashdot turning to wsgforum.com? Oh no...
Moderating 101
Go look at the jargon file. ESR considers it a virtue to not think through the solution before jumping right into coding. The idea of designing, documenting and testing software is not part of the "release early, release often" philosophy. So don't go on about the NYT's definition of "hacker". Sure it's not what ESR has defined it as but what he has defined it as is not something to proud of either. If you're a software engineer and some calls you a hacker, punch em in the face.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Those Enron executives where dashing fashion examples. And Darl's (yes, that Darl, you know you have achieved stardom when you are talked about by your first name) casual look shows how important is to pay attention to looks, not capacity.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You are 100% right.
The "St. Gnucious" attitude is the best gift RMS could have given to Bill Gates.
Dressing in a suit MEANS subscribing to a very minimal set of common beliefs, which is not per se unacceptable.
No suit would be surprised if St. Gnucious showed up at a meeting smelling badly, and proceeded first to fart, and then to hector them to use FOSS without listening to their needs.
I can't say "if you want to be perceived as a lardy idiot, be my guest", because this would be a self-defeating attitude.
You HAVE to manage within the boundaries of reality.
There is no vacuum. Reality is full of suits. They are not 100% stupid, and CAN be turned around, but it takes patience, aplomb, and the right nonverbal language.
Haha, what a weiner. Who gets in a hissy fit about a second post?!